The Cult of Cameron, Part II
Cameron Herrin’s Pathological Arrogance
The more I learn about the deadly collision that took place on Tampa’s Bayshore Boulevard on Wednesday, May 23, 2018, the more disgusted I become. The magnitude of Cameron Herrin’s arrogance that led to this disaster is so great, it borders on narcissism.
For those not aware of the incident, on Wednesday, May 23, 2018, Cameron Herrin took part in an unlawful drag race in a residential area along Bayshore Boulevard in Tampa, Florida. The Berla data extracted from the car’s infotainment system of Cameron’s Mustang GT showed speeds just above 102 mph, mere seconds before he struck Jessica Reisinger-Raubenolt, aged 24, and her 21-month-old daughter Lillia Raubenolt, who were legally crossing the street. Jessica was killed at the scene, Lillia succumbed to her injuries the following day. The speed limit on Bayshore Boulevard is 40 mph, which means Herrin was driving at more than two and a half times the speed limit.
Before anyone asks, I hold no concerns regarding any liability stemming from my statements. These are factual matters to which Cameron Herrin has entered a guilty plea. He was also adjudicated guilty by Circuit Court Judge Christopher Nash.
Let’s first look at some background information surrounding this incident. To begin with, Bayshore Boulevard is well-known to Cameron Herrin. His parents, Chris and Cheryl Herrin, first bought a home on West Gardner Court for 1.4 million dollars in 2005, when Cameron was around five years old. West Gardner Court is a cul-de-sac that opens only onto Bayshore Boulevard. This means that from a young age, whenever he rode in a car with his parents to any destination, part of their journey inevitably included Bayshore Boulevard. He was intimately familiar with this street.
When Herrin’s older brother, Tristan, graduated from high school, his parents offered to buy him a vehicle as a graduation present, and he chose a truck. Shortly before Cameron’s graduation, his mother discovered an excellent deal on a black Mustang GT, which Cameron received approximately a month before his graduation.
And I have to question the wisdom of entrusting a powerful car to a young, inexperienced driver. Did the incident surrounding Nick Bollea, Hulk Hogan’s son, teach us nothing? Why would Cameron’s parents give him a car that can reach speeds more than double Florida’s maximum speed limit of 70 mph? It raises questions about their judgment.
Moreover, the Mustang GT is known for its loud exhaust, which raises the question of why Cameron would choose a car that attracts negative attention. When a car with a loud exhaust disrupts traffic, it doesn’t impress me; it’s irritating. It makes me wonder about the driver’s need to interrupt others’ thoughts or conversations with such a noisy vehicle.
And when Cameron’s egregious speed limit violations brought about the all-but-inevitable result and claimed two lives — a 24-year-old mother and her 21-month-old baby — the uncomfortable facts about Cameron’s driving habits emerged. For example, his vehicle was recorded traveling at 162.7 mph on I-75 South. This speed is not only approximately 2.3 times over the speed limit, but it also exceeds the maximum speed the manufacturer stated the car could safely maintain. Herrin should perhaps count himself lucky that he didn’t kill himself. In fact, in the four days prior to May 23, 2018, when Herrin killed Jessica and Lillia, the car’s event data recorder had clocked his car in extreme violations of the speed limit 14 times, including five on Bayshore Boulevard, which had a speed limit of 40 mph. And these violations on Bayshore Boulevard ranged from 70.3–84.1 mph.
There were also six other egregious speed limit violations on I-75 (70 mph speed limit) that were entered into evidence, ranging from 84.9 to 162.7 mph.
Cameron Herrin’s reckless driving, which resulted in the deaths of Jessica and Lillia, was not an isolated incident. It appears to be a habitual behavior for him. He disregards speed limits, whether on the Interstate or in residential areas like Bayshore Boulevard. Cameron drives at whatever speed he pleases, no matter the location or neighborhood. To him, speed limits were made to be ignored, not rules to follow, wherever he may be driving.
