30 years ago 5/14/88

[Dan Dlabay]

30 years ago today 5/14/88 the worst drunk driver accident happen in Kentucky on I71 27 people mostly kids on a school bus hit by a wrong way drunk driver were killed. Every time we go to see my sister in law in Tenn. we see the marker.

https://www.mydaytondailynews.com/ne...0EJWyhjZyZIhO/

[snide]

[SQUIRMIN VERMIN 84]

So sad....

[FasterTraffic]

It figures the perp wasn't one of the fatalities.

[Truck Guy]

[Mike Mercury]

Wow, I remember that... was covered on the news for weeks.

[Mike Mercury]

from an additional source:

Sentencing of Larry Mahoney

Mahoney had been arrested for DUI once before. His blood alcohol concentration (BAC) the night of the crash was .24 percent—substantially more than the 1988 Kentucky legal limit of .10. Mahoney had no memory of the crash and learned of the collision after waking in the hospital the next day.

He was sentenced to imprisonment for 16 years after a jury of the Carroll Circuit Court, under Indictment No. 88-CR-27, convicted him of 27 counts of manslaughter in the second degree, 16 counts of assault in the second degree, and 27 counts of wanton endangerment in the first degree. At trial, he was represented by the Cleveland, Ohio criminal defense lawyer, William L. Summers. On appeal, in Case No. 1988-CA-1635, Judge Anthony M. Wilhoit of the Kentucky Court of Appeals reversed Mahoney's conviction for drunk driving on the grounds that it constituted double jeopardy under the Kentucky Constitution, ruling that the 27 counts of manslaughter in the second degree subsumed the drunk driving conviction. The court ruled that, under Kentucky law, the elements of drunk driving were substantially similar to those of manslaughter. This meant that Mahoney's driver's license could be reinstated, even during his imprisonment. The Kentucky Supreme Court subsequently reversed this line of reasoning in another case, Justice v. Commonwealth, 987 S.W.2d 306 (Ky. December 17, 1998). On May 6, 1992, the Kentucky Supreme Court denied review of Mahoney's appeal in Case No. 1992-SC-98.

At the Kentucky State Reformatory, Mahoney worked in the medium-security facility as a janitor. He earned his GED high school equivalency diploma and participated in Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous programs. Described by authorities as a model prisoner, Mahoney reduced his incarceration by six years with good behavior, known under Kentucky law as "good time" credit. He declined the Kentucky Parole Board's parole recommendation and served out his sentence, before leaving the prison in La Grange, on September 1, 1999, having served 10 years and 11 months. Local television stations broadcast video of him walking out of the prison.

During his trial, the idea was discussed that Mahoney could save lives by talking to school groups, but Mahoney has so far declined.

[Black94lt1]

I’ve seen that marker many times while vacationing, very sad