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Woman who painted nails while driving found guilty of murdering motorcycle rider

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
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JUSTICE has prevailed in this case. I don't care if the defense attorney claims the woman is being made an example of or not, there are simply people doing totally stupid things while driving and they need to get a reality check. In this case a HARSH reality check that is justified!

Woman painting nails before crash found guilty

Driver is 'being made an example of,' attorney claims

http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/2246236,CST-NWS-nailpolish07.article#
Comments
May 7, 2010
BY DAN ROZEK Staff Reporter
Though Lora Hunt insisted she wasn't painting her fingernails when she hit and killed motorcyclist Anita Zaffke, a Lake County jury Thursday convicted her of reckless homicide in the 2009 crash. The guilty verdict left the 48-year-old Hunt in tears and brought little comfort to Zaffke's relatives, who were in the Waukegan courtroom.

"There's no winners today, there's no celebration or happiness," Zaffke's son, Greg Zaffke II, said outside the courtroom. "Two families will forever carry the hurt and anguish."

But Zaffke -- who wears black fingernail polish on his left hand to mark his mother's death -- said there is a crucial difference. Hunt's family will be temporarily separated from her if she is sent to prison for the felony offense, Zaffke said, while his 56-year-old mother is irretrievably gone. "I will never see or talk to her again, never get a hug," said Zaffke, 32. "I will likely spend more time of my life without my mother than I did with her."

Hunt was charged after her Chevrolet Impala struck and killed Zaffke on May 2, 2009, as she stopped her motorcycle for a traffic signal at Route 12 and Old McHenry Road near Lake Zurich. Lake County prosecutor Michael Mermel argued during the trial that Hunt was so distracted as she painted her fingernails that she never saw Zaffke stopped ahead of her.

The eight-woman, four-man jury deliberated for about 3½ hours on Thursday before convicting Hunt, a nurse from Morris who previously had a clean driving record.

Hunt, who has five children and eight grandchidren, faces a maximum five-year prison term, though she also could receive probation.

She remains free on $100,000 bond until her sentencing next month. Her family declined to comment as they left the courtroom. But her attorney said he thinks authorities filed the charge against Hunt in part because she told police after the crash she had been painting her nails as she drove.

"She is being made an example of," lawyer Jeff Tomczak said of Hunt, adding: "I do believe the underlying act of painting fingernails was the impetus for the charge."

He contended that other actions taken by drivers -- including using a cell phone or tending to young children -- are as dangerous, but don't result in criminal charges after crashes.

Mermel said only that he was satisfied with the guilty verdict. "The jury returned a proper verdict in this case," Mermel said. Mermel, though, repeatedly insisted during the trial that Hunt's effort to do her nails while driving was so reckless it was criminal. "She decided shiny nails for her are more important than life for Anita Zaffke," Mermel told jurors before they began deliberating.

Tomczak said he will ask that Hunt be sentenced to probation, rather than ordered to prison -- in part because she is so remorseful over causing the crash.

"If she could, she would give herself up for Anita Zaffke," Tomczak said.​
 

fogtender

Now a Published Author
Site Supporter
Her Lawyer thinks she is being made an "example of"? Well that appears that she is more observant of the case results than when she was driving and ran over the Motorcycle doing fingernails....

Hope the case gets lots of press and she gets five years!
 

RobsanX

Gods gift to common sense
SUPER Site Supporter
Hope the case gets lots of press and she gets five years!

You want to pay for this woman's room and board for 5 years for an accident? The prisons are too full. Put her on probation for 5 years, and have her pay monetary damages. Locking her up won't do any good.
 

loboloco

Well-known member
They should have convicted her of murder, taken her out in front of the courthouse and hung her sorry butt.
 

RobsanX

Gods gift to common sense
SUPER Site Supporter
They should have convicted her of murder, taken her out in front of the courthouse and hung her sorry butt.

