News popped up today in regards to the Motley Crue front man Vince Neil and the fact that he plead guilty to DUI and will serve two weeks of jail time and then two more weeks of house arrest. If you do a little digging you’ll find out that back in the 80’s Vince Neil pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter and drunk driving for being behind the wheel in a crash that killed the drummer of Hanoi Rocks. I realize that alcoholism is a disease. My father was an alcoholic and he told me a story where he woke up the next morning to find the side of his car was severely damaged, only to realize that he had driven along a guard rail for about 30 miles the night before. This was 30 years ago and thank the Lord that he survived and has been sober ever since. He could have easily killed someone and if he had I would have wanted him to serve a lot of time in jail. Vince Neil only served 15 days of a 30 day jail sentence, paid 2.5 million to his victims and 200 hours of community service. I’m not one to judge but I tend to think that this very light sentencing did absolutely nothing to deter his drinking. Who knows what happened to him over the last 20 years but obviously him killing someone didn’t stop him from drinking and getting behind the wheel. How it relates to law is that he is a rock star and was able to get a very good attorney that was able to get him such a minimal sentencing. Again, I don’t know all the facts and I’m making some broad assumptions here but I’m led to believe that the attorney most likely did nothing to help Vince get on the right track, like encouraging him to go to rehab, whatever. Attorneys have a unique ability to not only help someone with their legal matter but to also act as a guidance counselor. I do know of some that take on that role and see it as their ethical duty to help their clients but I would imagine that most attorneys want nothing to do with that role. I just wonder how many fewer repeat offenders there would be if the legal community took more of an active role in the well being of their clients.
