6-year
term for man in police deaths.
Families, friends of 2 slain officers say judge too
lenient; Sentence 'just not fair'; Weiss, 26, admits to drunken driving, running
stop sign.
By
Laurie Willis
Sun Staff
September 21, 2001
Baltimore police officers shook their heads in disbelief yesterday as a
Baltimore County man was sentenced to six years in prison after admitting to
driving drunk and killing two city officers in October. After pleading guilty,
Shane Daniel Weiss, 26, was sentenced to 10 years on each of two involuntary
manslaughter counts, to be served concurrently, and one year for driving while
intoxicated. Circuit Judge David B. Mitchell then suspended all but six years.
Mitchell also sentenced Weiss to five years of supervised probation upon his
release and ordered him to perform 1,000 hours of community service. Weiss'
blood-alcohol level tested at 0.13 percent (0.10 percent is Maryland's legal
limit) after he crashed his 2000 Chevrolet Silverado into a cruiser in Northeast
Baltimore on Oct. 14, killing Sgt. John D. Platt, 35, a 17-year veteran, and
Officer Kevin J. McCarthy, 36, who had been on the force for 15 years. Both
officers were assigned to the Northeast District and were the third and fourth
officers killed in the line of duty last year. Prosecutors, police and victims'
relatives roundly condemned the sentence as woefully lenient. Mitchell, who had
chastised Weiss during the hearing, said the sentence spoke for itself.
"This young man ran through a stop sign without concern or care who was
coming through," Mitchell said before sentencing Weiss. "He will be
punished, but no punishment will be enough. However, we believe the defendant is
experiencing remorse and contrition. While you will live, Mr. Weiss, part of the
burden of your life will be remembering what you have done. It will be a weight
around your heart." Outside the courthouse, Platt's widow criticized the
sentence. "I just think the sentence was just not fair," said Laurie
Platt. "It's horrible. He gets six years, he's going to serve six years. He
took two men away from two families." Gary McLhinney, president of Lodge 3
of the Fraternal Order of Police, was similarly outraged. "I'm angry
because I feel these two families were just victimized again by the court
system, and this is just a long list of how the court system in this city has
let its police officers down. I'm tired of it," McLhinney said. A passenger
in Weiss' truck said that they had been drinking at a friend's house on Taylor
Avenue before the accident. Police said Weiss was driving south on Alta Avenue
at 63 mph - in a 25-mph zone - when he failed to stop at Glenmore Avenue. Weiss
never slowed for a stop sign there, and his truck hit the police cruiser in the
middle of the driver's side, police said. Weiss, a resident of the 7100 block of
Oliver Beach Road in eastern Baltimore County, lowered his head as Platt's and
McCarthy's relatives talked from the prosecution's table about the impact of
their losses. "My husband, my best friend, father of our two children, was
killed by Weiss," Laurie Platt read through tears. She said the couple had
gotten up early that day to have a yard sale. "I could have never imagined
how my life would change that night when he left to go to work," she said.
"My Saturday night did not end as good as it started." 'I wish
Daddy were here' Laurie Platt and the couple's two children, John Jr. and
Rachel, happened upon the accident scene. "I prayed on the way to the
hospital," Platt said. "I reminded God we have small children who love
him and needed their daddy just as I do. I hear so often, 'I wish Daddy were
here.' All I can say is, I do, too. I can't say to them it will be OK, because
it will never be OK. John was the backbone of our family. I miss John more than
words can express. He was the love of my life." A statement from Catherine
McCarthy, the other officer's mother, was read by a relative. "I not only
lost a son, but Jessica lost her father," the statement read. "There
are no words to describe the loss of a child. Even though Kevin was a grown man
with a daughter ... he was still my child." McCarthy was a single parent.
After his father's death in 1999, he had moved back in with his mother to help
her out financially. "Kevin will never see his daughter grow up and
graduate high school, and Jessica won't have her father walk her down the aisle
on her wedding day," Catherine McCarthy's statement continued. "I ask
you to show no leniency for the accused." As they had when Platt spoke,
some of the officers who packed the courtroom cried when McCarthy's statement
was read. 'I feel your sadness' Afterward, before sentencing, Weiss faced
the families and officers from the defense table. "To the families and
friends, I deeply apologize," Weiss said. "I know there's nothing I
can do to change what happened. I feel your sadness, and I feel your grief,
maybe not to the extent that you do, but I still feel it." Then Weiss
started crying and couldn't continue. His father, Michael Weiss, sat a few rows
behind him. Weiss' attorney, Assistant Public Defender Jerome Bivens, asked
Mitchell to remember that Weiss is human. He said Weiss was very remorseful
about the officers' deaths. Before Mitchell announced the sentence, Assistant
State's Attorney Jan Alexander argued for a 20-year sentence - the maximum Weiss
faced for the manslaughter counts. "This behavior is ... outrageous,"
Alexander said. "I don't know how many more [public service announcements]
or advertisements we need to do. ... Folks just aren't getting it."
Copyright © 2001, The Baltimore Sun
The Baltimore Sun Copyright ©
2001
|
