Law and the sea

[Steve Frost]

I just noted in todays issue of Lectronic Latitude( WWW.latitude38.com/lectronic/LectronicLat.lasso ) a note about our own John Reiman and the Alameda Yacht Club making a donation to the Bismark Dinus deffense fund.

Those of you outside Northern California may be unaware of the Bismark Dinus case. He has been charged with manslaughter as he was sitting at the helm of a small sailboat in very light wind at night after finishing a race on Clear Lake. Their boat was struck by a power boat going in excess of fourty miles per hour, the collision resulted in the death of one of the parties on the sail boat, the owners wife. In as much as the Bismark was slightly over the legal limit for blood alcohol and it was claimed he had no running lites on, a claim denied by witnesses, he was charged with manslaughter.

Oh, the boat that hit him, it had come from a night club where witnesses saw the skipper drinking and racing other boats in the pure black night happened to be the local Sheriff who for some reason did not take a blood alcohol test until twenty four hours later.

Lectronic Latitude, has had several interesting write ups about this case as has Dan Noyce a local news comentator. Bismark Dinus has accrued a huge legal bill defending himself in this absurd case, hopefuly John Reiman can update us in regard to this.

This case may have meaning to many of us sailors, and should have meaning to any of us who would like to see justice in our justice system.

[wfahey]

Steve

Boat US has been following this as well (I think they insured the sailboat) and agrees that this is one of the most absurd things they have ever seen. I have a lot of respect for law enforcement but this really screams of police cover up.

[John Reimann]

A couple of little details: The driver of the other boat wasn't the sheriff, but a sheriff's deputy. And the deputy who investigated the case was told not to check the driver of the power boat (the other sheriff's deputy) for alcohol content. After he later stated that he was told not to check, he was disciplined - I think demoted or something like that.

Different ones of us have different views of law enforcement, maybe partly based on our personal experiences and those of people immediately around us, but this whole thing stinks to high heaven.

The smell goes all the way up to the state attorney general Gerry Brown's office. He was asked to investigate this miscarriage but refused to do so. Donations can be made to his defense fund by making a check out to him, marking it "Bismarck Dinius Defense Fund" in the memo section and sending it to: Sierra Central Credit Union, Attn: Brian Foxworthy, Branch Manager, 306 N. Sunrise Ave., Roseville CA 95661.

I also urge you to write a letter to AG Jerry Brown in Sacramento. And if you belong to a yacht club, maybe you would consider asking it to do the same thing as the Alameda Yacht Club and hold a fund raiser for Dinius.

[wfahey]

I found this on the web today.

Manslaughter Charges Dropped. Don't be fooled by the headlines. Yes, the corrupt DA did indeed drop manslaughter charges, but it is little more than a PR stunt, designed to fool a public that is starting to pay attention, but only reads headlines. Dinius is being railroaded, the DA is guilty of misconduct, and the entire case is a sham.

Just so everyone is clear on the current status:

Hopkins has dismissed Count 1 - vehicular manslaughter.
Hopkins is continuing to prosecute Count 2 - felony BUI causing injury to another person.

This lesser charge carries a slightly shorter jail term, but not by very much.

In order to prove Count 2, Hopkins must prove the same thing as he would have needed to prove for count 1. The only difference is whether a death was involved. Since no one is disputing the fact that Lynn Thornton died as a result of the incident, if he can prove guilt for count 2, the same argument would work for count 1.

This is why his dropping the manslaughter charge is illogical, despite his statement that "justice demands" it being dropped. If he were to be consistent, he'd drop both.

So, really, this is just legal slight of hand to get the word "manslaughter" out of the case, the rest of it is essentially unchanged. He's still blaming Dinius for the accident, and Dinius still goes to jail if found guilty. It's a PR move, and nobody should be fooled by it.

[wfahey]

He was found innocent today.

[deising]

Yes, that is good news. Thanks for sharing all that to keep us informed.