Judge Kenneth Gnoss
Sometimes, there just isn’t any justice in the world. Really, some days I feel like no matter what you do, no matter how hard good cops work to catch the bad guys, no matter if a prosecutor takes a case and does everything humanly possible to get justice for the victim and his family, it only takes one asshole to fuck it up for everybody.
Take the case of Dylan Morse.
On Valentine’s Day, 2009, Morse was driving home after attending a Sonoma State University frat party with his best friend, Ryne Spitzer, when he ran a red light and T-boned another car driven by 22-year-old Alexander Ruiz and his girlfriend, 25-year-old Vanessa King.
Ryne Spitzer was seriously injured, and remains paralyzed to this day. Vanessa King was also injured. Alexander Ruiz – art student, musician, lead singer in his own band, a young man who was showing so much promise – was killed, torn from his family in the blink of an eye.
Toxicology reports showed Dylan Morse had a blood-alcohol level of at least 0.15 percent, nearly twice the legal limit for an adult driver, and had marijuana in his system. Investigators discovered Morse and Spitzer were drinking at the fraternity party and bought beer at a grocery store with Morse’s fake ID before the crash.
Dylan Morse was charged with three felonies and three misdemeanor counts, including vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence; driving under the influence causing great bodily injury; driving with a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 percent or higher and causing bodily injury; under-age possession of alcohol; possession of a false driver’s license; and possession of under one ounce of marijuana.
On May 22nd, 2009, Dylan Morse pleaded guilty to all charges – no plea deal, no sentencing agreement. It actually sounded like this kid was going to take responsibility for the life of Alexander Ruiz, and for seriously injuring his own best fried Ryan Spitzer, especially after Sonoma County, California, Judge Kenneth Gnoss threw the book at Dylan and sentenced him to 12-years in prison. According to the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, Judge Gnoss seemed to really get the severity of Dylan Morse’s actions:
“Judge Ken Gnoss leveled one of the harshest sentences of the past decade for a fatal DUI, ordering Dylan Morse behind bars for at least 10 years for killing one man and leaving his best friend in a coma.
The sentence followed the recommendation of the county probation department, which said that Morse was “well aware” of the dangers of driving while intoxicated.
“This has been an extremely difficult sentencing decision for this court,” he said.
But, he said, ultimately Morse knew his behavior was illegal and dangerous, having participated in his high school’s “Every 15 Minutes” anti-drunken driving presentation and having driven Spitzer — who had his own DUI arrest several months prior — to a court-mandated class the day before the fatal crash.”
I hear you all out there, “So far, so good, what’s the problem here Max?”
Well, first I need to give you a little background information about this story. Dylan Morse just happens to be the son of Merced County District Attorney Larry Morse. The same Larry Morse who has developed a well deserved reputation in some circles for being extra tough when prosecuting drunk drivers, especially drunk drivers who kill other innocent drivers.
For example, Aubree Hogue received an 11-year sentence after she pleaded guilty to gross vehicular manslaughter and felony drunken driving. She was drunk and driving the wrong way on California Highway 99 when she slammed into an oncoming car carrying four military servicemen, killing two sailors.
To be fair, there are many defense attorneys in Morse’s county who say he isn’t any tougher on drunk drivers than any other Merced County District Attorney has been, and California has been cracking down on DUI’s in general. But it was Larry Morse’s status as District Attorney of a notoriously tough County that figured into Dylan Morse’s harsh sentence.
That’s why the family of Alexander Ruiz was taken totally by surprise when, on October 14th, Judge Kenneth Gnoss announced he would reconsider the 12-year prison sentence he imposed on Dylan Morse.
What he did, called a “Recall Motion”, is rarely done – the last time it was invoked in Sanoma County was back in 2002, when Judge Elliot Daum cut the five-year sentence of a gay man accused of stabbing his boyfriend to three years because the man had AIDS and was not getting sufficient medical treatment in prison.
From what I can tell, the “Recall” provision of the California State Penal Code was created for use in extreme hardship.
Obviously, Michael Ruiz, Alexander’s father, and the rest of the Ruiz family, was very vocal in their objection to any reduction in Dylan Morse’s sentence. According to the Santa Rosa Press Democrat:
Michael Ruiz, Alex Ruiz’s father, said the 12-year, 4-month prison term was a “strong and appropriate” statement that followed sentencing guidelines called for in the law.
Ruiz said it only appears harsh because other judges have chosen to greatly reduce penalties. But he said public sentiment about fatal drunken driving crashes is turning and the original sentence reflects that shift.
“The sentence was not out of bounds by any stretch of the imagination,” said Ruiz, a general contractor by trade. “It’s disappointing to hear he is reconsidering.”
Other DUI victim’s advocates and even members of the general public were also angered by Judge Gnoss’ revisiting of Morse’s Sentence:
Lynn Darst of Windsor, an advocate with Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said she feared Gnoss was being swayed by letters and other correspondence sent by Morse’s friends and family in Merced County, where Morse’s father, Larry Morse, is district attorney.
