Our View - Thursday
A stupid idea
Don't put Michael Toter behind bars
One can barely imagine the lifelong pain the parents, friends and relatives of Sara Michelle Losasso face. The 14-year-old girl died Jan. 19, 2005, after a car crash on Monument Hill. Sara's death was a huge loss to Lewis-Palmer High School and the entire Monument community. Sara was a popular student who reached out to less popular kids and those who had just moved to town. She had a passion for life, and her parents were looking forward to sharing her 15th birthday, her first prom, a marriage and children someday.
"I feel cheated," said Sara's grieving mother, Cindy Losasso, days after her death.
She was cheated for sure. She was cheated by an accident, not a crime. She can't be repaid. This can't be fixed.
When school let out the day of her death, Sara accepted a ride from Michael Toter, a friend who was 16. Michael, a new driver, drove north on a road just east of Interstate 25 and lost control of his 2000 Dodge Neon while rounding a curve. He was driving too fast. A state trooper at the crash scene said Michael was driving at least 54 mph in a 45-mph zone. The outof-control Neon entered the path of a GMC Suburban, which struck the car's passenger side directly where Sara was seated. She was pronounced dead at the scene. State Trooper Gary Flippen recommended that Michael be charged as an adult with vehicular homicide caused by reckless driving - a felony.
Deputy District Attorney Brien Cecil said the teenager was charged as an adult because "a 14-year-old girl was killed as a result of Mr. Toter's recklessness."
Michael pleaded guilty in June 2006 to felony and misdemeanor charges. He served 60 days in the El Paso County Jail and received four years of probation. Today, he faces the possibility of serving six years in prison because of a speeding ticket he received during his probation, and allegations that he failed to properly inform Colorado authorities about it. Michael claimed he was caring for an ill friend when he received the ticket, which was dismissed.
If authorities think Michael can pay for Sara, then no sentence would be too much. Sara's life was priceless and irreplaceable. Six years and 60 days don't begin to pay the debt.
But Michael can't repay what resulted from his mistake - not if he lives a million years. And it was a mistake. It was a car crash, something called an "accident" before the dawn of vindictive prosecution and the politics of "tough on crime" sound bites.
Prosecutors and cops like to say "there are no accidents," explaining that someone is almost always to blame. Technically, they're often correct. Michael, who confessed to speeding that day, might not have lost control of his car had he obeyed the law.
But nobody believes that Michael Toter - a boy the day Sara died - had the slightest intent to harm his friend. Her death was completely, 100 percent, irrefutably unintended. One can accidentally drive too fast, and most drivers have been surprised on occasion by what the speedometer says. Whether or not Michael intended to drive too fast, the crash was an unintended consequence. A mishap. An accident. The high price didn't instantly make him a man with criminal motive.
Yet prosecutors, exploiting a technical probation violation, want Michael to serve hard prison time. They wish to cage him like a predator because of his accident's horrible cost.
Colorado is one of four states that allow prosecutors to file adult charges unilaterally against minors. A bill in the Legislature would require prosecutors to obtain judicial approval to charge those younger than 16 as adults. It's a step in the direction of rational justice.
As for Michael Toter, prosecutors should give it a rest. The man made a tragic mistake when he was a boy. He spent 60 days as a child among vicious criminal adults. His mistake killed a friend - a nightmare he'll live every day of his life. He will live forever with the weight of one family's never-ending pain, and a community's loss. He and his parents have been sued. Michael has paid, and will continue paying for a moment in time he never wanted and cannot undo. Prison won't bring Sara to life. It won't make us safe. It will turn a productive man into a costly ward of the state. He'll be another liability, needlessly crowding another prison cell. It's a stupid, stupid idea.
An easy case
The Supreme Court of the United States might finally bring an end to Washington's decades-long violation of the law. The nation's capital, despite the Second Amendment's prohibition of gun bans, has an outright ban on handguns and severe restrictions on long guns. Residents can't have rifles and shotguns in their homes, unless they're disassembled or trigger locked.
With a straight face, Washington lawyer Walter Dellinger argued that D.C. has a right to ban guns because the Constitution protects gun rights only for state militias. A simple question turned his assertion to confetti.
"If it's limited to state militias, why would they say ‘the right of the people'?" asked Chief Justice John Roberts.
So Dellinger, down but not out, argued that D.C. may impose "reasonable regulations" on gun rights. More confetti.
"What is reasonable about a total ban on possession?" Roberts asked.
To which Dellinger argued that it's not a total ban. It allows disassembled, disabled guns.
"It doesn't seem as if you could use it for the defense of your home," countered Justice Samuel Alito.
The Constitution is clear about the law. District officials just don't like it, and their ban likely will turn to confetti.
