Baltimore police officers shook their heads in disbelief yesterday as a Baltimore County man was sentenced to six years in prison after admitting to driving while drunk and killing two city officers in October.
After pleading guilty, Shane Daniel Weiss, 26, was sentenced to 10 years on each of two involuntary manslaughter counts, to be served concurrently, and one year for driving while intoxicated. Circuit Judge David B. Mitchell then suspended all but six years. Mitchell also sentenced Weiss to five years of supervised probation upon his release and ordered him to perform 1,000 hours of community service.
Weiss' blood alcohol level tested at 0.13 percent (0.10 percent is Maryland's legal limit) after he crashed his 2000 Chevrolet Silverado into a cruiser in Northeast Baltimore on Oct. 14, killing Sgt. John D. Platt, 35, a 17-year veteran, and Officer Kevin J. McCarthy, 36, who had been on the force for 15 years. Both officers were assigned to the Northeast District and were the third and fourth officers killed in the line of duty last year.
Prosecutors, police and victims' relatives roundly condemned the sentence as woefully lenient. Mitchell, who had chastised Weiss during the hearing, said the sentence spoke for itself.
"This young man ran through a stop sign without concern or care who was coming through," Mitchell said before sentencing Weiss. "He will be punished, but no punishment will be enough. However, we believe the defendant is experiencing remorse and contrition. While you will live, Mr. Weiss, part of the burden of your life will be remembering what you have done. It will be a weight around your heart."
Outside the courthouse, Platt's widow criticized the sentence. "I just think the sentence was just not fair," said Laurie Platt. "It's horrible. He gets six years, he's going to serve six years. He took two men away from two families."
Gary McLhinney, president of Lodge 3 of the Fraternal Order of Police, was similarly outraged.
"I'm angry because I feel these two families were just victimized again by the court system, and this is just a long list of how the court system in this city has let its police officers down. I'm tired of it," McLhinney said.
A passenger in Weiss' truck said that they had been drinking at a friend's house on Taylor Avenue before the accident. Police said Weiss was driving south on Alta Avenue at 63 mph -- in a 25-mph zone -- when he failed to stop at Glenmore Avenue. Weiss never slowed for a stop sign there, and his truck hit the police cruiser in the middle of the driver's side, police said.