A number of letters appeared in The Press Democrat and others were written directly to the judge, she said.
Darst said it was unfortunate Merced County residents didn’t express the same level of concern for Morse’s drinking before the deadly accident occurred and she called on Gnoss to uphold the 12 years.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Darst said. “The judge should follow his original sentencing.”
Do I need to tell any of you the results of Judge Gnoss’s “Recall”? Probably not, right? In this time of justice based on class and a blatant, ‘rub our faces in it’ kind of unfairness, the judge’s 
decision was a foregone conclusion. What did surprise me was how far he went, and how little anyone seems to care about it.
Most people expected a 4 year reduction in Dylan Morse’s sentence, because the family of Ryne Spitzer supported letting Morse out early. Spitzer was left paralyzed after the crash, but his parents felt that community service would teach Dylan a more positive lesson than a long prison term.
Judge Kenneth Gnoss, citing Dylan Morse’s youth, his willingness to pleas guilty to all the charge, and his clean criminal record, reduced the original 12 year sentence he had imposed on Dylan to three years and four months.
Yes, that’s correct – three years, four months. Ignoring the wishes of both the Ruiz family and the family of Vanessa Coleman, Dylan Morse’s third victim, he lopped nine years off for absolutely no good reason. I think Michael Ruiz, Alexander’s Father, said it best when he told the media:
“I believe that this extreme sentence reduction will make it more difficult for (Morse) to comprehend the magnitude of his crimes and that it will, therefore, likely be even more of a struggle for him to live to his full potential.”
“I believe Judge Gnoss failed Alex, failed Ryne, failed Vanessa, failed Dylan, failed the citizens of Sonoma County, failed us all.”
“The man behind the bench on Wednesday was unrecognizable to me. How does a judge have a thoughtful, coherent justification for a sentence on one day then change that sentence so radically on another day when no facts in the case have changed and then have no explanation whatsoever for this radical change?”
Michael Ruiz was referring to Judge Gnoss’ statement during Dylan Morse’s original sentencing hearing, when he declared he would “not tolerate, not accept this type of crime” and said he wanted to send a strong message to the community.
Well, along with Mr. Ruiz, I’m very curious to know what exactly changed between July, when Dylan Morse was originally sentenced, and when Judge Kenneth Gnoss announced his 
Recall decision on December 2nd. Let’s see, Dylan didn’t get any younger from July til now, nor did he manage to plead any guiltier than he already had. And as far as I know his criminal record isn’t any cleaner today than it was in July.
Judge Gnoss did not make a statement after resentencing Dylan Morse on December 2nd, nor has he made any comment on how he came to such a highly unusual and controversial decision, but anyone with any kind of intelligence can smell the stench of politics on this case from 1000 yards away. It makes me wonder aloud if Larry Morse was able to put to put any pressure to bear on Judge Gnoss, or what Larry Morse agreed to do to save his son from very long prison term, if anything at all.
Is Merced County DA Larry Morse ultimately responsible for his son’s big break, or did he just bargain for Dylan’s freedom behind the scenes (Larry Morse never made a public comment about Dylan’s case until the resentencing hearing was over, when he expressed relief and gratitude)? Either way, he is now a huge hypocrite at the very least.
What promises were made, what threats were whispered? Who’s career will prosper over the dead body of Alexander Ruiz? And even if nothing underhanded actually happened, doesn’t 
the appearance of impropriety make this decision unwise at best? How many people’s faith in the justice system has been shattered by what has happened in Sonoma County, California, in the past couple of weeks?
sigh….Perhaps I’ve just gotten extremely cynical in my old age. Maybe Judge Gnoss honestly did have a change of heart and chose to reduce the sentence of Dylan Morse based solely on the best interests of justice.
But Judge Gnoss has to be an intelligent man, he must have realized that to come to such a drastic change of heart, without any explanation whatsoever on how he arrived there, would look terribly suspicious. I guess that didn’t matter.
He also must have known the pain it would have cause the family of Alexander Ruiz. I imagine that, for Michael Ruiz, it must have been very much like the night he found out his son was dead. But that didn’t matter either.
I would dearly love to know what does matter to Judge Kenneth Gnoss, because from where I’m sitting, it has very little, if anything, to do with Justice.
The Pictures Are, From Top to Bottom:
1. Dylan Morse in court
2. Alexander Ruiz
3. Alexander Ruiz and his father, Michael
4. Lydia and Michael Ruiz
5. The Morse Family
6. Alexander Ruiz
Some of you might be wondering why Dylan Morse wasn’t nominated for a one way ticket to hell also. From everything I was able to find out, Dylan appears to have real remorse for what he did. I could be wrong about him, but because he pled guilty to all the charges against him, without any plea deal in place, it made me believe that he deserved the benefit of the doubt.
Only time will tell if my assessment of Dylan Morse is an accurate one. I’d really like to be able to point at this one young man and say, “here’s a person who chose to man up for what he did, and face the consequences of his actions.”
We’ll see, we’ll see.
