Intoxicated Manslaughter?

To the editor:

I recently saw on a news feed that some courts are accepting pleas of “Intoxicated Manslaughter,” which would carry a lesser penalty than outright manslaughter. What a crock of baloney. It is a medically and psychologically proven fact that intoxication releases inhibitions, particularly inhibitions towards violence. Those same facts have proven that intoxication, along with other abhorrent behaviors, are voluntary behaviors. So how is it possible for a defense to be based on “the devil (alcohol) made me do it?”

Perpetrators of most violent crimes deliberately chose their actions. Perpetrators of intoxication also deliberately chose their actions, whether through habit, or stress, or some other trigger. There is no defense for “I deliberately chose to be violent,” so why should there be a defense for “I’m sorry, Your Honor, I was drunk and killed, or maimed, or raped (or worse) somebody?”

Human frailties are no excuse for the taking of another human’s life, and should never even be presented as a defense in a court of law. If this kind of miscarriage of justice is being allowed in some courts, I am very afraid that our justice system is as fragile as our political system is becoming. It’s time for what was once referred to as “the common man” (us) to speak up, take action and guide our nation back to it’s overarching principal: “One Nation Under God.” I don’t care if you call Him God, Yahweh, Allah or Mickey Mouse, He was and must still be the overall guiding principle.