It must be nice to the one person on the planet to have never made a mistake.
 

NorthernRedneck

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
What's the fine for involuntary manslaughter??? Just sayin'

That'll make other people think twice while driving whether or not that putting on makeup is really that important. Or talking on a cellphone. Or doing any other thing that distracts you from driving.
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
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What's the fine for involuntary manslaughter???
Apparently some folks think its OK to open up a checkbook, put a number in front of a few "zeros" and go on with your life while the consequence of your stupid actions have taken away the mother & wife of others.

I believe accidents do happen but there is a big difference between an accident and negligence.
 

thcri

Gone But Not Forgotten
You want to pay for this woman's room and board for 5 years for an accident? The prisons are too full. Put her on probation for 5 years, and have her pay monetary damages. Locking her up won't do any good.

Well hell Rob the prisons are full everyplace. Let's just close them and send all the prisoners home. Why should we be paying for these people. Send them home and make them pay monetary damages as I am sure they will all start sending in their money right away. Let's start with one of the prisons down by Madison and see how it works.


Zaffke said, while his 56-year-old mother is irretrievably gone. "I will never see or talk to her again, never get a hug," said Zaffke, 32. "I will likely spend more time of my life without my mother than I did with her."
How do you reimburse to replace the loss of your mother?
 
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jimbo

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
You want to pay for this woman's room and board for 5 years for an accident? The prisons are too full. Put her on probation for 5 years, and have her pay monetary damages. Locking her up won't do any good.
As her attorney says, makes an example of her. Might even save another life by making somebody think.
 

RobsanX

Gods gift to common sense
SUPER Site Supporter
As her attorney says, makes an example of her. Might even save another life by making somebody think.

I agree that might work for things like gang violence, or drug trafficking. I'm not sure that a bunch of soccer moms are going to change their driving habits for fear of going to prison. Just the fear of hurting someone will have more impact.
 

RobsanX

Gods gift to common sense
SUPER Site Supporter
Well hell Rob the prisons are full everyplace. Let's just close them and send all the prisoners home. Why should we be paying for these people. Send them home and make them pay monetary damages.

I'm not sure how you can take my opinion on one case and twist it to mean that I want to release all prisoners?

If this woman moved in nextdoor to me, would I be worried about my safety? Not really.
 

NorthernRedneck

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
I'm not sure how you can take my opinion on one case and twist it to mean that I want to release all prisoners?

If this woman moved in nextdoor to me, would I be worried about my safety? Not really.

Case scenerio......

This woman moves in next door on sunday. Monday morning, as your 3 yr old and 5 yr old are playing in the yard while you mow the lawn, you notice the new neighbor rush outside, get in her car, and start it up. She's apparently late for work. You go bend over to pick up a toy the five year old left on the lawn. The mower is still running so you can't hear the neighbor's car running. You also don't notice your 3 yr old riding her tricycle wander in behind the neighbor's car. You hear a scream then nothing. She has just backed over your 3 yr old. She gets out of her car with lipstick smeared all over her face. She had been putting it on while backing out of her driveway because she was in too much of a rush that morning to do it in the bathroom.

How are you gonna feel about your neighbor as you stare at your 3 yr old's lifeless body lying there???
 

mak2

Active member
Well. was she backing up in her own drive way? Cause if she was I think that changes the whole senerio. Make it she was backing in the street or something. I would be upset with me for not keeping my 3 year old out of her driveway.
 

pirate_girl

legendary ⚓
GOLD Site Supporter
Apparently some folks think its OK to open up a checkbook, put a number in front of a few "zeros" and go on with your life while the consequence of your stupid actions have taken away the mother & wife of others.

I believe accidents do happen but there is a big difference between an accident and negligence.

This wasn't an accident... this was vanity, negligence and yet another stupid person behind the wheel doing something they shouldn't have been.

How could painting ones nails be so damned important that you'd have to do it in the car??!!

