October 01, 2005
Breanna Zipf was a 17-year-old drug user with a history of blackouts and seizures. She had no driver's license because of her medical condition, which could cause her to lose consciousness behind the wheel and wreck any vehicle that she was driving. Breanna stole her mother's rental car so that she could make a run to a local fast food restaurant.
Their paths crossed when Breanna blacked out after running a stop sign while speeding and ran Ms. Davey down on the sidewalk near her home. Breanna then got out of her car and walked home without making any attempt to render aid to her victim.
On Thursday, Breanna Zipf was convicted of murder. This is a good thing.
On Friday, though, the same jury gave a sentence that constituted a manifest injustice.
One day after convicting Breanna Zipf of murder for a traffic accident that killed a kindergarten teacher, a jury decided Friday that she should serve 10 years' probation.Zipf, 18, wept after state District Judge Brock Thomas announced the sentence.
Her father said he was glad she would avoid prison.
The father of her victim, however, said he had expected the teen to serve prison time.
"I don't like it very much," said Robert Davey, whose daughter, Gwendolen Davey, was run down July 23, 2004, by a car Zipf was driving.
Thomas will announce the conditions of Zipf's probation in a hearing Monday.
That this irresponsible, self-indulgent little murderer will be permitted to walk the streest where she ran down an innocent woman and left her to dies is an outrage. It is my hope that Judge Thomas will impose the toughest possible conditions upon Breanna Zipf -- conditions that will make it likely that this killer will eventually screw up and do at least part of the 10 years behind bars.
And I urge the Texas legislature to fix this law. No more probation for murderers.
Posted by: Greg at
03:46 AM
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The problem of the obviously inadequate sentence for Breanna Zipf has been rectified. Ms. Zipf jumped probation, got pregnant, and wound up in Judge Thomas's court recently for resentencing. She now has a ten-year prison sentence.
Check on the disposition of this case on Google by typing Gwendolen Davey in the search line. There are articles and reports there from the Houston Chronicle and the Houston television stations.
By typing Breanna Zipf in the search line one has access to an article in the Houston paper where members of the original jury regret their leniency.
Finally!
Posted by: robert c. davey at Mon Apr 30 03:46:03 2007 (7I4JE)
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