Drunk Driver Kills Student and Runs-3 Years; Woman Who Threatens Jail Guard – 7 Years; Consistent Justice?

Are these prison sentences consistent with the wrong? First Article – A 50 year old man speeding down the road, drunk, kills a young man, Shawn C. Williams, who was standing on the side of the road.  The driver fled the scene and was quickly caught.  He pled guilty and received a sentence of 3 years in St. Louis County, Missouri.

In the second article, a woman was convicted right across the river, in Quincy, Illinois, of biting a public official and making threats against that same public official.  This woman was sentenced to 7 years.  Don’t know which is right, but can the two sentences be reconciled?

Interesting set of articles in the St. Louis Post Dispatch on the lenient punishment doled out in Missouri courts for DWI’s.  Michael Bruce Whittaker Avoiding DWI Convictions