UPDATE: Driver charged in fatal OP hit-and-run

From Joe Lambe:

Allegations against a 19-year-old woman charged with running down and killing an Overland Park woman involve drugs and not alcohol, a defense lawyer said today.

He asked a Johnson County judge to cut her $100,000 bond in half and allow her to complete a drug treatment program she has started in another state.

Judge James Franklin Davis refused to reduce the bond, saying Jill Conaghan’s history of drug abuse left him “genuinely concerned about public safety.”

Prosecutors charged her Wednesday with involuntary manslaughter DUI, leaving the scene of an accident, failure to stay in a traffic lane and driving on a sidewalk area. She was also charged with being a minor in possession of alcohol on three separate occasions after the fatal July 18 hit-and-run.

... At the bond hearing today, defense lawyer Thomas Erker noted that his client returned from her treatment center, surrendered to police Tuesday evening and presented no flight risk. She and her parents, he said, “have shown a propensity to work within the system.”

He asked for the lower bond and release to complete her drug treatment program that ends in January. Then she would surrender and the court could set a new bond, Erker said.

Jill Kenney, assistant prosecutor, countered, “Any attempt to get her into treatment now is too little, too late.”

She noted that the teen was caught possessing alcohol while with a convicted marijuana dealer less than two weeks after the fatal accident. She also was allegedly caught in possession two more times before the end of September, the prosecutor said.

Comments

[Patty PV]

And the story continues to unfold.

[Keith G. in P.V.]

Indeed it does, Patty. And Rx drugs carry a warning label, too. Of course, no one has said it was her 'script in the first place. I feel sorry for the girl...she's obviously got some real issues. But my "sorry for the girl" only goes so far.

[Jellybean]

I feel sorry for her parents.
It's impossible to deal with someone you love once they become an addict - addicts are just pathologically selfish.
I wonder how Mr. Carocari is holding up in all of this.

[Searching]

Is there a lot of reporters around JB?

[jStu]

back to square one. this was the initial report. The lady should get 5 years in prison or 10 years probation and weekly drug tests. just my opinion.

[Jellybean]

Hopefully they have enough stock footage of the sidewalk by now that they can bug off - so maybe Mr. Carocari can rake, water flowers, pick up his paper, or take out his trash without a tv camera filming him.

[Keith G. in P.V.]

Oh, surely KCTV5 will stick a mike in the parents' faces and ask "How do you feel?" Vultures.

[Jellybean]

I like it when they show the reporter ringing a doorbell and knocking, then explain that noone answered at the home. They always say it like it's terribly suspicious too.

[rhonda]

Well, how do they feel, keith?

(j/k - don't hurt me.)

[Keith G. in P.V.]

rhonda, as long as you don't stick a microphone in my face, I won't hurt you :-)

[M H]

She needs to do 10 years in prison.

[Moral City USA]

Now I begin to wonder if the deal was an accident or malicious.

Either way, she will get probation in the end.

[gary]

Multiple choice; a) I feel better knowing it was drugs. b) The end result is the same as far as the old lady being dead c) let her lawyer shake down her family tree and look for for some sort of minority card to play

[Chuck Rizzo]

B!!!

Abusing alcahol, RX or other drugs while driving = bad.

[kpop]

puting this young women in jail will do her no good. Not sure what the answer is, but 2 wrongs don't make a right.

[Chuck Rizzo]

kpop actually it will do her good it will "hopefully" teach her that making bad decisions lead to consequences. If you just let her off the hook she would learn nothing.

[theobalde]

If good includes not running over people in their own front yards... then 10 years in the can has a high probability of doing someone good, even if its not her.

[Ralfred]

"but 2 wrongs don't make a right"

However, 3 lefts do make a right!
Think about it . . .

[doobiebrother]

Its not apparent what the drug was, but it seems to me there is reason to believe its marijuana. If that is the case, I can't wait to shove this in the face of people who think its time to legalize pot and claim it has no major ill effects. (Regardless of this case, I know of too many other stoners who have suffered the effects of pot -- legalization is just a stupid idea).

As for her punishment...there is no "wrong" in putting her in jail. She repeatedly and wilfully behaved irresponsibly (this was not her first accident, I'm told). This time, she killed someone. No different than if she was drunk or fooling around with a gun. Jail. Thats what she deserves. She's obviously low on the Darwin scale and needs to be treated as such.

[Thin The Herd]

Please explain why it is "wrong" to incarcerate someone who killed an innocent person through irresponsible and illegal acts?

I'm quite familiar with addiction, but it does not excuse criminal behavior and especially not physical, in this case mortal harm to others.

You can be an addict w/o driving, btw, so that excuse doesn't fly either.

[SouthsideDave]

" involve drugs and not alcohol, "

This matters how ? Regardless of whichever a lady lost her life.

