Replies to '03/16 Cheerleader Scandal'

My brother lives in aviano and is a civilian at the base.  Is this Rebecca.

Amen to that!

I do not know how the law reads in the state where Brandi lives. I can only say what would have happened to her in Court here with the circumstances she, herself, described. She took her parents vehicle without their permission. This was verified by her parents. This, in itself, was a felony. She struck the boy with that vehicle and left the scene of the accident without checking to see what she hit and not offering assistance to an injuried party. This was another felony. According to our law, commission of a felony (or felonies) that result in the death of another person is murder. When she struck him, she threw his body 58 feet. She had to be driving at least 60 miles and hour. I may be mistaken, but I heard hear a reasonable explanation of why she turned around and drove back. She is fortunate that she got a plea bargain for manslaughter. Had she not set all of this in motion by taking her parents vehicle, Daniel would be alive and Brandi would not be in jail. Concluding, if her parents don't get some help for her brother and start insisting that he straighten up and do right, they are only going to experience more heartache as he will probably end up on drugs or in prison.

She was only 17.  She was scared and took the plea bargain because her laywer told her to do so.  She was minutes from walking into court when her so-called lawyer told her to sign the papers and then he changed the wording afterwards.    If that had happened in front of her parents this discussion might not be taking place right now.    Brandi's lawyer screwed her over when he was being paid to help her.  

I dont believe Brandi even had an inkling or knew what a "plea bargain" was.  She was not understanding of legal jargon. Her sleazy lawyer tried to dump the case to go on with something that he knew he would win and convinced her to go for a plea bargain at the last minute so he could go on with another lucrative case that probably paid him more money. Washnt he a court appointed lawyer?  They are the worst. If you cant make it in prvt. practice, you cant be that good.  She should have had representation at that particular moment to advise her and not to just listen to him.  She got a bad deal with her lawyers.

Brandi plead quilty because she did not want to see the pictures of Daniel in a hearing she still very much loved Daniel and the idea of having to see him hurt and dead was more than she could take.  She felt she had taken a life a deserved to die, so first she tried commiting suicide 3 times before court.  Then she decided that she needed to go to jail to pay for what she did.  But it is me and her father that are fighting now, more facts in this case have came out and yes, what Brandi did was wrong but it was a horrific accident, not an act of intentional murder, Brandi was 16 she made some wrong decisions that night, but how many of us can say at the age of 16 we were making the right decisions, we thought we were adult enough to make decisions, and of course later down the road found out how wrong they were, but we were lucky and nobody got hurt, at least not physically.