On Tuesday Lisa Pistolis, pleaded guilty to one count of felony DUI with death resulting and one count of felony DUI resulting in great bodily injury. She will receive credit for time served and could be released in as little as four years.
According to reports, Pistolis was given credit for the 81 days she served in jail before her family was able to post bail and the judge suspended all but four years and eight months.
A report in the Charleston Post and Courier this morning said:
"This sentence was the result of many long and hard discussions with the victim's family and was the result that they wanted," said 9th Circuit Assistant Solicitor Culver Kidd, who prosecuted the case. "I think it signifies an unparalleled level of compassion and understanding by the family of the victim."
Pistolis' car struck a Jeep carrying Serjei Cahuantz and Hart Crouch both of Charleston on January. 27 of last year.
The P&C also added that "Pistolis' arrest drew attention when Facebook photos surfaced (On the CP Blog) featuring her".
You can read the full P&C story here.
The hat tip goes to friends and patrons of Joe Pasta who pointed out the FaceBook photos of Pistolis drinking and in some cases passed out, binge drinking or obviously drunk, to Cedar Post shortly after the mid-day accident on 526.
According to the Post and Courier report "Before the fatal wreck, she had been drinking with a friend at Gene's Haufbrau, the friend later told the police. They shared the mimosas, a mixture of sparkling wine and orange juice, authorities said."
But police reports paint a different picture, one of a young woman so hammered that she could not comprehend at the accident scene that she had just killed one person and left another fighting for his life.
Pistolis' blood alcohol content was more than twice the legal limit.
Cedar's Take:
In light of several recent lengthy prison sentences handed down in cases like this, I'm pretty surprised at the slap on the wrist. That said, prison even for 81 days is pretty severe punishment. I suspect that 4 years and 8 months will change Ms. Pistolis and finish the job of destroying her life that she started more than a year ago when she got behind the wheel of her car.
I personally continue to push for a national zero tolerance policy on drinking and driving. A BAL of ZERO. Simply eliminate the excuse "I didn't think I was that drunk".
17 comments:
What a waste of good talent.
18 years was appropriate, guess good looks and being white paid off? You can bet a sister would have gotten 20 years.
3:05 why are you so bitter?
Haters gonna hate
Crazy that she got away with murder. But Cedar is right prison will kill her, she'll never be the same.
She really made the effort to stay out of jail:
Following her arrest, Pistolis spent about three months in jail and was then transferred to a residential treatment facility in North Carolina, according to her attorney, Calvin Carroll.
"She was very serious about her recovery," Carroll said. "She was very remorseful about the harm that resulted (from the crash)."
Pistolis spent 255 days in the facility before she transferred to a sober living community in Delray Beach, Fla., where she had been living until returning to South Carolina for the plea, Carroll said.
Carroll said Pistolis plans to return to Florida following her release from prison.
2:51 had it right waste of good talent. She'll come out all fat and dikey. What a waste.
I agree with Cedar's push for a "no tolerance/ 0.00 BAC." As someone who has driven drunk multiple times before, received/earned a DWI in 2002 (as a 19 year old,stupid kid), and later learned and witnessed examples such as the ones discussed in this article, I can see the argument for strict laws. It will put the bars out of business if they are not located in a neighborhood, which is sad. However, the main issue is the lenient sentence on the "pretty white girl." Some things never change. A guy, or any person of color doing this is a criminal, but apparently Lisa "Dime Piece" Pistolis is above the serfdom commonly associated with accountability based on actions as opposed to background and coital value. Perhaps upon her release she'll marry an incredibly well paid "bro" who wears croakies, shoots skeet (but doesn't hunt), has a baker's dozen palmetto flag belts and simply wants a stay at home wife to raise the children he wants to have but doesn't want to raise. Then she can put all this felony nonsense behind her, let her hair down, and of course her roots grow out. If he drives a Black Yukon and buys her a matching White Pearl colored model, well that would just be better than if their kids were good at soccer--though don't we all pray for both in this Waspy little world filled with orange slices and parent induced learning disability diagnoses. If this occurs, all you folks saying "what a waste" shall have nothing to lose sleep over.
Wonder if Cedar Posts has any regrets posting all the photos of this party girl on his blog?
It didn't take long for the main stream media to run with it.
Considering all the photos and the media attention there was no way she could have gotten a fair trial. But what if the .17 number was wrong? What if she was really .08?
Then the party girl photos would have been key.
To 3:31 AM.
That's laughable to think that any media attention in this case had any effect on a fair trial.
Unfortunately in today's society, cases like this are a dime a dozen.
2 drunks is over move on
I hope everyone that's was affected can heal and let god be your guide forever and hope that this girl can change her life for the better
Worth saying again.... I would so hit that:)
how much time will the cmpd detective do for her false pretense..... or the 2 officers who recently got arrested for DWI..3 cmpd officers arrested in one month.....way to go Rodney.....maybe Patrick canon will tell all....who is sweating....
who was arrested for DWI? and/or when? it has not been in the news, of course.
Afraid I can't agree with Cedar on his 0.00. Fatalities involving DWI tend to be in the +.15 range an usually involve someone whose not a first time offender. If we use the limited resources we have on the habitual and repeat offenders I'd think we'd be better off.
Using a cell phone, fiddling with the radio or and the distraction of screaming kids in the car are probably a lot more dangerous than the driver who had a glass of wine with dinner.
Arrest look up # 1614012
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