Should Judge Kenneth Gnoss Make The Rest Of His Rulings In Hell?
- Yes, Your Honor (80%, 418 Votes)
- No, Your Honor (20%, 103 Votes)
Total Voters: 521
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80 Comments »
Hopefully your assumptions are right max, only time will tell.
Still hate drink drivers though, on another note I was a ‘did’a’ person today ( you know the saying shoulda, coulda, woulda but didn’t) a neighbour who owns and audi put her 4 grandkids in the car along with her daughter and went for a drive I believe an audi only has 4 seat belts? so I rang the cops and told them, now she is being done for reckless driving (she came over to bitch that they were picking on her) I felt bad for doing it, but much better knowing that the kids are now safe.
justjaney, for what it’s worth I think you did the right thing. People are so sensitive now. If you’d spoken to your neighbor face to face that could easily have blown up into a confrontation. What are we paying the cops for, anyway? And, a bigass ticket for a moving violation is going to make more of an impression on this woman than any friendly words from you.
Mrethiopian (like anyone cares where you’re from) seriously, don’t you think you’re overreacting just a bit? “fat lazy ass” and “pathetic excuse for a human” are harsh words, I’d say they apply more appropriately to the woman who knowingly endangered her grandchildren, although not knowing her I can’t be certain she has a fat ass or not.
Justjaney – why would you tell that story about what a pathetic spiteful excuse for a human you are, if you saw your neighbor endangering her kids by not belting them in, then why not simply get off your fat lazy ass and talk to her directly, but instead you choose to exacerbate the situation by calling the police, just so you know, your suppose to help your neighbors NOT screw them. btw I have had two Audi’s both had more than 4 seat belts.
feel free to look in a mirrior
Mr Fucktard…1. Look in the mirror yourself, 2. Your’e a fucktard as you are probably under the catagory ‘coulda’ but is to gutless too, (going by your comment ” your suppose to help your neighbors NOT screw them” and 3. Leave my fat ass out of it, what you jealous I have one and you don’t??.
I blieve in the safety of the children (any children) especially when there is no car or booster seats for the younger of the four, who is not even 2 yet. Obviously you don’t give a rats about the welfare of anyone but yourself, goodluck going through life with those blinders on, idiot.
…She does’n know I was the one who called the police, she just came over to bitch about how unfair the cops were. For that I don’t care whether she did or didn’t.
I know I may have saved 4 maybe more lives yesterday (who knows she could have gotten into an accident and killed others?) I slept
very well last night and I I have a clear concious….what about you??
In a case like yours I would simply talk to my neighbor and ask if I could help, “do you need to barrow one of my mini-vans, do you need a child seat”, I would NOT call the police on someone who is my friend and yes I respect and think of all my neighbors as friends.
Southern Lady – I was born in the greatest country in the world and I still proudly have the stars and stripes flying at my house and will continue to do so till the day I die.
Done
That’s hilarious ‘You can borrow one of my mini-vans’ ‘or would you like a car seat’ (actually that last one is the funniest) again, where would it go by the way? the hood?? on top of the roof like grandma from that griswald vacation movie??
So you are telling me that if you seen ‘one of your neighbours’ do something wrong, say oh I don’t know filling a mini-van with 16 kids you would just go over and ask if they would like one of yours?
Or say, the neighbour was molesting kids,
Or the other neighbour was walking around with a shot gun, you would again go over and ‘chat’ nicely with them, before or if you did anything?…again I go back to you being a complete tool.
Oh and as for the flag, I too have mine showing here in oz to, what’s your point??
‘Done’
I belive the woman before you was saying she would offer some kind of other way to fix the problem other then forcing the woman to pay a high dollar ticket. I remember when we were kids, our grandparents did the same with us. Before booster seats and car seats were laws, they were viewed as a way to keep the children sitting down.
It would have been better on your part if the grandmother didn’t leave her driveway at all. What if something happened between your phone call and the police catching up with her? You could have avoided that and proably saved a life by simply pointing out that the children needed to be buckled in. Maybe offer to sit the younger ones who didn’t have car seats.
I agree with you.. An accident could have been caused because g-ma was distracted by children who were standing up. My personal opinion, if you want to feel truly free of any guilt you would have tried more to prevent the g-ma from ever leaving her driveway rather then watch her leave and call the cops.
Anyone else looking at what you did would see you as wanting to cause trouble, not a concerned citizen. Your intentions were true, your actions are what’s called into question.
Hey Gaby, scroll down a little further….you will see another part to story…
i agree with Gabby
hey asswhipe,before u start givein any females shit on here,try bringin it to a dude here in austin tx.and just FYI,BIG BUTTS CAN BE COOL.
Bo, I am from Austin my son and I moved to the coast in June!! God we miss it!! Go play under the Zilker tree for me, o.k.?
deedee i am on face bk now,look for the dude with a bald head and shades lookin kicked back,lol. and face fuzz
Janey did the RIGHT thing, that woman if confronted by Janey would have been pissed that Janey had dared to get in her business…they were breaking the law, and if I remember correctly that is why we pay the police to deal with law breakers!! Janey can still have a civilized relationship with the woman and know she might have saved a child’s life!!!
