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"Road homicide": a bereaved family wants to criminalize drivers

2020-12-30T09:40:43.261Z


Since the death of Guillaume Desjardins, 21, mown in 2017 by a motorist with two grams of alcohol per liter of blood, his father and his brother have been campaigning for a firmer justice towards drivers. Elected officials and lawyers deplore a judicial laxity.


Is justice too lenient with reckless drivers?

The Desjardins family, who lost a 21-year-old son in 2017, are convinced of this.

"

It is not acceptable to me and to all the families of the victims, that

c

elui that killed William, with two grams of alcohol in your blood, live freely for 3 years without having spent a single day in prison

», Lament to

Figaro

Yann, his father, and Thibault, his brother.

The two men, from Amiens, want to "

change things

" and call for the creation of a "

road homicide

" offense

.

Read also: What awaits us on the roads in 2021

The drama, covered by our colleagues from

Courrier Picard

, dates back to September 15, 2017. At around 2:30 am, Guillaume Desjardins, 21, rides a bike on the Branly esplanade in the city of Amiens.

At the wheel of a Volkswagen Polo, Halim A., a used car salesman, violently collides with the young man.

The medical student is transported to the nearest hospital.

He died of his injuries a few hours later.

Guillaume was to donate a transplant to his father who had leukemia during the month.

The investigation will determine that Halim A. was, that evening, under the influence of 1.92 grams of alcohol per liter of blood.

During his trial, the driver expresses his remorse: “(Since the facts),

I cannot look at myself in a mirror.

I had to explain to my six year old son that Dad had done something wrong.

I am a monster, I am learning to live with it.

"The father,"

never convicted for similar facts

", according to the magistrates who requested on appeal 42 months in prison including 12 months suspended, will finally be sentenced on November 9 to three years in prison, including two years with probation , and no fine.

He will not go into detention, his sentence being adaptable.

Judicial laxity?

"

Do you call that justice, seriously?"

», Deplores Yann Desjardins.

It's an illustration of

(his)

daily shipwreck.

The prosecution does its job, but little judges cook their soup in their little corner, sitting on the Penal Code voted by the elected representatives of the people.

And on the lives of the victims,

”he decried when the judgment was announced.

Read also: Coronavirus: on deserted roads, drivers lose all measure

The French Penal Code qualifies homicides committed by motorists as manslaughter.

Their authors face 5 years' imprisonment and a 75,000 euros fine.

If there is an aggravating circumstance (drunkenness, driving under narcotics, hit-and-run ...), the driver may be punished with a penalty of up to 7 years' imprisonment and 100,000 euros in fine.

If there are several aggravating circumstances, he can get a maximum of 10 years' imprisonment and a fine of 150,000 euros.

Sentences already high, but "

not even required, let alone applied

", according to the Desjardins.

The culprits don't even get a fine!

», Thibault gets carried away.

"

The penalties, applied at the goodwill of the judges, are actually never up to par,

" admits to

Figaro

Me Philippe Courtois, lawyer for the National Federation of Road Victims.

An observation shared by Me Julé-Parade, lawyer specializing in the defense of road victims.

To my knowledge, never has a French court pronounced the maximum penalty for a driver

,” he tells us.

To read also: Dupond-Moretti: "I defended the magistrates when they were accused of laxity"

According to a document from the National Interministerial Road Safety Observatory (page 90), dealing with 2018 data, "

96% of convictions

" are accompanied by "

imprisonment, in whole or in part (...) if the personal injury caused the death of a person

”.

But "

the average firm quantum of imprisonment

(is)

8.3

months without aggravating circumstance, 22 months with, or 20.9 months on average

".

However, for people sentenced for acts committed before March 24, 2020, a modification of the sentence is possible for any conviction to prison for a period of less than or equal to two years.

Everyone expects a driver, drunk or drug addict, who has taken someone's life to go to jail.

Ultimately, this is not the case for the majority of the culprits,

”deplores Thibault.

According to the 2018 road safety report (page 124), 38% of those guilty of manslaughter and driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics receive a total suspended prison sentence.

Among the 61% of culprits being sentenced to "

part

" of prison, the Observatory does not communicate the length of the sentences, suggesting that some may be adaptable.

National interministerial road safety observatory

Me Julé-Parade deplores a "

judicial laxity, unbearable

".

He justifies it by citing a case whose outcome dates back to December 17.

Before the Criminal Court of Béthune, Christophe M. appeared for having killed in 2018 my client, a 95-year-old grandmother, by hitting his vehicle at excessive speed.

At the material time, the man was alcoholic, under the influence of drugs, without a license and without insurance.

