GUILTY OH - Jonathan Tarase for drunk driving crash, Concord Twp, 2012

[SurfieTX]

A northeast Ohio judge known for doling out unusual sentences has told a drunken driving offender that he could avoid jail by viewing the corpses of two car crash victims.

On Tuesday Jonathan Tarase, 27, entered a plea of no contest to the charge of operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol, stemming from an OVI arrest in Lake County, Ohio, last Oct. 14. In addition to paying a $600 fine and having his driver's license suspended, Tarase can avoid jail if he accepts the judge's sentence to view bodies.

Because Tarase was a first time offender, Judge Mike Cicconetti suspended 60 days of his 65-day sentence. In addition to allowing Tarase to spend three days at a driver intervention program rather than behind bars, Cicconetti ruled that the two remaining days could be spent "on call" to view driving fatalities.

"It would not be done without management by the Probation Department, or without all due sensitivities and the victim's family's approval," Cicconetti told ABCNews.com. "This is not some morbid curiosity. This is to prevent acts like this, and as a notice to everyone else in my community: There will be consequences that you may not like."

http://abcnews.go.com/US/judge-sentences-drunken-driver-view-bodies-car-crash/story?id=18170191

 

[Reader]

For a first offender with no injuries, this is a good solution by the judge, IMO...

 

[CHERIE.T]

Proper move by the Judge imo.

 

[Abby Normal Again]

I agree. Help make car fatalities a reality for the young man.

 

[jjenny]

I personally think the judge should have just send him to jail and took away his driver's license.

 

[Abby Normal Again]

I think all of the above.

I do think it's good though. Especially for young people who still have a little of that "it won't happen to me" mentality. Not all of us had that mentality, but enough of us did that I don't think it's wrong to force someone to grow up and see that such tragic results are real, and not just distant news stories.

When I was about 18, a friend of mine drove drunk and killed another of our friends. Having it happen so close made it so much more real than it was before. I have never been an irresponsible kid, either, but it solidified my resolve to never drive under any amount of influence.