Slow down Jackass, you might end up posting a retarded run on sentence if you don’t. Oh wait.
If they got in the car and drove off, is she supposed to chase them down the street? Are you aware that it’s actually advised to call a police officer and let them deal with it rather than try to get between a neighbor and the law? Is she supposed to go over there and write them a ticket? Obviously the Audi did not have enough seat belts or grandma wouldn’t be sitting there with reckless driving on her record.
Why would you post this message showing what a pathetic spiteful excuse for a human you are, if you saw another message where somebody did the right thing for once, then why not simply get off your fat lazy ass and quit bitching at people on the internet, but instead you choose to exacerbate the situation by posting this retarded message, just so you know, you’RE supposeD to call the police when you see somebody doing something illegal(like endangering children for fucks sake!) instead of having a little chat and washing your hands of it. btw take your two Audi’s and park them up your stupid arse, leave the seatbelts hanging out so we can count them for you. Judging by your post, I’m pretty you can’t count either.
HAHA, Harley I love your style, please for give my run on’s will ya ;)
Ha I do it too, but I think structure can be forgiven when the point is valid. Saying something just plain dumb, and doing it with tons of grammar, spelling, or strucural erros is one of my pet peeves.
I’m with you sister!
HAHAHAHAHA!!! He should park his minivans in his ass too while he’s at it. SOunds like he’s as proud as can be of owning more than one vehicle. Wait, don’t move the vans yet, a neighbor may need to “barrow” one first.
While I struggle with the notion of god and heaven/hell, I certainly believe there is a special place somewhere reserved for people like Judge Gnoss and Dylan Morse.
Ideally they’ll experience, for all of eternity, the crushing grief and pain that Alexander Ruiz’s family is going through as a result of their actions.
justjaney… I would have no problem calling the cops on my neighbours if they were doing something illegal, which they were. Good on you.
mrethiopian… You’re a tool.
justjaney…I meant “which they were, in your case.”
Not on the ball today…. my brain is overwhelmed with Christmas gift making. Back to the craft room…
Though the judge is corrupt, I don’t feel that he deserves Hell. I think Dylan Morse deserves Hell.
Look at it this way Legs.
Who is more evil, the man who causes others to suffer, but repents and accepts responsibility for what he’s done, or the man who causes others to suffer and tells us it’s in the interest of justice?
I agree with you on this Max.
Mr. Morse was an idiot and did something stupid which many people have done without killing anyone – still wrong!
BUT
The judge is someone who commits themselves to uphold the law to everyone equally (“all men are created equal” means that all are supposed to be treated the same under the law) and consciously committed an act contrary to what he is supposed to do….
He is intentionally abusing his power – weather as a favor or doing do under duress – it’s still wrong
I wholeheartedly disagree. I think Dylan Morse, if he actually feels as much guilt as he’s portraying, deserves the benefit of the doubt. However, he also deserves the first sentence which he was given. The kid made a mistake, we all do, I’m sure most of us have driven home over the limit and if any of of us had hurt someone we would feel like shit. Mistakes don’t make us bad people. We suffer the consequences and we do the best we can.
Handing out a deserved sentence with conviction and passion, then being bought, or easily swayed, into doing further damage by taking it back, that’s just rotten. The judge here stuck to his morals, his guns, and his passion for his job by handing out this first sentence. He WAS what every judge should be and why I hope they ever took that job in the first place. He shit on all of it when he reversed a dump truck over it and spat out an insulting fraction of the original sentence. If you can be bought, your morals are questionable. If you’re a judge, or a police officer, or any official who’s job is to protect society, and you can be bought, you should burn in hell. He has no business on the bench, or in a comfortable afterlife.
lol, talking to neighbors when they’re doing something dangerous only makes them pissed off at you and more likely to keep doing it, in my experience. The cops can deal with it and you don’t ever have to admit you called.
Good job, justjaney.
Am I the only one that thinks that 3 years for this kid is enough? He has no previous record and .15 really isn’t that high. I’m not saying I support the judge’s reconsideration (especially considering the surrounding circumstances), but I don’t see the point in unnecessarily ruining another life by giving 12+ years.
What if this kid got pulled over for running the red light instead of hitting another driver. Would you all still support 12+ years as a penalty? In both situations his mens rea is exactly the same.
Hi Max,
Can you (or I) edit this comment to delete my last name? Sorry about that.
No problem Ben, I’ll take care of it right away.
But he didn’t only run a red light. He did kill someone. What we would support if he just ran a red light is irrelevant.
The length of Morse’s original sentence wasn’t the point of my story Ben. To be honest, The Santa Rosa Press-Democrat checked court records to see what the usual sentence for a crime like Dylan’s has been over the past decade in Sonoma County. They found that there had never been a sentence even close to the length of Dylan’s – in fact, most people who committed comparable acts received about 3 years.