Further evidence of Herrin’s dismissive attitude towards speed limits was discovered in a text exchange with a friend, whose identity was not disclosed in court but is presumed to be John Barrineau. Herrin was racing Barrineau when he caused the deaths of Jessica and Lillia.
Pictured below is the exchange, taken from Cameron’s phone, as presented in court during his sentencing hearing.
I had to acquaint myself with some texting slang like “ight” and “bet” (or maybe it’s “Aight bet”), but “veterans” clearly refers to Veterans Expressway in Tampa. What’s concerning in this conversation is the phrase “the stang gotta let loose.” It implies that he feels entitled, even obligated, to push his “Stang” to its limits, as though racing his Mustang at dangerously high speeds is the only way to truly enjoy his vehicle, ignoring speed limits. Additionally, his friend (whoever that may be) is egging him on to “rip it down.”
While tracking the activities of Cameron Herrin’s supporters on Twitter, I observed their particular outrage over the victim impact statements made during Herrin’s sentencing hearing. Consequently, I decided to watch them and am sharing my reflections on those statements here.
Pamela Reisinger, who is Jessica’s mother and Lillia’s grandmother, went first. She has my deepest sympathies. It is a tragedy for a parent to bury their child, let alone both their child and grandchild, especially due to something as reckless as a young, inexperienced driver drag racing in a residential area. The magnitude of such a loss is beyond what anyone should have to endure.
And she was every bit the grieving mother I expected. She expressed that she did empathize with the Herrin family’s loss. However, she also emphasized that their suffering could not match her own. In the nearly three years following her daughter and granddaughter’s passing, the Herrin family has still had their son Cameron by their side. “They can comfort their child. They can go to them and hug them. I go to a closet and sniff a t-shirt. I go to a baby picture and stroke her cheeks to comfort her.”
The testimony was both poignant and moving, significantly undermining Cameron Herrin’s defense. Additionally, it highlighted a stark hypocrisy. “You hear about about remorse and regret, and their sympathy, and when they [the Herrins] say that they wish they could switch places with them [Jessica and Lillia], and we all know that’s not possible.” Then, alluding to the defense attorney’s tactics to repeatedly postpone the day of sentencing for almost three years, she added, “If you’re willing to switch places with them, why aren’t you willing to do your sentence?”
A very good question, Pamela. Herrin’s supporters tend to focus on the impact statements of David Raubenolt, and to a lesser extent, those of his two siblings. If I supported Cameron Herrin, I would have worried more about the testimony of Pamela Reisinger.
David Raubenolt, Jessica’s widower and Lillia’s father, was next. In stark contrast to Pamela’s testimony as a grieving mother, David seemed to be at an angry stage in his bereavement. Which is certainly understandable. He’d been waiting for nearly three years for the opportunity to confront his wife’s and daughter’s killer. And now, at last, he was given the chance to do it.
I must admit, David Raubenolt’s victim impact statement left me feeling disappointed. Beyond his anger, there was an air of self-righteous indignation in his words, a stance that rarely elicits sympathy. However, I can empathize with him. Even if he didn’t come across as the most sympathetic figure, his feelings were justifiable. Why shouldn’t he feel indignant? Cameron has remained free for nearly three years, despite being responsible for the tragic loss of David’s wife and daughter.
David’s obsequious greeting to the judge did not impress me. “I’m humbled to be in your presence. Thank you for hearing us.”
A simple “Good afternoon, Your Honor” and “Thank you, Your Honor,” would have been adequate. Christopher Nash is one of the 597 judges on the Florida Circuit Court. He is a judge, not the Pope. I respect him and the law he upholds, but I do not venerate him.
Another issue I found with his victim impact statement is that it was filled with grandiose declarations, lacking any supporting arguments. “My survivor’s guilt far outweighs any remorse that’s in this room, by everyone involved.”
