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news
Tashonty Toney New Orleans drink driver kills two cyclists (New Orleans Police Department)Drunk driver who killed two cyclists in 80mph collision to have 91-year sentence reviewed
A Louisiana appeals court has asked for a review of the 91-year sentence handed to a drunk driver who hit nine cyclists, killing two. The 4th Circuit Court of Appeal said the judge had failed to sufficiently spell out the reasons for handing out the maximum sentences, the harshest in state history for vehicular homicide.
Consequently, the ruling concluded, judges could not properly review Tashonty Toney's argument that the total sentence was excessive, so the case will be sent back to the criminal court in New Orleans for a "meaningful sentencing hearing", after which it can assess Toney's appeal.
Toney pleaded guilty to 16 criminal counts in October 2019 regarding the incident seven months prior, including two counts of vehicular homicide. With no sentencing agreement in place, Judge Laurie White decided on 30 years for each vehicular homicide, as well as six maximum five-year sentences for the counts of vehicular negligent injuring.
Even serving some of the sentences concurrently, Toney's total sentence was 91 consecutive years, 60 without the possibility of parole. The appeals court ruling noted the 91-year punishment was effectively a life sentence, so the trial court must hold a hearing where Toney's lawyers can present evidence.
Then the court must give reasons if it again decides on maximum sentences on each count.
Court records say Toney, 34, was arrested and found to be driving with a blood-alcohol level above .21 per cent, approximately two and a half times the legal limit, when he drifted into a bike lane at speeds of 80mph, hitting nine cyclists, before finally coming to a stop after colliding with another vehicle. He fled the scene on foot but was held by witnesses until the police arrived.
WARNING: DISTURBING VIDEO: WDSU has obtained video from the deadly bike crash on Endymion Night. Video shows the man sentenced in the crash, Tashonty Toney, fleeing the scene >> https://t.co/zIzmQuLTcD pic.twitter.com/uhhd9XKMlf
— wdsu (@wdsu) November 19, 2019
Witnesses reported scenes of carnage as passers-by gave first aid treatment to victims on Esplanade Avenue, which was busy with people from the parade — Sharree Walls, 27, and David Hynes, 31, were killed in the incident.
At Toney's sentencing, the judge heard testimony from injured survivors and parents and friends of Walls and Hynes. The driver apologised to the victims in court, but then the next day a recorded jailhouse call was played, in which the defendant and one of his sisters laughed and joked about the previous day's victim-impact testimony.
Fox 8 Live also reported Toney's sister was heard on the recording using a racial slur in reference to the parents of one of the victims.
In February 2020, Toney reappeared in court but Judge White denied his motion to reconsider the sentence. At that appearance, four of the injured survivors submitted a letter saying they would accept Toney's release after 15-20 years if he was stripped of his driver's licence. Walls' mother and others argued the original sentence was deserved.
Despite returning the case to the criminal court, the appeals court ruling accepted: "Certainly, the pain and suffering caused by defendant's actions are deserving of a harsh penalty of imprisonment."
Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.
Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.
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20 comments
The USA funds this show with mega taxes on booze, dope and tobacco. Judges allow multi offenders to walk the streets, regularly. Suspending the license does absolutly nothing to thwart drunk and stoned drivers. The body count of cyclist and pedestrians is appalling then some clown show judge says "Ohhhhhh my that's not fair, He only killed 2". You must reconcider, this guy is a hellofa consumer. Look at all the good he can do guzzling booze or combining it with some good weed. Ohhh the taxes we can collect.
At least they punish dangerous driving. Over here this guy might not have even got a prison sentence, and would have definitely been back on the roads in less than 8 years in any case. We need better punishments because we don't currently have a deterrent from bad driving.
Louisiana and not a white person. I wonder why he got a 91 year sentence? Although drunk, 80mph and running away afterwards should still be double digits in my book.
...er, because he took the life of two people who just went out for a bike ride - whilst drunk, and speeding, and then he ran off. Watch the video and tell me he doesn't deserve it. Look at his mugshot and tell me he looks sorry. Or ashamed at the hurt he's caused.
Perhaps if the UK had proper sentencing for careless/drunk/drugged up driving over here we might have fewer cycling road deaths...
White kid drives into cyclists whilst performing illegal manouvre and probably gets away with it. White men kill a black jogger then claim they were only trying to citizen arrest AND then shot the person in self defence, and if they hadn't stupidly released video to social media, would have got away with it. I'm not stating he should be free, however 91 years, 60 without even getting parole if totally the other end of the scale and I can only assume is because he is a black criminal in Louisiana. If not, please enlighten me by pointing to similar sentences to white drivers in the same state.
This is not a hypothetical case. It's a real one. With a real criminal driving into real cyclists at 80mph whilst intoxicated (whether through alcohol or drugs it matters not), killing two of them. Why bring race into it?