What I objected to was Judge Gnoss ignoring the wishes of the Ruiz family, especially after appearing to give them some measure of closure with the initial harsh sentence.
Gnoss showed a total lack of empathy for Alexander’s friends and family when he cut those 9 years from Dylan’s punishment – as I said, he must have realized he would be forcing them to relive this tragedy a second time.
To answer your question
YES.
So what is the Sonoma County DA going to do about this …. surely he is in a position to appeal the massive reduction and, at the very least, force the judge to explain his reasons?
Here’s a quote about a different case from their website:
– District Attorney Passalacqua said, “Our community has seen enough innocent victims killed by the reckless actions of impaired drivers. The District Attorney’s Office stands beside the grieving families left behind by these senseless and preventable acts of violence and we will vigorously seek the maximum term of imprisonment in this case.” –
So surely they won’t let something like this stand ……
My option is the sentence got reduced for one reason. Compared to others who have committed similiar crimes, Dylan Morse got a much harsher sentence than them. Is it a bad thing? Considering Alex Ruiz got a death sentence, no it isn’t. But it is one that could be appealed. No judge likes to be overturned on appeal, NONE. Technically speaking, he was only sentenced to three years for killing Alex, the twelve year total came about because all the other charges were consecutive sentences. His new sentence is sadly in line with others who have been sentenced in Sonoma County for a first time DWI that has killed someone.
Pity that he was so worried about looking bad in an appeals court that he reduced the sentence to a joke.
That’s a great point Kdogg. I didn’t really consider the appeal angle because I was, and still am, sure Judge Gnoss’ Recall of Dylan’s sentence was political in nature.
this kind of shit really makes me wish for vigilanty justice.
Mrehiopian, I’m an American who has lived in Africa for the last seven years, and I’d like to ask you a question. Are you really from Ethiopia? If so, I must say, you’re truly an embarrassment for Africans. In any country it’s the wise thing to watch out for the innocents who have no voice. justjaney did the responsible thing. What have you got against her anyway? She’s a hero, in my book.
Besides, I’ve noticed down here in South Africa that very few drivers use seat belts and child safety seats. It upsets me to no end. justjaney would be welcome here to voice her opinion.
We all do some stupid stuff in our lives. It’s sad that one kid is dead, and another paralyzed, but do we need to ruin another life?
No matter how harse the sentence, the dead kid will still be dead. The paralyzed kid can still be a productive member of society, and I’m sure the girl is just fine. Why, she barely got hurt!
Why should a nice white kid from a good family have his future taken away from him because of an accident. Sure, maybe some AA meetings and a driving class. They could even take his license and make him take a bus. But he needs to continue with college and with his fraternity. Dylan could be destined for greatness. What kind of people are we if we would strip this all away from him just because some people happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I am not sure that it matters that he was a nice “white” kid…would it have mattered if he was a nice “black”. The issue is special treatment and politics…the judge stepped over the line.!
Also he probably would not have had the “accident” if had not been drinking…when you are drunk the “accident” is not really an “accident” is it?
lmao – do I sense a wee bit of sarcasm in your comment here Brother Miwist?
Shouldn’t let the cat out of the bag.
Just trying to encourage (provoke?) thoughtful discourse.
I hope this is sarcasm because I don’t want to have just spritzed my keyboard with tea for nothing.
Max I hope you are right!
You know, recently there was a judge in Louisiana that retired after nationwide coverage on a case where he refused to marry an interracial couple,the judge in this case should start planning his retirement now because MADD and other groups are like dogs with a bone and his days are numbered!! This will pick up steam…I hope he slinks off to lick his wounds after leaving the bench, the bastard!!
deedee did u see what i said
Yeah I did gonna go check it out now!!
I would agree that the 3 year sentence wasn’t harsh enough if he didn’t own up to what he had done. He has already ruined his life by making a stupid mistake, why make it worse by putting him in prison for 12 years?
3 years or 12 years still wouldn’t bring any closure to the family. I mean, we sentence rapists and people who meticulously plan murders to 15 years in prison everyday.
If I stabbed you in the heart and was sorry and confessed later, would you or your family want me off the hook? I hope not.
Yea he’s sorry, he owned up to what he did, but that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t have to suffer consequences for what he did.
Are you forgetting that there’s vehicular manslaughter invovled? He KILLED somebody. Some innocent person. Someone’s son/brother/boyfriend/friend. He paralyzed another. Most states consider a car a deadly weapon in a vehicular manslaughter case. Some states will give you ten years JUST for vehicular manslaughter. Nevermind the other people he hurt.
He didn’t just ruin his life. He ruined 2 others. He needs to pay for what he took even if he didn’t mean it. If he doesn’t, there’s no point of having these laws.
I want to agree with you,but the problem I have is that EVERYONE young or old knows not to drink and drive,it is not a closet issue anymore! I have no patience for drunks on the road…if you have seen any of my other post you will know I called in my brother for it, twice! I have no sympathy for anyone who drinks and drive….