Indeed, let’s examine the statement. Survivor’s guilt typically affects those who have lived through a traumatic event that others did not survive. David Raubenolt was not hit by Cameron’s car, unlike Jessica and Lillia. He was not even there when Cameron took their lives. Therefore, how is he experiencing survivor’s guilt?
And suppose I’m wrong about the definition of survivor’s guilt. Suppose he really is feeling guilty because he wasn’t there to save his wife and daughter, and that this is considered “survivor’s guilt,” although this wouldn’t square with any definition I’ve ever heard. He must know that this is not a rational feeling. We cannot blame ourselves for events out of our control. We can’t protect our loved ones every second of every day. And we certainly can’t anticipate every maniacal driver that comes rocketing down the road like he owns it.
Remorse, by contrast, is a far more understandable and reasonable sentiment, at least in the Herrins’ case. And does David Raubenolt’s survivor’s guilt truly outweigh the remorse of everyone in the room? I accept that he believes Cameron shows “zero remorse.” But what about Chris and Cheryl, his parents? Do they have no regrets whatsoever for putting such a powerful vehicle in the hands of a new, inexperienced driver, which eventually led to the deaths of Jessica and Lillia?
What about Tristan Herrin, Cameron’s older brother, who was also present in the courtroom? He was a passenger in Cameron’s car during this deadly incident. Is he experiencing remorse? Perhaps he feels that, as the older brother, he should have urged his brother to stop this insane drag race in a residential neighborhood.
I understand that David Raubenolt has experienced a devastating and senseless loss; Cameron Herrin killed his entire family in a superlatively pointless, irresponsible and arrogant act. His grief must be horrific, beyond what anyone should be expected to bear. But I do not accept that his survivor’s guilt “far outweighs” any remorse felt by the entire Herrin family merely because David insists on it.
Where Pamela Reisinger compared and contrasted herself with the Herrin family, pointing out that she lost a daughter and a granddaughter, while the Herrins still have all their children, Raubenolt forcefully asserts that his pain far surpasses theirs without any supportive statements, and simply demands we accept it.
“I’ve had to see doctors in Tampa General look at me in despair and say, ‘This is a level of grief that is at an unmeasurable scale.’” he said.
I’m not convinced that the licensed professionals of Tampa General Hospital “despaired” at the overwhelming magnitude of David’s grief. Tampa is the 3rd most populated city in Florida and the 47th in the United States. I don’t dispute that David is grieving horribly, but professionals in hospitals are trained to address this. Not to belittle David’s loss, but I’m certain they’ve seen people suffer these kinds of losses before. Probably even worse.
“What is the price of our family’s humiliation to you?” he asked Cameron.
“Humiliation”? This choice of words troubles me more than anything else in his testimony. I can think of lot of words to describe the horrifying experience of losing a wife and child so abruptly and pointlessly. But “humiliation” would be towards the bottom of that list. Is it humiliating to lose your wife and child? Perhaps, but it seems like humiliation would be dwarfed by feelings of loss, grief, anger, despair, loneliness, sadness, etc.
And he uses this word again: “The humiliation of being a widower and childless father is hard to describe. The embarrassment one feels as a survivor is something I do not wish on any single living person, as it is simply unbearable and everlasting.”
I’m certain he knows more than I do when it comes to the experience of losing a wife and daughter so quickly and in such an utterly senseless way. It just seems so odd that he would view this as a humiliation and embarrassment. The loss of his wife and child is horrible, but it’s no indictment on him. He could not have foreseen nor prevented this, and no reasonable person would have expected him to. But calling the loss of his wife and child a “humiliation” and an “embarrassment” reduces them to status symbols rather than human beings that he cherished.
Still, he did bring home one salient point. “I can’t get the thought out of my head of the entitled monster who killed them.”
If there is a single word to sum up Cameron Herrin, that word is “entitled.” Even “arrogant.” (Possibly “narcissistic,” but that requires a therapist to determine.) He feels himself entitled to go as fast as he wants, wherever he wants, even in a residential area that is known for having a high volume of foot traffic. Given his contempt for speed limits which are placed for everyone’s safety and the way he routinely breaks these laws to such extremes, it became only a matter of time before he hurt someone.
