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A man accused of causing a fatal accident on the Spokane River in Coeur d’Alene left jail last week after pleading guilty to boating under the influence. John F. Klinefelter, 45, Hayden, will be on probation for two years and received credit for 112 days spend in Kootneai County Jail. He was arrested Aug. 22 after his boat hit a boat from where Jack A. Miller, 30, of Stites, Idaho, was fishing. Klinefelter’s blood-alcohol level was 0.12, according to the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department/Meghann M. Cuniff, Sirens & Gavels. More here.
Question: Is 112 days of jail and two years of probation sufficient punishment for a boating-while-intoxicated crash that killed another Idahoan?
D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.
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hmoffsuite on December 18 at 4:28 p.m.
I think it is very inadequate.
Stickman on December 18 at 4:30 p.m.
No.
Don_Sausser on December 18 at 4:38 p.m.
Obviously, no.
IdahoDad on December 18 at 5:07 p.m.
I’ll never understand sentencing guidelines in this state, and country. Get drunk and kill a guy, serve a couple months in jail. Cheat on your income taxes, serve three years.
What’s more important? Deterring tax cheats or deterring drunk drivers?
hmoffsuite on December 18 at 5:16 p.m.
The fellow that was killed was sitting near the edge of the river, in a rowboat, fishing, and this guy took his life away. Forever. And that is a long time.
Escapee on December 18 at 11:56 p.m.
Could be that if overcrowding at the jails had something to do with this. I’m no hard-core law-and-order person, but yeah, being drunk and killing someone with your vehicle, be it car, boat or whatever, should command more time behind bars than this guy got.