It’s not who you know it’s who you blow. This judge is a punk.
Direct and to the point!
u sound like me bill,and i think that shitstains had a few of em.
From some of the comments I have read
1. The average sentence is / about 3 years for DUI there… BUT this is the first case where someone was killed – I se the need for a longer sentence
2. The judge may be afraid of being overturned. If this judge were alive in 1776 we may still be part of England COWARD… I wonder if any verdict has been overturned because it was too light? I bet not as our system is more concerned about the criminal than the victim…
This is just wrong, such an antic should have happened at appeals – being a judge sets one above the people just a bit, but this judge thinks he’s way above the rest of us…… I’d like to see the sentence if the crash was the other way – with the DA’s son as the victim…..
WOW!!!!…..That’s all I’ve got.
I don’t agree with the judge’s abuse of power, but I don’t think it was hell-worthy. Unfortunately, politics comes into play way too often and this is not an exceptional case. I think a 12 year sentence was too harsh, but once the judge gave it he should have stuck to it and let the kid’s family make the appeals. If the judge felt a conflict of interests because it was the mayor’s son, he should have removed himself from taking the case. His actions definitely were unethical.
I called the police on a 20 year old neighbor and her boyfriend twice–each time they were parked on the entrace to my driveway in front of my house and were using drugs and drinking in the middle of the night. She went to rehab shortly after that, so I know I did the right thing. I don’t know that I’d call the police for a car seat violation, though…I’d probably try to talk to the neighbor first and express my concerns. I can see both sides of the story.
I can see where your coming from Kathy, I had seen her previously about this problem, (as a concerned neighbour/citizen) as a question not so much as “I’m going to call the police” a bit more like ‘what about the kids with no belts’, all I got was maybe a week of them walking, but when they started to ‘not actually care’ that’s what got me the most. IMO a child’s life is way more important than a friend/citizen, (as if something did happen, then their whole life will be about blame/guilt and lots of stress).
I said it was an audi it’s actually a peugeot, which is very much smaller than an audi, that’s why I did what I did.
Kudo’s Janey!!
Let’s see here: Judge Gnoss, a Republican, was appointed by the Governator[R] to Sonoma Superior Court, and a salary of about 149-150 thousand dollars a year. District Attorney Larry Morse II is also a Republican.
Odds look high in this county that any Democrat who can sign his name will beat Larry thanks to a change in voter demographics. I’m going to put a little pin in this one and donate a couple of bucks to anyone who will replace him.
To Judge Gnoss, perhaps it’s time to send some letters to the Governator.
I know it sounds horrible to say, but I feel like people like this will never learn until they are on the recieving end of the tragedy. this kid will end up dead or paralyzed one day and have no one to blame but himself. Haven’t people learned by now, drunk driving is BAD!!!! f*cking morons..
I just wanted to chip in on the reporting on your neighbours -issue. I’m not from the US nor even from an English speaking country but for f* sake, of course I’ll call the police on them were they my friend or not! In my country DUI usually causes just a fine or taking the registration plates of the car and losing a drivers license. And now that I googled it: if the DUI involves manslaughter the average jail time is 1 year and 6 months. So yeah, I’m likely to report drunk drivers.
This is something I have tattooed on my leg around a picture of Medusa (sic?) “Forgive and Forget, Relive and Regrait” I misspelled that last word, but its on the outside of my leg and i’m not flexable.. So sorry.
The second he forgets what he’s done, is the moment it all happens again. This boy, no matter how sorry he is now can NOT be allowed to forget what he did. His can say he’s sorry until he’s blue in the face, but eventually they will stop and his mind will let go. This will all happen again and it may not be just one life, but a whole family next time. Time heals all wounds, but some should be allowed to fester for eternity.
Three and a half years is a long time when you’re sitting in a jail cell. I don’t think we’ll ever have to worry about this young man forgetting what he did, the pain and hardships that his lapse in judgement caused. Not only will he have to live with the fact that he killed another person, paralyzed his best friend and put his family thru the anguish of trial, he will also have 1215 nights that will haunt his dreams forever. On a side note, the young man in the passenger seat, he isn’t being punished at all. He failed to stop his friend from driving, and then got in the car with him? Does he not deserve some of the blame for this unfortunate incident?
Eternity is a long time when you’re lying in a box dead, and the rest of your life is a long time when you’re in a wheel chair.
A lot of lives got really fucked up because this kid had too much to drink.
As for a friend letting his friend drive drunk? No, it’s not his responsibility. Dylan Morse chose to drive while drunk. End of story.
Actually, I’d prefer to see impaired driving sentences harsher, accident or not. Sooner or later, there will be an accident, and regardless of the outcome, it’s not because the impaired driver did or did not choose to kill or hurt someone. It’s because someone got lucky and didn’t get hurt. Drunk driving accidents are 100% preventable.
Kudos Miwist all the way from over here :)….