Whatever happened to just getting from point A to point B with your eyes on the freaking road?
 

loboloco

Well-known member
It must be nice to the one person on the planet to have never made a mistake.
Made plenty of mistakes. Paid for them if I had to. Never ran over and killed someone because I was too stupid to pay attention and drive. You need to grow up a little.
 

fogtender

Now a Published Author
Site Supporter
You want to pay for this woman's room and board for 5 years for an accident? The prisons are too full. Put her on probation for 5 years, and have her pay monetary damages. Locking her up won't do any good.


An accident is when you are driving along and your front wheel falls off and you run into oncoming traffic.

Doing your nails is a gross inability to pay attention to the four thousand pound missile you are driving...

She should get five years and a lot of publicity to go along with it. The "Victim" is gone forever, and all she did was stop for a red light.
 

Lia

Banned
Tomczak said he will ask that Hunt be sentenced to probation, rather than ordered to prison -- in part because she is so remorseful over causing the crash.

Somehow I think the Zaffke's grief tops her belated remorse...

"If she could, she would give herself up for Anita Zaffke," Tomczak said.


Nonsense! Absolute twaddle! Someone as vain as she is, who would recklessly risk others lives for mere vanity, (I can't believe that wherever she was going, and whatever her agenda or venue that day, absolutely necessitated the wearing of nail polish, could be anything other..) would not want to change places with her victim. I find that remark from her Brief to be trite and callous!

Just one more thing... how anyone can refer to this incident as an 'accident' is beyond me. It was an outrageous act of sheer idiocy and vanity, and imho, criminally negligent. Make no mistake, she had no thought in her totty head for anyone but herself on that awful day. I don't care whether her Lawyer belives she is being made a scapegoat or not, I hope they fling the book at her.

It does stick in the gullet that the taxpayer must pay for her criminal negligence, but a fine and probation is an insult both to the Zaffke family and all law abiding, decent folk.
 

thcri

Gone But Not Forgotten
I'm not sure how you can take my opinion on one case and twist it to mean that I want to release all prisoners?

If this woman moved in nextdoor to me, would I be worried about my safety? Not really.



You should be worried if she is driving and doing her nails in your neighborhood. She took someone's life. We don't send her out in probation just because prisons are full.
 

RobsanX

Gods gift to common sense
SUPER Site Supporter
Made plenty of mistakes. Paid for them if I had to. Never ran over and killed someone because I was too stupid to pay attention and drive. You need to grow up a little.

You're calling for a woman to be publicly hung for a car accident, and I'm the one who needs to grow up? Maybe you need to start seeing a shrink.
 

RobsanX

Gods gift to common sense
SUPER Site Supporter
You should be worried if she is driving and doing her nails in your neighborhood. She took someone's life. We don't send her out in probation just because prisons are full.

Well since she is is not facing life in prison, then maybe you should join loco in advocating for her death. I mean after she gets out, she'll still be a threat right? Heck, why stop there? Let's call for the death penalty for Laura Bush since she ran a stop sign, and killed a boy. How much for a fender bender? 50 years?!
 

NorthernRedneck

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
I don't think we have to take it to those extremes but we also have to consider that careless actions by drivers like that are putting other people's lives at risk. If you are consciously putting another person's life at risk by your actions, then you should be made to pay. I'm sorry, but I'm not a fan of probation. To me, probation=slap on the wrist. Being ordered to pay a fine. Seriously, are ya honestly gonna learn anything by buying your way out of a mistake like that?

If you do something stupid on a consistant basis like putting on your freakin' makeup while you're driving, it's not a mistake. It's stupidity at it's finest.

I was struck by a pickup when I was 5 yrs old. I was in a coma for 3 weeks. Broken leg, broken jaw. Years of physical therapy. The driver was found at fault. He got a slap on the wrist for it. He has since totalled around 10 work vehicles with his careless driving and injured several co-workers. He's still driving.
 