Another instance of this entitlement that David might have touched upon was Herrin asking to have his driving privileges restored on the same day that Lillia Raubenolt was pronounced dead.
If Cameron had been caught driving while intoxicated, even if hadn’t actually harmed anyone — suppose the police simply spotted him driving erratically down the street, pulled him over, and found him to be past the legal limit— there would be a mandatory six-month suspension of his driving privileges. And if, after that suspension, he were caught driving while intoxicated a second time, there would be a mandatory suspension of five years.
Yet, Cameron believed that he should have his driving privileges back within two days after his illegal drag race in a residential area killed a young mother and her infant daughter. Evidently, the traumatic experience of killing two people so recently did not disabuse him of the notion that rules do not apply to him. The judge seemed appropriately astonished by the request from Cameron’s attorney. “Counselor, I can’t imagine what you can say to convince me to allow him to drive!”
If I ever thought that I, through my reckless driving, killed two people, I’d give serious thought to surrendering my license. Or, at the very least, seek some remedial training to correct what I did wrong. But Cameron didn’t seem to miss a beat in demanding his driving privileges restored.
And why would he even make such a presumptuous request? Maybe it’s because his parents are sick and they need someone to pick up their prescriptions, drive them to appointments, run errands and do their grocery shopping. And of course, he would only be driving when fulfilling one of these duties. In a Honda Civic, of course. No more racing cars for him.
Well, no. That’s not it at all. It seems he was just going to college in the fall and he would prefer to drive himself to school. Wouldn’t look cool in front of the college babes to have the ‘rents just drop him off. And that would save him from having to bum rides from friends or take an Uber if he needed to get somewhere.
Yet Cameron, oblivious the optics of such a request, felt he should be allowed to terrorize the streets of Tampa again, immediately upon release from jail. I can’t even fathom what makes him think that he should be allowed to drive ever again, much less within two days of killing two people with his insane driving habits. Gee, Cameron, I hope Jessica and Lillia didn’t damage your new car too much when you drove into them and killed them. Still okay to get you to college? Maybe you should sue David’s insurance company to pay for the damages their bodies caused to your car.
But even though David did not bring this up, someone else would. Several someones, in fact.
The next victim impact statement came from Michelle Clark, David Raubenolt’s sister, therefore sister-in-law to Jessica and aunt to Lillia. She was also Lillia’s godmother. Like her brother, she struck hard with the entitlement theme. She began her statement with a refrain of “over 1000 days,” referring to the number of days since Jessica and Lillia were killed before they finally arrived at the day of Cameron’s sentencing. (To be precise, there are 1052 days from May 23, 2018, the day of the accident, and April 8, 2021, the day of sentencing.)
And during those days, which, as Michelle pointed out, was longer than Lillia’s entire lifetime, Cameron Herrin has been free to live his life, attend two years of college and be with his family. She went further to describe Herrin’s habit of reckless driving as “an act of terrorism.”
Cameron Herrin’s fan club seems outraged over the “terrorist” accusation, but I happen to agree with Michelle. Just six seconds before he struck Jessica and Lillia, Cameron had accelerated his thunderously loud Mustang to just over 102 mph in a 40 mph zone in a residential area with a high volume of foot traffic. What effect could this have but to instill terror in the pedestrians and motorists around him?
I also wonder, if he had not seen Jessica and Lillia and began to brake his vehicle, how much more he would have accelerated. Just how fast would he have gone if the sight of Jessica and Lillia hadn’t forced him to brake? If Jessica and Lillia weren’t there, would he have pushed his vehicle to 110 mph? Or 120, thereby going three times the speed limit?
