Student could face ‘decades behind bars’ for alleged Tesla arson attack in Missouri
Student could face ‘decades behind bars’ for alleged Tesla arson attack in Missouri
Owen McIntire is accused of setting fire to two Tesla Cybertrucks worth more than $100,000 each in Kansas City and damaging two charging stations worth $550 each
McIntire, a 19-year-old student at Boston’s University of Massachusetts, appeared in federal court Friday and has been charged with one count of unlawful possession of an unregistered destructive device and one count of malicious damage by fire of any property used in interstate commerce.
Yes, arson is a crime, and rightly so. “Decades behind bars”, however, for setting two cars on fire (and damaging two charging stations) is insanely disproportionate. There’s a very important reason that not all infractions are sentenced to the maximum possible extent:
If the government is going to drop any pretense of mercy or sanity, then there’s no reason why people shouldn’t take their time, plan things carefully, and destroy the whole dealership. People who would otherwise do less damage are taking note. Sure, some will be scared away, but I think more will be emboldened. Maybe I’m wrong, but it doesn’t matter. Either way, the end result will be worse.
The government is basically telling people that prosecutors won’t be reasonable, so you might as well make sure the crime is truly worthy of the punishment. I cannot overemphasize what a terrible idea this is.
It's like the zero-tolerance policy my at my kid's school...
I told them if you get hit, since you're going to get suspended anyway, fight back until I get there to pick you up.
Hi!
We're the Trump regime.
Every idea we have is the worst one imagined!
Have a horrible day!
Her punishment should be at least as bad as the sentences rioters served for breaking into the U.S. capitol. Or maybe that should be the cap since her actions didn’t result in death and weren’t intended as an attempt at insurrection (unless someone that owns Tesla is now considered the head of government).
Absolutely, it’s called a proportional response for a reason. I always think of the West Wing scene when this subject comes up. The whole scene lives in my head rent free to be honest.
News media unfortunately tends to look up the absolute maximum a crime can be sentenced and reports as if that is the default sentencing. It is rare for crimes to be sentenced to the max. If we can get past the screaming about "but this is Trump's America now!", the sentencing is still unlikely to be at the max, or at least not maxed out on every count.
I wish the article had shown their work, because from my skim (quick skim, but I'm pretty solid on the DD charge maximum at least) the two charges together have a maximum sentencing of 17 years combined if charged by the federal system. It would have been 13 if the state had charged.
two Tesla Cybertrucks worth more than $100,000
Doubt
I mean, it looks like a new cyber truck starts at $62k right now. They're not wrong, but that's no reason to completely ruin this guy's life, he's already paying for college...
What they are worth is what someone is willing to pay for it, not what Tesla prices it at.
They aren't selling: Cybertruck Isn’t Selling So Tesla Shifts Production To What Actually Sells
Even Tesla doesn't want them and refuses them as trade-ins but will take other cars so its not a problem with trade-ins in general: Tesla Is So Cooked That It's Now Refusing to Accept Cybertrucks as Trade-Ins
but that’s no reason to completely ruin this
girl’sguy's life, she’s already paying for college…We agree on this.
Impossible. She was at my house at the time of said incident.
I set fire to that dealership.
Lesson learned, I guess. If she had only set fire to the Capitol in support of an insurrection in support of the far right, she'd be up for a pardon.
If you get decades for that then this just encourages going all in.
They really are this dumb.
They think this will discourage targeted destruction of an oligarch? Decades for worthless cars?
If you get decades for that- make sure to get the rest of the lot. Bonus points for for a factory.
I mean, arson itself is usually punished very harshly because it can easily get out of control and kill people (and most of those laws predate modern fire safety standards). It might be a good idea to look for alternative ways to vandalise Tesla's that don't have harsh punishments associated with them. Or if you do, try not to get caught.
It might be a good idea to look for alternative ways to vandalise Tesla's that don't have harsh punishments associated with them.
One popular method of destroying cybertrucks is simply treating them like a normal car. Perhaps Owen should have vandalized their neighbor's car by giving it a good rinse? That tends to brick these dumpsters
Should have led an insurrection instead, and then become president. Though I forgot if you need to also defraud a charity, be a cheating rapist slumlord and get convicted of 34 felonies first, or if the order doesn’t matter. Things are changing so fast nowadays.
I really don't like jury duty. And would do plenty to get out of it. If I got called for this one. I would happily nullify it as hard as I could.
No you would not. You would find that she is not guilty.
Only if nullification was not a possibility. Nullification sends a much stronger and important message. Namely we don't give a fuck if they're guilty or not. Because this is a bullshit show trial that does not have Justice in mind. Yes I'm aware prosecutors often ask for the largest applicable sentence possible eventually negotiating down. That doesn't make this any less bullshit.
That is what Jury Nullification means, the jury ignores the law (usually because it is being misapplied or the law itself is bullshit) and finds the defendant not guilty, regardless of whether they did the "crime" or not.
I used to drive on State Line past that lot full of Teslas daily, always saw a ton of Cybertrucks just sitting. Once Musk started getting so much (more) hate I figured it was a matter of time before someone torched it.
Also, I always find it funny how it's totally just a road that divides the states, I'd drive to work and be "in" Missouri and drive home "in" Kansas lol
It's honestly better if that inventory sits on the lot unpurchased. It costs them money to store it and it looks bad for them having old inventory around months or even years out of date. Torching it just gives them a nice insurance payout.
I work in KS and live in MO. Love paying income tax in two states! /s
Feed birds next to Tesla dealerships.
You know what? I know this was a joke but this is a fantastic idea. A way to protest that even the old and weak can take part in. What are you going to do, outlaw feeding birds? Good luck with that.
Oh yeah, totally joking lol.
How can you possibly blame this kid when Cybertrucks have been known to self-immolate? They have faulty batteries that catch on fire left and right; the rustbucket was likely already on fire before he got there.
Yeah, it's like prosecuting women for miscarriages. Oh wait.
Don’t get captured
Too bad he wasn’t a right wing kid shooting liberal protestors to death because he’d be hailed as a hero and given awards and tv appearances.
How much is her bail
Oh, great! Now Donald will be like, “we’ll need to look in to BU. We believe they are harboring terrorist.”
Just getting started
What thee heck is a destructive device? A can of petrol? This is ludicrous, double and triple charging people.
If we ever get another President not named Trump this will be pardoned instantly.
If the Federal government takes over prosecution the big charge is going to be that Destructive Device charge which looks to be up to 10 years. It seems unlikely the sentence imposed would be the max on every charge, media loves to report maximums as if they are automatically what always gets handed down, but that's just media being dramatic.
I'd really love media articles to actually explain sentencing in detail on articles where they just throw around numbers without explaining them.