Let me be clear. I don't care what colour the driver is and you'd have difficulty proving the judge and jury did too.
All I've asked is for you to find a white drunk driver who killed in that state and lets see if they get anywhere near 90 years.
This one might be worth following for example.
Or this one where the woman killed one and only got 20 years with 16 before parole. Now if the original person had got similar I would have been fine with that sentence myself. However he got four and a bit times the sentence. Still if you look at american states and don't see a difference between the sentences of white people and non white people, especially in the southern states, then I don't think there is much more to say.
Neither of those are directly comparible though are they?
I personally think the US justice system sucks in the way that it happily tots up the sentencing. 90 years is a ridiculous sentence in this instance.
I don't know, the lady only killed one person but managed to hit the other car so hard it travelled along a crash barrier for a hundred feet before hitting another barrier so hard it pierced the cab, the person within and exited the vehicle. And this was her third drunk driving charge in 9 months. There was also another member in the car who was severly injured, the concurrent sentencing for that crime was 6 months on top. So I don't see why it can't be compared.
And why should I spend my time doing that? This guy mowed down 9 cyclists....NINE....killing two of them. He did so at 80 mph whilst drunk - and undertaking.
I think that causing a single death in this manner carries a sentence of 30 years in Louisiana. He caused two. And several critical injuries. There you go....that's your 90.
If this policeman's son had opened fire with a machine gun he couldn't have done much more damage - and then he'd be on death row with 63 others (which is about as much research as I'm going to do on this).
I think that causing a single death in this manner carries a sentence of 30 years in Louisiana
So if it is 30, why would the lady be only given 20. As mentioned, I don't think it wasn't a serious crime, just that it seemed over the top sentencing which is why it is being reviewed.
And I'm guessing that it is the Charlestone church shooting you didn't link to. Well if you want to actually compare a planned shooting that was a federal crime and tried as domestic terrorism which killed 9 to a drunk driver to show no racism, again not much really to comment further.
The implicit seems to have been missed so let's be clear: this is a racist sentence from a racist justice system. (I'm not here to argue about this, the racial disparities in the US justice system are well documented. If you don't agree you are the problem).
He did a bad thing and deserves a significant sentence, no argument there though.
If I don't agree with you, I'm a problem...Hmmm....got many mates?
I would prefer to see better detection, prosecution and conviction for all driving offences, than draconian sentances for those few unlucky ones.
Very few (if any) people are convicted of death by carless driving more than once. No one thinks they will kill anyone, by their actions. WE need to drive down the dangerous behavours not react in an extreme way when the all too predictable result of tolerating unsafe driving comes home to roost.
Okay, that seems excessive. Is it too much to ask for us to have sensible sentences for dangerous drivers?
I'd like to see (in the UK at least) driving bans handed out like candy - short term bans for simple offenses such as jumping red lights, using a mobile device etc. Lifetime driving bans for at fault driving causing death or life-changing injuries. Immediate prison terms for driving without a license and/or whilst banned.
Also, court cases should use driving test examiner(s) as expert testimony, stating whether the driving in question would constitute an immediate fail on a driving test and instruct the juries to consider guilty verdicts whenever that is the case.
Huge prison sentences like this one don't really act well as a deterrent and if I were cynical (I am), I'd think this sentencing might be based partly on the perp's skin colour.
Well it's a stereotype but US culture really does seem to tend to the "big" and that goes for the justice system too. I'm only surprised they don't regularly have multiple death sentences although I understand that they have tried to execute the same person more than once on a number of occasions.
Hear hear on the "it's a licence so we can temporarily suspend that as an admin measure - and you will get hauled in to prison if you ignore that, without further legal ado".
Other things I would like to see: the ability to require retests even without a ban (I.e. Your licence continues to be valid for 6 months to give time to repass test) which could be all but automatic on incidents with injury etc before discussion of fault
Given claims of stress related illnesses/PTSD as part of defence, even someone not at fault should be being checked to ensure they are still safe to drive and won't suffer panic attacks in common driving situations...
Personally, for more minor offences, I'd like to see licenses revoked, rather than any ban. i.e. the offender could go out the next day and do a test and, assuming they are competent, be back up and running for nothing more than the cost of that retest.
The idea being that its at best an inconvenience and a refresher, but worst case, if your driving is not of the standard required, you are off the road until such a time that it improves.
My thinking is that we need to move away from drivers believing that a driving license is an unassailable right and especially judges being scared of revoking licenses.
Make it a common occurrence - "Sorry I'm late, a cop caught me speeding, revoked my license and I had to get a taxi the rest of the way here"
Most terrible drivers are perfectly capable of driving well, and can put on a show of doing so to the examiner. It's not that they don't know how to drive carefully, they just choose not to. Hardly anyone is going to start fiddling with their mobile while retaking their driving test, although I guess if anyone is really that dumb it would be good to have them off the roads.