Felony charges dropped Because it might effect suspects job

[SirNitram]

Link

A financial manager for wealthy clients will not face a felony charge in Colorado for an alleged hit-and-run because it could jeopardize his job, the Summit Daily News reports, quoting the district attorney.

Martin Joel Erzinger, 52, director in private wealth management at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in Denver, now faces two misdemeanor traffic charges for allegedly hitting bicyclist Steven Milo from behind then speeding away, according to court documents.

The News says Erzinger had faced a felony count for causing serious bodily injury to Milo, who suffered spinal cord injuries, bleeding from his brain and damage to his knee and scapula, according to court documents.

Erzinger allegedly hit Milo with his black 2010 Mercedes Benz sedan near Eagle, Colo., in July. Police say he fled the scene and was arrested later, after calling his auto assistance service but not police, according to court records.

Erzinger said he was not aware he had struck Milo, a 34-year-old New York physician, the paper reports.

Hurlbert, who lowered the charges, said last week that the case, in part, was about money because "justice in this case includes restitution and the ability to pay it."

"Felony convictions have some pretty serious job implications for someone in Mr. Erzinger's profession, and that entered into it," he said, the paper reports. "When you're talking about restitution, you don't want to take away his ability to pay."

Milo said in a letter to prosecutors that the decision was "not appropriate" given that Erzinger "struck me, fled and left me for dead on the highway."

"Neither his financial prominence nor my financial situation should be factors in your prosecution of this case," he wrote.

Hurlbert tells Denver's 7NEWS that the decision "had nothing to do with (Erzinger's) wealth" and says Erzinger could face a year in jail on the misdemeanor charges.

Nothing to do with wealth? Bullshit. Time to amend IOKIYAR to include 'FIlthy rich'.

[Tanasinn]

It is desperately difficult not to hope he's killed as an example by vigilantes.

Hate-on aside, this is yet another fantastic example of how in the United States, all are equal before the law. Some are just more equal than others.

[General Zod]

I don't think there's any way of properly expressing how much bullshit this is. But if nothing else it makes me even more leery about the stupid assholes on the road here than before.

[Azazal]

Martin Joel Erzinger, 52, director in private wealth management at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in Denver

Hmmm any bets that the DA has an IRA or some other form of retirement investment through Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in Denver, nah that would be too easy to link. Maybe the DA and Joel are from that same fraternity, or they're into wife swapping together? There has to be some logical reason other the the DA is a corrupt ass-hat on the take, right?

[Dalton]

It is desperately difficult not to hope he's killed as an example by vigilantes.

I'll remind you that these sorts of statements are heavily discouraged, and when I say that, what I really mean is keep it to yourself.

[Themightytom]

Hurlbert, who lowered the charges, said last week that the case, in part, was about money because "justice in this case includes restitution and the ability to pay it."

"Felony convictions have some pretty serious job implications for someone in Mr. Erzinger's profession, and that entered into it," he said, the paper reports. "When you're talking about restitution, you don't want to take away his ability to pay."

They're not going after a felony because they want the victim to sue the CRAP out of him.

What a bizarre justice system

[General Zod]

Well this is interesting.

DA Mark Hurlbert filed felony criminal-impersonation charges against two veteran Vail, Colorado, mountain bike racers, Wendy Lyall and Katie Brazelton, after an injured Brazelton, 40, gave her registration materials and entry number to her friend, Lyall, 36, so she could race

in the 2009 Leadville Mountain Trail 100 . This meant that Lyall finished second in the women’s age 40-49 class, despite being 36. As the Denver Post explains, spaces are highly coveted for the grueling race, and there are more masochists than slots for the competition, which elevated in prestige last year as Lance Armstrong entered and won the event.

The soaring popularity has converted the race’s entry lottery into a gone-in-minutes clamor for bib numbers. Entries are not refundable or transferable, which is reiterated at every pre-race briefing, [race organizer] Chlouber said.

Just before last August’s race, Chlouber said he received a call from a local bike-shop owner pleading for an entry number for Brazelton, who did not win a slot in the lottery. Chlouber granted the request.

“This truly is really sad for us,” he said. “We try to do the right thing, and then people cheat.”