Everything justified the application of the maximum penalty, 10 years firm: Christophe M. had no remorse at the bar, the judicial control between the date of release and the judgment had not been respected, and he had been convicted on 27 occasions, including 12 times for traffic delinquency

”, specifies the lawyer.

I thought that finally one day a court would dare to apply the maximum.

Christophe M. will finally be sentenced to 5 years in prison.

Read also: Justice: magistrates file a complaint against Éric Dupond-Moretti

"

This laxity, we can explain it because a driver is not a delinquent like the others - it is someone who is included in the social circuit, who is not a recidivist robber or a scum

"

,

decrypts Me Julé-Parade

.

The judges undoubtedly believe that the culprits of homicides at the wheel are people who make errors, like you and me,

justifies Me Philippe Courtois.

And they probably identify more easily with them than with a violent offender.

"

Support for parliamentarians

"

We have to change that, we need a framework for the decision of the judges,

" pleads Yann Desjardins.

We must

create an offense of 'road homicide'.

To provide the means, the Desjardins family contacted many parliamentarians, in a “

transpartisan

approach

.

"

We had a lot of support

", rejoices Thibault.

Among them, Senator Laurent Somon, of the Republicans, who sent a written question to the Ministry of Justice.

Solicited by

Le Figaro

on the subject, the ministry has not yet followed up.

Read also: Privatization of highways: a senatorial report denounces the shortfall for the state

The young senator also pledged to submit a bill on the subject.

"

The objective with this future project is to put an end to the discrepancy between the penalties voted and the penalties applied

", reveals to

Figaro

the elected representative of the Somme.

Some judges do not take into account the aggravating factors of an accident, such as alcohol consumption.

With the denomination "road homicide", which would systematically take into account aggravating factors, judges would be forced to apply minimum penalties

, "he explains.

In some countries, such as Italy, the Netherlands or Wales, homicide committed while driving under the influence of drugs constitutes a specific offense.

"

We must be inspired by what is done there

," suggests Laurent Somon.

I don't want to sound like a poop,

worries Me Philippe Courtois

, but the term 'road homicide', which has been proposed several times, even symbolically, has always been excluded from the texts.

I couldn't explain why.

"

"To qualify this as manslaughter is unbearable"

The fact that we qualify this kind of act of 'manslaughter' 'is unbearable for the families of victims,

” Judge Thibault Desjardins.

His father, more vindictive, calls for “

requalifying the offense

”.

It could go through criminalization.

Basically, we have two intentional actions: consuming narcotics, and driving afterwards.

The repetition of campaigns on the subject means that we cannot say that these people do not know.

"

Read also: Road Safety launches its new advertising campaign, a "call to life"

Legally, a traffic accident, even at 150 km / h in town with three grams in the blood, can never be judged as intentional homicide, with the intention of bringing death

, analyzes Me Julé-Parade.

It's always complicated to explain that to the families of the victims, but there is the predisposition, that is to say, doing everything possible to cause an accident, and the intention to harm others.

In road homicides, risk taking is voluntary, but the accident is not.

"

When you've been drinking, it's voluntary.

When you have smoked, it is voluntary.

When you drive too fast, it's on purpose.

But, given that you did not want to kill, the legislation considers road homicide as manslaughter,

”explains Me Philippe Courtois.

He recommends other measures to enforce the law, such as the establishment of popular jurors, as in the Assize Court, or permanently withdrawing the driving license of the guilty.

A bill tabled in mid-December

Faced with the probable legal impossibility of criminalizing road homicide, the LR deputy for Moselle Fabien Di Filippo tabled a bill on December 14 "

aimed at strengthening the penalties for those responsible for road homicide

".

"

My proposal does not respond to all the problems and will not resolve the difficult mourning of families, but it will limit recurrence as much as possible

", specifies the elected representative in

Figaro

.

Read also: Electric cars: the French are struggling to get started

The project provides for a "

judicial cancellation of the license for 10 years for any driver having committed manslaughter, a repeat traffic offense, or a high speeding ticket on repeat

".

At the end of the ten years, the author of the facts cannot own a vehicle exceeding a real power of 80 horses, or 5 fiscal horses.

But the measure is far from being successful: “

With the proliferation of parliamentary groups in the Assembly, there is only one niche day left per group per year.

There will be one left at the end of next year for Les Républicains.

I will try to propose it at that time, but we will have time to study only three texts,

”laments MP LR.

To speed up the procedure, the government must take it up, or try to place an amendment in a text studied - in any case, it is over the very long term.

"

In 2019, it is estimated that 731 people died on French roads in an accident involving a driver under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or 23% of total road fatalities.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2020-12-30

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