I understand your point Miwist, however we all know judgements are impaired when drinking. I’m simply asking why has it become socially unacceptable for one friend to stop another from driving drunk? No one forced Ryne Spitzer into the car. Perhaps if he had mentioned to his friend that he maybe had to much to drink, we’d have nothing to talk about. Perhaps if the grocery store clerk took longer to examine the fake id, he could have called the cops and had them arrested, which also would have prevented this tragedy. And finally, the fraternity at Sonoma state should bear some blame also, for serving alcohol and not monitoring the persons consuming it. Perhaps if they decided not to server underage minors, again, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. I’m just trying to address the social responsibilities of all the others that were involved and are getting off scott free.
No Nekina, what you’re doing is making excuses for Dylan Morse’s completely unacceptable behavior. I may be wrong, but you sound like a young person to me, or perhaps you just never learned the meaning of personal responsibility.
First off, putting any of the blame on one of the victims, in this case Ryne Spitzer, is just plain wrong, but for the sake of argument, let’s look at him. How do you know he didn’t ask Dylan if he was OK to drive? Dylan was his best friend, what else would you expect him to do about it.
Now Dylan was prepared for a night of drinking. He had what the police called a “very good” fake ID. Certainly it was good enough to fool a grocery clerk and some guys at a Frat who are checking ages. How are they to blame for this accident?
You also have to remember two important things about Dylan – He’s the son of Larry Morse, the DA of Merced County, CA, one of the toughest counties in the State on DUI drivers. He also had been ferrying Ryne to drunk driver classes after his own DUI a few months earlier. That means he was well aware of what could happen if he drove drunk. These were major reasons that the parole board recommended that twelve and a half year sentence.
Maybe now you can see that after you dissect this incident, everything boils down to Dylan Morse being solely and completely responsible for the death of Alexander Ruiz and the paralyzing of Ryne Spitzer.
I chose not to be my usual obnoxious self this time and give you a hard time for your comments, but instead used this as a chance to possible teach you something about character. People with character don’t make excuses for the things they’ve done. Instead, they choose to face the consequences of their actions. It’s a hard path to walk when you own what you do, but in the end you grow to be the kind of person you can look at in the mirror and not be ashamed of who’s looking back at you.
Max, I hardly consider myself young or anything that can be construed as such. I’ve been around long enough to have lost loved ones myself to the the negligent actions of others. I am not trying to absolve Morse of the blame. His actions directly resulted in the death of another. However, I am asking why we do not place blame on those that stood by and watched it happen. Obviously there is only so much a bystander could do, but to do nothing is socially irresponsible. As a teenager and young adult, I often stopped friends from driving under the influence, offering to drive them myself or call a cab. Never ever in my life have I gotten in the car with someone behind the wheel who has had even one drink. That’s personal responsibility. Ryne spitzer could have opted not to get in the car. He wasn’t forced. He could have called a cab, or walked. Perhaps if he had done so, things would be different.
I believe the original article was about the judge reducing the sentence. I do think 3.5 years is sufficient. When you really break it down, the kid made a mistake, emphasis on kid and mistake. When a doctor’s mistake kills a patient, we don’t throw the doctor in jail.
Nekina, it’s not always easy to tell if someone has had too much to drink. A person needn’t be falling-down-drunk to have his or her ability to drive impaired, as the issue is mostly the driver’s reaction time to sudden events that contributes to car accidents. A sober driver will react faster than one who has been drinking, even if the latter isn’t showing obvious signs of intoxication. In fact, only a fraction of a percentage point in blood alcohol level can affect your speed in hitting the brake or turning the wheel if an obstacle pops up out of no where. A person can act and even feel sober, and still be too impaired to drive, so it can be pretty hard to spot a person with a BAC over the legal limit. Likewise, it’s not always possible to keep track of exactly how much someone has been drinking. If a driver is walking fine, talking clearly and claims that he has only consumed a small amount of liquor, it’s very easy to understand why his friend thought he would be okay to drive. He could have asked if his friend was sober enough, or felt he had no reason to ask because his friend seemed clear-headed. You can’t really fault someone for trusting their friend — after all, we’re SUPPOSED to trust the people we care about.
While you’re right that one should vigilant about who they get into a car with, the mistakes made by the passenger are excusable in that his errors were made out of ignorance of the danger. The driver, on the other hand, knew exactly how much he had been drinking and chose to drive anyway, which isn’t excusable. It would have been one thing if he was staggering around babbling, but it’s very unlikely that that was the case.
do not be an enabler. he knew what he was doing with a fake i.d. and the consequences of his actions (his best friend had been slapped with DUI) he is soley responsible and should serve his whole sentence, and just be glad he’s not dead or paralyzed
Words right outta my mouth. Fake ID = intention to commit a crime. However, the crime went from underage drinking to DUI to manslaughter rather quickly. But, the second he took out that fake ID to go drinking, he knew he was breaking the law. His father is a freaking DA for Gawd’s sake. His best friend was in DUI classes. This kid HAD a clue.
12 years. I wouldn’t have even blinked an eyelash over it. He earned it.