Certainly some athletes cheat, but I naïvely thought that these sports rules violations were usually handled within the sport rather than being prosecuted as felonies by local DAs. But then again, Hurlbert himself spends lots of time on the men’s 40-49 cross-country skiing circuit , so this “crime” probably hit him close to home. I wouldn’t want to be some 36-year old guy caught skating past him across the finish line in the Frisco Gold Rush nordic race, that’s for sure.

But it looked like the event organizers did take care of the problem from within:

When contacted by Chlouber and, later, by Lake County Sheriff Ed Holte, the women confessed to the deception. They returned the coveted belt buckle, pendant and necklace that came with second place and sent Chlouber a letter admitting their wrongdoing and offering “to do anything to rectify the situation.”

“But the situation cannot be rectified,” Chlouber said. “You can’t go back in time and give those ladies who should have podiumed their time in the sun. That’s gone.”

Well, not exactly. The women who should have been on the podium, will be there this year in a special ceremony at the August event. And, both Lyall and Brazelton are banned for life from the competition and may receive other intra-sport sanctions. If organizers want more action taken, that’s what private civil lawsuits are for. [Update 5-10: Sheriff Ed Holte told me he did not contact either of the women or take a confession from them and had no contact with them whatsoever. He simply took Chlouber's complaint and passed it along to the DA. It seems clear, then, that this was primarily a Hurlbert transaction].

Hurlbert says, “after talking with people in the race, this is something very serious.” Very serious to whom? The plaintiff in the case, The People of the State of Colorado? Do we the people really need to have our money spent in a recession to protect us from the growing scourge of entry swapping at endurance sports events? Real criminal filings are down, Hurlbert’s budgets and salary are up, and I guess this is what happens when government has too much of our money to play with. Good thing he’s not the Denver DA or we might see “illegal receiver” at a Bronco’s game take on a whole new meaning.

[Updated 5-10: More details about how this race is run and what may really have happened with the registrations of the racers, are commented on by some Eagle County mountain biking bloggers, who point to a $265.00 non-refundable and non-transferable fee, which Chlouber allegedly resells to other racers. The latest is from Eric Rubottom. The comments section to this post contain more inside-mountain bike racing insight.

Race Director Ken Chlouber is a former House District 56 Rep., a Republican who often went against the Republican party on issues he disagreed with. He served from 1986-1996, and was a state Senator before that. Chlouber failed in another run for HD 56 in 2006].

I’ve written elsewhere that Hurlbert “picks the wrong battles to fight, and the wrong ones to quit.” Just like the infamous snowball throwing case at Copper that gained international notoriety, and left Hurlbert whining defensively after his lengthy and expensive pursuit ended in failure. This laughingstock is mocked in this Hitler parody video of Hurlbert. (Like other Hitler parody producers, we are involved with a “fair use” copyright appeal, so just click on the link on the screen after hitting play, and the video will play in its own window).

He's also responsible for bungling the prosecution of Kobe Bryant's rape trial.

[Molyneux]

Why does this man still have a job?

[mr friendly guy]

I have seen this type of stuff happen in Australia, that is a conviction will affect the perp's job so they get off easy, with the judge saying so. Only thing is, the perp aren't super rich (they worked in the lucrative mining industry, IIRC slightly over 6 figures in income but not what I would call super rich). Hey, look on the bright side. At least in the US only the super rich get away with this crap. Over here the not so rich can pull the same sob story and it works.

[Broken]

I wonder if people like this DA have any idea how damaging decisions like this are to the general good of American society. I have no desire to see what happens when too much of a population as heavily armed as the US's decides their votes don't count, the cops are corrupt, and the courts give a slap on the wrist or a ruined life depending on which side of our 2 tier justice system you fall on.

[Chaotic Neutral]

I wonder if people like this DA have any idea how damaging decisions like this are to the general good of American society. I have no desire to see what happens when too much of a population as heavily armed as the US's decides their votes don't count, the cops are corrupt, and the courts give a slap on the wrist or a ruined life depending on which side of our 2 tier justice system you fall on.

Idiots get shot. Or, in large groups, mowed down by helicopters.

Not that would ever happen.

[Eulogy]

The next best thing is to sue the bastard for a ridiculous sum of money, so much that the bastard will have to ride to work on HIS bicycle. Let's see how he likes it when he has to put up with assholes on the road. It might make him think twice about his actions, but I'm not holding my breath.

[Broken]

Idiots get shot. Or, in large groups, mowed down by helicopters.

