In most states, if you happen to kill someone while driving drunk with a BAC over .18, the standard lowest punishment is 1 to 3 years in a state prison. But in Jackson County, Kansas, that’s not what happened in the case of Robert J.K. Domsch, 27, a KU law student who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter after killing Marco G. Vendetti, 25 of Kansas, MO. in a crash where Mr. Domsch’s BAC registared three times the legal limit. Mr. Domsch was sentenced to just 120 days and 5 years probation
The prosecutors in Jackson County stated that the fact that Domsch had no priors played a role in the lenient sentence handed down. Obviously, Domsch as a recent graduate of Kansas University with a degree in business and law had standing in the community. But when a life is taken and the BAC of the offender is so high, those facts should be given consideration as well.
Domsch’s BAC was .242 and that test was administrated four hours after the crash. So his BAC at the time of the crash could have registered as high as .322. The unwritten law that rank has its privilege is glaring in this case. Evidently, the victim didn’t have the same prestige or level of support that Mr. Domsch did in the community.
What this case illustrates is the need for uniform federal laws on how and what DWI offenders are charged with. Just because Mr. Domsch happened to drive on the wrong side of the highway while extremely intoxicated in a state that has no guidelines for consideration in those factors, shouldn’t allow him to get off so easily. In New York State, a driver with a BAC higher than .08 is automatically charged with a felony DWI even if there were no injuries.
In a society where we all have to share the same roads, we as a society should all share in a justice system that treats these serious circumstances equally. Cases like Mr. Domsch should be the poster child for federalizing DWI penalties and changing the hodge-podge patchwork of state laws which produce these uneven, unfair and unjust outcomes.
Doris Aiken, RID President
Note: Thanks to Bill Dikant for bringing this case to RID’s attention.