And finally, as noted above, this would not be the first time he’s done this. In fact, it was the fifth time, from the 21st of May to the 23rd, when he struck Jessica and Lillia, he had grossly violated the speed limits on Bayshore Boulevard, his own neighborhood, the neighborhood he grew up in. Less than two miles from his home when he struck Jessica and Lillia on the intersection of Bayshore Boulevard and West Knights Avenue.
Michelle further pointed out that Cameron was not drag-racing on a highway, nor on a race track, but on a “pedestrian boulevard” in a residential area. “Bayshore Boulevard,” she continued, “is connected to one of the longest sidewalks in the United States.”
In actuality, Bayshore Boulevard has the longest sidewalk, not just in the United States, but in the entire world. (Edit: I have since learned that my latter statement is incorrect. Although Bayshore Boulevard is hyped as the world’s longest sidewalk, in actuality, Bayshore Boulevard is the second longest sidewalk in the U.S., surpassed only by Seawall Boulevard in Galveston, Texas.)
Her victim impact statement was, no question, very effective. She might have also stressed that Cameron was not going on some urgent errand or in an emergency situation and was not pressed for time. He was simply going to the gym, just before noon on a Wednesday. He decided to race only for the rush of it, not because he was in any particular hurry. And the fact that he was on a residential street doubtless only added to the thrill.
Fortunately, Cameron Herrin’s “speed addiction” would be picked up on by the next witness.
Next was Dr. Bryan Raubenolt, David’s and Michelle’s brother, therefore Jessica’s brother-in-law and Lillia’s uncle. And if I described David as “angry,” then Bryan would fairly be described as “enraged.” He frequently raised his voice, almost yelling in places.
He opened his statement by informing Cameron that, in another time and place, his actions “would have started a war. And we would have ended it.”
Like his two siblings, Brian assessed Herrin’s character as one of “gross entitlement, arrogance,” then adding an “overall disregard to [sic] human life.”
He also addressed a point raised by Cameron’s defense attorney. “I wanna point out the defense brought up the fact that at the point of impact it was thirty-five to forty miles an hour, as though that’s some sort of excuse, given that the speed limit is forty miles an hour. Had he been traveling the speed limit, it would have stopped on time!”
I would have gone further and suggested that had Cameron been traveling the speed limit, instead of over two and a half times the speed limit, Jessica probably would have had time to cross the street and Herrin wouldn’t have had to stop at all.
Later in his speech, he had some pointed questions for the defendant. “Let me ask you, Cameron, do you know what it’s like to dread holidays? . . . Do you know what it’s like to have to mentally prepare yourself for a deceased loved one’s birthday? You wanna celebrate their life and who they were, of course, but it will always involve acknowledging their death first! Do you know what it’s like to love and miss someone so much that their departure from this earth makes you hate the fact that you’re still alive? Do you know what it’s like to whisper into a dying toddler’s ears, on her death bed, ‘I promise, I will always take care of your dad’? Do you know what it’s like to be forced to sign your own child’s life away? To look at her lie in a hospital bed, as though she could wake up from a nap at any moment, only to have doctors tell you that there is no hope? To hear hospital staff say, ‘She’s starting to decompose, and if she is to be an organ donor, we must act quickly’?”
During this tirade, in the courtroom, David lowered his head and wept. Cameron merely sat next to his lawyer, transfixed. Covered by his mask, it was hard to read Cameron’s emotion. Perhaps he was crying, too, as his supporters aver.
On the subject of Cameron’s supporters, they tend to be outraged that “poor Cameron” was subject to such vicious tongue-lashings. And I don’t understand their indignation. On the contrary, I think these victim impact statements are useful, for two reasons. For one, it would be helpful for Cameron to hear how his reckless and thoughtless actions hurt other people. For another, I think it would be cathartic for the victims if they are finally allowed to confront the person who caused them all this pain.
