J.J. Lehto seriously injured

Not much. According to Iltalehti, the police are suspecting JJ of negligent homicide (don't if that's the correct term). But I don't think it's official yet, so we'll have to wait and see.

This is such a tragedy. I've always liked JJ, and to see someone make such a horrible and irreversible mistake makes me quite sad. And even if he can't remember anything (you have to remember that he was VERY drunk), he's gonna have to live with this for the rest of his life.

Ok, now the police has ended their investigations and concluded that JJ is suspected of:
- aggravated involuntary manslaughter
- aggravated endangerment of traffic
- drunkenness in waterborne traffic

The case was handed to public prosecutor today for consideration of charges.

http://www.hs.fi/kot...a/1135267239568

They've now decided to prosecute him.
http://www.hs.fi/kot...a/1135268823017

So a loooooong probation and a hefty fine coming JJ's way then.

Edited by Jimisgod, 08 September 2011 - 13:08.

What a punishment for drunk driving occasioning death after the death of several people on a boat here piloted by a drunk the driver and operator were jailed for 12 and 18 months I think.

I didn't hear about this. It would have been dark at the time, yes ? Speeding in a boat is far stupider then speeding in a car as a boat doesn't have any effective brakes.
So speeding in a boat while drunk and when it's dark on a very narrow section of public canal. A severe lapse of judgement by one or both of them and somebody dies because of it. Throw the book at him if he was driving.

Today 14 December 2011 JJ Lehto got 2 year and 4 month jail sentence due reckless driving (boat), manslaughter and driving(boat) under influence of alcohol.

Edited by Mendel, 14 December 2011 - 14:41.

apparently it's 2 years and 4 months effectively!!! that's a very harsh punishment, on the other hand: he did cause the death of his friend.

Conclusion: Don't drive a vehicle (ANY vehicle) under the influence of Alcohol.

Edited by glorius&victorius, 14 December 2011 - 15:48.

Yeah. But the kind of punishments handed are a joke. He killed someone. Until there are seriuos punishments for these stupid behaviours (with or without accident/injuries), they will keep happening.

Edited by sergeym, 14 December 2011 - 16:25.

Stupidy follows no rules. He did not drove his boat drunk because possible punishment was not serious - he did that because he did not even considered such thing could happen.

Is Finland a fairly forgiving culture? Will he be able to get a job after he gets out of prison?

Do you think they'll assign him some sort of alcohol education/AA meetings after he gets out?

Do they have probation in Finland?

What are jails in Finland like (I think I heard that in Scandinavia in general they are pretty nice, compared to the USA).

Edited by Kerch, 14 December 2011 - 17:24.

Is Finland a fairly forgiving culture? Will he be able to get a job after he gets out of prison?

Do you think they'll assign him some sort of alcohol education/AA meetings after he gets out?

Do they have probation in Finland?

What are jails in Finland like (I think I heard that in Scandinavia in general they are pretty nice, compared to the USA).

Edited by FW09, 14 December 2011 - 18:14.

Poor JJ... it seems that from the moment he stepped into that Benetton in 1994 his luck changed. Everything went downhill from then on.

Yeah. But the kind of punishments handed are a joke. He killed someone. Until there are seriuos punishments for these stupid behaviours (with or without accident/injuries), they will keep happening.

Always a smiley guy to see around. Hope his appeal gets his sentence down.

The guy is an idiot who killed a person.

Yes, but the victim is not less innocent. I don't think JJ forced him on board with a gun. They had done it together before.

It is hard to stop people from being idiots by locking them into jail. In general finland has strict rules and law enforcement, but the penalties are not from the toughest end.

Yes, but the victim is not less innocent. I don't think JJ forced him on board with a gun. They had done it together before.

What's the big deal here ? How many times has everyone here done stupid things messing about with their mates that could end in death ?? I remember climbing on top of a mosque once balancing on the roof just to have a better position in a huge snowball fight! There's isn't anyone in the world probably who hasn't compromised their safety for a laugh especially after a few drinks.

A breathalyser test taken after the accident has shown a reading of 1.7 permille for Järvilehto.

They will analyse a blood sample taken from Järvilehto to get a more accurate reading which would be used in court if this ends up there.

For operators of motor vehicles (road) the limit would be 0.5 permille but for operators of motor boats the limit is 1.0 permille. By the initial test he would have gone 0.7 permille over that limit if he was the operator of the boat. In fact I believe even if the operator of the boat was under the limit he or she could be charged for waterway traffic intoxication as there is wording in the law about causing danger to others.

We have still not been told whether Järvilehto was operating the boat or not. The blood sample from Järvilehto will be analysed as well as a blood sample from the person who died.

This is now about "Did he operate the boat or not?". The police are looking for eye-witnesses.

They are apparently letting Järvilehto get better at the hospital for some time before questioning him more - the word is that that could take at least a week. Apparently it will take a couple of weeks until the blood sample has been analysed and even longer concerning the dead person so we may have to wait for a few weeks until we hear from the police how they are going to proceed with this case.

We shall be careful not to judge anyone yet but wait for more information - you would want the same for yourself if you were involved in this kind of a case, I am sure of that...

At the moment I feel this is one more example of how fragile our lives are. I wish all concerned strength to get through this tragedy.

Animation of the boat crash

Animation of the boat crash

As a first timer, he will only be in prison for half the sentence, maximum. Finnish prison system is more trying to bring people back to society than a punishment. So he will most probably be in an open prison where he can work and travel if needed.

Here's an American article about Finnish prisons: http://www.nytimes.c...?pagewanted=all

I am very supportive of the Finnish criminal justice system. Thanks.

Compare that to a similar case about ten years ago involving two hockey players in the US, the difference being that they crashed in a car instead of a boat. In that case the driver was sentenced to three years on probation. Granted, his BAC wasn't quite as high as Lehto's but THAT is getting off lightly.

Im not and i live there. Rapists get probation if they have a job and pedos have to molest more than one child to get hard time. My friends brother has killed four guys and his longest sentence was five years. Everytime he got out, then couple of months later he killed again rinse and repeat.

Anyway Letho´s worst punishment now is knowing he killed a friend.

Compare that to a similar case about ten years ago involving two hockey players in the US, the difference being that they crashed in a car instead of a boat. In that case the driver was sentenced to three years on probation. Granted, his BAC wasn't quite as high as Lehto's but THAT is getting off lightly.