Tractors4u

Active member
Site Supporter
You want to pay for this woman's room and board for 5 years for an accident? The prisons are too full. Put her on probation for 5 years, and have her pay monetary damages. Locking her up won't do any good.

This was not just an accident, this was negligence. I'm sure texting while driving would be fine if the driver ran over one of your loved ones? This lady was painting her fingernails!!! Punish her. Many states are coming out with laws to penalize people for distracted driving. It encompasses more than just talking on the phone or texting. It would get people for reading (I've seen people doing that) or painting their nails while driving.
 

thcri

Gone But Not Forgotten
Well since she is is not facing life in prison, then maybe you should join loco in advocating for her death. I mean after she gets out, she'll still be a threat right? Heck, why stop there? Let's call for the death penalty for Laura Bush since she ran a stop sign, and killed a boy. How much for a fender bender? 50 years?!

Now you have gone way off track. No one said anything about death nor would I join any group to advocate that. And far as after she gets out no she won't be a threat as I hope she would have learned her lesson.

Face it she screwed up. Now she should face the penalties. If it was your mother, wife or child that was killed I guarantee you wouldn't be defending this person right now.
 

fogtender

Now a Published Author
Site Supporter
You're calling for a woman to be publicly hung for a car accident, and I'm the one who needs to grow up? Maybe you need to start seeing a shrink.

Who called for a public hanging?

You seem to have a disconnect between being accountable for ones actions verses capitol punishment. The Gal on her motorcycle got capitol punishment because she obeyed the law and was stopped at the red light.

Why aren't you concerned about that victim, she got life of not being here because of stupidity of someone else, that wasn't an accident, it was neglect. If you don't feed your kids because you were "Busy" all week is also Neglect. But by your reasoning, you are in favor of a traffic ticket on that as well?
 

Lia

Banned
The thing is, whichever way one looks at this incident, the fact remains that she was in charge of a machine around a tonne and a half in weight. She knows the rules and proceedures, otherwise she wouldn't/shouldn't be behind the wheel of a pedal car, never mind a chevy.

Ultimately, she knew that she shouldn't be polishing her nails, yet, she did it anyway. Know why? Because she doesn't believe the laws apply to her!

There are any amount of folk just like her... Somewhere we need to make a stand. We simply have to let these selfish people know that they can no longer get away with this sort of criminally reckless behaviour, and if that means a few years under restraint then so be it. Sorry.
 

XeVfTEUtaAqJHTqq

Master of Distraction
Staff member
SUPER Site Supporter
This was not just an accident, this was negligence. I'm sure texting while driving would be fine if the driver ran over one of your loved ones? This lady was painting her fingernails!!! Punish her. Many states are coming out with laws to penalize people for distracted driving. It encompasses more than just talking on the phone or texting. It would get people for reading (I've seen people doing that) or painting their nails while driving.

+1 :thumb:
 

RobsanX

Gods gift to common sense
SUPER Site Supporter
Now you have gone way off track. No one said anything about death nor would I join any group to advocate that. And far as after she gets out no she won't be a threat as I hope she would have learned her lesson.

Face it she screwed up. Now she should face the penalties. If it was your mother, wife or child that was killed I guarantee you wouldn't be defending this person right now.

Yes, again, loboloco wants her to be publicly hung. See the post above.

Honestly I don't know how I would react if it was my family member. I do hear about victim's families forgiving criminals all the time. Not everyone has a heart full of hatred.
 

loboloco

Well-known member
You're calling for a woman to be publicly hung for a car accident, and I'm the one who needs to grow up? Maybe you need to start seeing a shrink.
This was not an accident. It was willful negligence on her part. Criminal stupidity. An accident is when something like a tire comes off. Doing your nails and killing another human being because you don't have the good sense to drive and pay attention to the road isn't an accident.
She is responsible for her actions. In any just society her punishment would fit her crime.
 
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