As for feeling sorry for the parents, don't think so.
If this had been a first offense,ok.

Their daughter had a pattern of issues,but they wait until the third bust, after she kills someone - before they finally address it.

[fishgrewlegs]

doobiebrother: I would welcome the legalization debate with you. Seems to me - based on your post at least - that you may be "low on the Darwin scale" also.

[1MadJack]

This person KILLED another human being. She is a 19 year old woman not a 12 year old girl and she knows the difference between right and wrong. She deserves nothing less than a harsh punishment. That means no probation until time has been spent in prison.

This BS about her being a victim of drugs is just that, pure BS. It is time we quit coddling offenders in this country and instead punish them according to their crime.

[Fee]

fishgrewlegs, how does doobiebrother's post make him/her appear "low on the Darwin scale"? It was a grammatically correct, well written post that conveyed the opinions of the writer and used logic to support those ideas.

[D. Thomas]

True enough, putting her in jail will probably not help her at all. Putting her in jail might possibly help the general population though. It might protect them from a recurrance of the same deal. When are we going to learn? Put her where the dogs won't bite her and quit worrying about the parents. They are part of the problem. No mercy is my vote!

[Disgusted with deviants]

No drugs? Oh well, now THAT makes it different! NOT... Surely her attorney parents know someone that can get her out of all this. Man, girl, you are MESSED UP! You need to get some help!

[dfbarnes]

I gotta say, hmmm... wonder if all you people would be feeling sorry for her and hoping she could get treatment if she were, gasp, not white?

Screw her, send her to jail. SHE KILLED SOMEBODY.

[POBOY]

Send her to prison like she is sopose to she drove her car up into a lady`s yard to runover her an kill her.left the scene and went home, plus was high on durgs and drunk, thats a no brainer. Thats 20yrs, with good behavier.

[NoMoreMrNiceGuy]

So the girl is a victim, how pathetic.

[drugfreelady!]

She does need treatment and hope she gets while she's sitting in prison doing her time for a personal problem/addiction that killed an innocent person. Lowering her bail would be slap in the face to the family that didn't do drugs and was just out gardening.... in their yard.

[Melissa]

Poor decisions have consequences. Addiction does not absolve a person from the consequences of poor choices. After watching footage and reading the countless reports of what happened the day she ran over Mrs. Carocari, it is very obvious that Ms. Conaghan is not only lacking remorse for this heinous act, she appears to believe that money will buy her out of this horrible tragedy. She should be far from laughing, partying, and making light of her situation. Regardless of the house, city, county, or state you live in, wrong is wrong! The Conaghan's money should be used for something other than "buying their juvenile child out of" a DUI, an MIP, or worse yet a death of another human being. The true victim is Mr. Carocari, not Mr. and Mrs. Conaghan-they have had years to deal with a situtation that without doubt was very obvious.

[kpop]

nobody that gets high on drugs or alcohol is going to say, "next time I get stoned I am not going to drive around because they put that 19 year old girl in OP in jail."

She should be made to do 4,160 hours of community service and 3 years of court supervised drug and alcohol treatment.

[Calvin Lomeer]

She wasn't drunk she was just on drugs

Is that somehow better?

She killed someone because she is irresponsible and thoughtless and clueless.'

She doesn't need rehab or counseling. She needs to go to prison.

[Calvin Lomeer]

kpop
Community service comes after a MIP.
Not a fatality.

At this point, I am not concerned about her.

She killed someone through inappropriate behavior.
She needs to go to jail. A long prison sentence may not help her but it might cause some other young, thoughtless, careless, young people to think twice.

I'd lock her up until the dead woman comes back to life.

[Atticus Finch]

Any forensic pathologist will tell you that THC has a palpabale physiological effect on the nervous system for a number of hours at the MOST, but the metabolites of the long since inactive compound will appear in a urinalysis for up to 30 days. So, the girl smokes a joint with her friends the night before and the "high" wears off long before she goes to bed that night. The next day, she is involved in a auto fatality because of the simple fact that she is a very young, inexperienced, and generally BAD driver. That sounds alot like misdemeanor vehicular homicide to me. BUT becuase wholly inert metabolites of long since inactive THC appear in her urine, then she MUST be guilty of Involuntary Manslaughter while driving under the influence of DRUGS (a felony) and the legal system MUST "make an example of her." And everyone who knows nothing of the law in general and even less of the facts and circumstances of this particular case feel empowered by trumpeting this old west, get-a-rope, hang-em-high mentality. Everyone is of course entitled ot their own opinion, but it sure would be nice of some folks would engage in a tiny bit of due diligense reflective thought before publicizing their opinions for the rest of us.

[kpop]

yeah, what AF says.