Vocabulary notes

Vehic­ular manslaughter	причинение смерти транспортным средством
implied malice	злой умысел

Task 3. Read the text again and make sure you know all underlined parts of the text. Give their Russian equivalents

Task 4. Answer the following questions:

1. What routine had the courts treated Rowan to?

2. Why did the author call the situation ironical?

3. What were the charges against Rowan?

4. Why was not he charged with second-degree murder?

5. What is the punishment for a second-degree murder?

6. What was Rowan’s sentence?

7. Why did he want to appeal the court decision?

Task 5. Agree or disagree with the following statements. Agreement or disagreement should be followed by some comment

1. The courts had treated Rowan to the routine then in effect.

2. His list of convictions was very short.

3. His stiffest jail sentence came from a conviction for driving while under the influence of alcohol.

4. Under a recent California Supreme Court decision, Rowan could also have been charged with vehic­ular manslaughter.

5. The Orange County district attorneys office decided to seek a murder com­plaint.

6. To obtain a murder convic­tion, the prosecutor said, “Just being intoxi­cated is enough”.

7. Rowan pleaded guilty to the major charges and was sentenced to life sentence.

Task 6. Ask questions to which the following statements are the answers:

1. The pattern was a fine, a few weekends in jail, alcohol counseling.

2. Rowan faced the new drunk-driving law.

3. It went into effect in California.

4. He drove with a 10-percent or more blood-alcohol level.

5. His actions didn’t dis­play willful disregard for hu­man life and implied malice wasn’t shown.

6. Just being intoxi­cated isn't enough.

7. William Richard Rowan pleaded guilty to the major charges on June 8.

8. Rowan appealed these additional years.

Task 7. Explain in English what the words and word combinations mean. Use them in your own sentences

Exception, to treat to, conviction, probation, violation, vehic­ular manslaughter, disregard for, to be eligible for, to appeal, to result in, valid, to seek, to imply

Task 8. Practice the speech patterns given below. Make up two sentences of your own on each pattern

1. Court records show that, with few exceptions, the courts had treated Rowan to the routine then in effect. Rowan faced the new drunk-driving law that went into effect in California this year.

2. Under a recent California Supreme Court decision, Rowan could also have been charged with second-degree murder. Under the criminal law, he may be sentenced to 15 years in prison.

3. He faces two more years for probation violations. She asked the panel to listen to one more witness.

4. His stiffest jail sentence came not from a conviction for driving while under the influence of alcohol but from a probation violation. She dreaded not being caught by the police but being despised by her partners.

5. Yet the Orange County district attorneys office decided not to seek a murder com­plaint. Yet he didn’t do what he was asked to. Yet Americans commonly get killed in these circumstances. Yet because many people do think that, they are throwing their weight behind indiscriminate policies which, at huge cost, bludgeon crime as a whole but fail to tackle the problem of violence.

Task 9. Make the summary of the text. Use the key words and word combinations