“Too good to be true” is a phrase that comes to mind here. The defendant pleads guilty, shows remorse and gets a reasonable jail term, the families of the victims are extraordinarily graceful in regards to what his punishment would be (I commend their civility in all of them — it takes a strong person to show empathy for the person who hurt them, and condone rehabilitation over pure punishment), and the public finally gets to see what justice really is… and then this judge destroys all of that in a single decision. What a slap in the face for all the people who were affected by this.
There’s no doubt that something fishy is going on here. I hope they can investigate the matter and uncover the truth, in order to regain justice for everyone.
I’m so outraged at this I cannot even put forth the words to discuss it.
I hope that judge looses someone he loves to a drunk driver. That is a terrible thing to wish, but sometimes justice is called for.
Clearly, he caved in because of who the jerks father is.
See you in hell, Judge Scum.
How much do y’ suppose Judge Gnoss paid for his knee pads before he went to call on Big Daddy Morse?
I’m sorry — Dylan Morse may be just a kid who’s made a mistake, but in that photo with his head turned he looks like some spoiled little rich bastard who needs the shit kicked out of him.
Ruiz, on the other hand — what a cutie pie. Heartbreaking story.
Hey Max, I don’t know if anyone else had mentioned this, but I had noticed that you had written “Vanessa Coleman” instead of “Vanessa King”. Believe me, I can’t get my mind off of the Newsom/Christian case either. Just an FYI. Love your site.
-Natalie
Oh yeah, you’re right. – I’ll fix that right away.
Thanks Natalie.
Here is a good demonstration of how most of the public believes that unless its the harshest sentence possible…it’s not justice. Well that is a huge misconception, justice is about harmony. Restoration, Reconcilation, and Rehabilitation. It could take 1 month, it could take 30 years. But I’m absolutely sick and tired of hearing people complain and saying it’s not just, when someone receives a less than usual sentence. That’s not justice people, that’s revenge. You’re desire is to get back at them as much as possible rather than focus on their restoration and rehabilation.
Actually you miss the first and foremost purpose of justice.
Safety for the public.
How many people die in alcohol related car wrecks?
How many times are the perpetrators men and women who not only understood the consequences, but so obviously simply disregarded them? Our first and overriding concern in this case should not be in the rehab of the criminal, but insuring that a car, alcohol and the criminal never again meet. I strongly support the death penalty in cases where a drunk driver kills another person while intoxicated. I honestly believe that the only safety insured to society in cases like these are the criminal’s death, not merely because I’m focused upon the end of the criminal as a fair and just reward, but because the punishment should so deservedly fit the severity of the crime.
In cases where the death penalty and even life imprisonment are unavailable, I do honestly believe that the longest possible sentence should be chosen. Not because I believe that an alcoholic who personally chooses to be helped can’t give up drugs, but because criminals in this case never again deserve to be trusted with any form of responsibility as a citizen or participant in our system.
To directly address your concern over “revenge” in this case, I urge you to instead consider that the title of this article refers to a judge who seems to have been unfairly influenced not by the facts and material of the case, but by the prestige and influence of the father of the criminal. That’s not some revenge fantasy gone awry, that’s a reasonable interpretation of a nepotism and corruption laden system that should be reformed. A fair and reasonable call for reform is a much more likely example than a simple accusation of vengeful malice.
You should re-examine your motivations in your evaluation.
I believe DA Morse did everything and anything he could for the big boys in CA government, i.e., Chief Justice George and ex-AG Lockyer (now treasurer) to help his son. This includes investigating and filing charges against Gene Forte, publisher of the Badger Flats Gazette that focuses on exposing corruption of public officials, when DA Morse insisted to Forte, on a recorded line, that he had a conflict and could not investigate nor prosecute Forte, but still did, right about the time Judge Gnoss was considering lowering the sentence of Morse’s son.
Forte alleges he had been falsely arrested by Sheriffs at the courthouse, twice by the same Sheriff, and has proof via audio recordings that the peace officers committed a felony in their police reports by lying. After initially being arrested for 3 felonies, including “lunging at a judge” amounting to $135,000 in bail, the DA’s Office brought charges for several misdemeanors in Sept. of 2009.
Forte has proof that Chief Justice George changed the Commission of Judicial Nominations Guidelines specifically so that Forte could not get a copy of the Nomination hearing in which Forte was cut short by George when exposing evidence of judicial corruption in Monterey county. Forte’s evidence is a recording of George’s ex-secretary Gail Tunnel accidentally conferencing in to her employee’s line and admitting such on Forte’s voice mail. Certainly George has the power to put pressure on a Superior Court Judge such as Gnoss in order to inflict pain upon Forte.
Forte also has proof of corruption leading up to CIA Director Leon Panetta out of Monterey, ex-AG Lockyer, and Merced County Public Officials which includes but is not limited to the mishandling and looting the Underground Storage Tank Fund (billions involved and now in the charge of Treasurer Lockyer.)
The judicial system is absolutely not equality and justice for all. See http://www.badgerflats.com for more info.