Not that would ever happen.

Yes, we don't already have enough lunatics like the Sovereign Citizen type movement and no one does anything crazy like fly a plane into an IRS building. Decisions like this by the powers that be could never be more fuel to the fire to those already involved in conspiracies since the United States is magically immune to all unrest caused by incompetence or corruption. I am not saying we are going to see hordes of militia madmen on the streets anytime soon, but the social contract in America does have that "All men shall stand equal before the law" fiber to it since that pesky Civil War. Damage the faith in that part of the social contract enough and you end up with more crazies except they don't sound that crazy anymore. Will they get shot while acting on their insanity, wouldn't surprise me. That doesn't change the fact that they may lash out anyway.

[aieeegrunt]

A counterpoint here from my own personal experience. My wife's ex managed to avoid jail time despite ignoring numerous court orders and generally being a sociopathic asshole because, and I quote the judge here : "the only reason you are not in jail is so you can keep your job, and I can garnish your wages for all the child support payments you refuse to make. I will also garnish the remainder of your wages for all the debts you ran up and then tried to dump on your ex wife".

I notice in the OP the judge citing the exact same reason here; you keep your job so you can make the restitution payments. So I pose to you spacebattles, what is better? We get a vicarious revenge thrill for the judge throwing this guy in jail and the brain and spine injured biker is now thrown on the tender mercies of the American social safety net? Or we skip that and instead asshole banker spends the rest of his life working so that a chunk of his paycheck can go to supporting the guy he maimed?

[General Zod]

A counterpoint here from my own personal experience. My wife's ex managed to avoid jail time despite ignoring numerous court orders and generally being a sociopathic asshole because, and I quote the judge here : "the only reason you are not in jail is so you can keep your job, and I can garnish your wages for all the child support payments you refuse to make. I will also garnish the remainder of your wages for all the debts you ran up and then tried to dump on your ex wife".

I notice in the OP the judge citing the exact same reason here; you keep your job so you can make the restitution payments. So I pose to you spacebattles, what is better? We get a vicarious revenge thrill for the judge throwing this guy in jail and the brain and spine injured biker is now thrown on the tender mercies of the American social safety net? Or we skip that and instead asshole banker spends the rest of his life working so that a chunk of his paycheck can go to supporting the guy he maimed?

Except the DA has already proven himself to be an inconsistent asshole who's more than happy to slap felony charges on people for comparatively minor things. The victim in this case even already suggested that their financial situations should be ignored!

[ShadowDragon8685]

I can see the argument for imposing heavy fines and not restricting personal liberties in order to leave someone able to pay restitution, but if the victim would rather hear the gavel fall on the guy's personal freedom than get to vamp the guy's paycheck for the rest of his life, you should probably try him for the felony.


I mean, I can see "downgrade the criminal charge so the perp can be boob-bled for money for the rest of his life" argument. In this country, it's likely to be the only way the victim of a serious medical fuck-up like this will ever get the medical care they need. It may rankle the sense of justice in that "he got away with it," but he's not really; he's being compelled to work and a hefty chunk of what he earns is going to the person he hurt instead.


Of course, if we actually had some kind of a social safety net it wouldn't be nessessary, but under the conditions as-is, it seems like a tool worth keeping in the prosecutorial work-box.

[PeZook]

Well, with the injuries he sustained, he'd have to be crazy not to take the money. Especially in the US.

[ShadowDragon8685]

Well, with the injuries he sustained, he'd have to be crazy not to take the money. Especially in the US.

I'd agree with you, but maybe he's not concerned about his financial future; maybe he's got it covered, or maybe he's just so vengeful that he'd rather see the guy who put him in a wheelchair behind bars than working as a free man and paying him medical costs for the rest of his life.

Either way, I reckon his wishes ought to be honored, but there you have it.

[Stargate Nerd]

I keep hearing let him keep his job so he can get sued for money. But couldn't the guy's lawyer in a civil suit just point to a misdemeanor charge and "negotiate" a much lower settlement than if it was a felony?

[ShadowDragon8685]

In theory, it might be part of a plea bargain that he pleads to the misdemeanor but pays out like he'd already lost a civil suit on the felony.

[General Zod]

Whether or not he gets a felony has zero effect on someone's ability to sue him in civil court for massive damages. Exhibit A: O.J. Simpson.