Bryan then repeated his request for the maximum penalty, insisting that there had been no remorse. Unlike his brother, he backed up this accusation of no remorse by giving examples of the Herrins’ conduct. First, and as I had mentioned earlier, he pointed out that Cameron asked for his driving privileges to be restored the very same day Lillia was pronounced dead. As an additional argument, Bryan said that the Herrins attempted to suppress the evidence of Cameron’s excessive speeding.
What Bryan was referring to was the detectives’ seizing of the Mustang’s event data recorder, aka the “black box,” which recorded Cameron Herrin’s speed, not just when Herrin killed Jessica and Lillia, but at all other times. Herrin’s attorney, John Fitzgibbons, argued that the event data recorder was taken without a proper warrant and any evidence gleaned from it should be thrown out. The prosecution, Aaron Hubbard, countered that the detectives were allowed to search the entire vehicle and that should be enough. After pondering the decision for weeks, Judge Christopher Nash decided to deny the motion to suppress and that the evidence from the event data recorder would be allowed. And, as seen above, it was a particularly damning piece of evidence.
Regarding that point, I don’t know if the lawyer’s motion to suppress the evidence of the Mustang’s event data recorder should be held against the Herrins. Their lawyer is the one who filed the motion. It may sound like a terrible thing to do, but that’s his job: to get his client off. A defense attorney’s job is not to arrive at the truth, however horrible it might be. His job is to get his client acquitted, or, failing this, to mitigate the sentence as much as possible. And to that end, defense attorneys sometimes resort to dirty tricks.
This also applies to the attempt to obtain Jessica’s phone records, to see if any “human factors” exist that he might use somehow to shift at least some of the blame to Jessica for their deaths. Again, that is their lawyer’s doing, not the Herrins’. And he’s doing his job, repugnant as it might seem. I cannot hold the Herrins responsible for their defense attorney doing what defense attorneys are supposed to do.
Still, despite these minor questions of who is ultimately responsible for the tactics of the Herrins’ lawyer, Bryan drove home his point. Made even more effective when, at Brian’s request, the prosecutor Aaron Hubbard showed pictures of Lillia on the screens, including one with her parents.
I also wanted to mention one more statement that Bryan made in which he went after the defense again. “And I want to reiterate one thing: that man [Cameron] is an adult. He was an adult when it happened. He is an adult today. By law, an 18-year-old in this state is an adult. So, do not be fooled by this trickery by the defense by repeatedly using the word ‘kid’ or ‘boy.’ A kid was my niece Lillia. A kid is Samuel, Henry and Charlie, Christian and William [presumably Lillia’s cousins]. Not that,” as he pointed at Cameron.
I have no idea how much a victim impact statement influences a judge’s decisions. Maybe it varies from judge to judge. But regardless of how much victim impact statements weigh towards the sentencing, these were certainly not helpful to Cameron.
Robert “Bob” Reisinger, father to Jessica, grandfather to Lillia and husband to Pamela, was next. He also identified himself as the administrator to the estates of Jessica and Lillia, relieving Jessica’s widower David of the responsibility.
Bob spoke at a languid pace, and the frequent long pauses made his victim impact statement somewhat difficult to sit through. Still, he made some valid points, and for all his slowness, he kept his statement brief.
Like the others, he called into question the Herrins’ remorse, but he brought up a point that I hadn’t even considered. Cameron’s supporters make much of the payments made by the Herrins to the Reisingers following the deaths of Jessica and Lillia. In fact, the Herrins were forced to sell their home, and move into a smaller home to make payments to the Reisingers. Some of Cameron’s supporters have even suggested that David should give back the money in light of Cameron’s sentence. (I’ll address their numerous factual errors in another article, my last one on this topic.)
Cameron’s attorney described it as a “payment,” whereas Robert had always heard it described as a “wrongful death settlement.” The Reisingers and David Raubenolt have grounds to take the Herrins to civil court for wrongful death. Cameron’s criminal charges and the civil charges against the Herrins are two different cases; one should have no bearing on the other. But Robert was disgusted by the fact that they would bring up the out-of-court settlement during these proceedings in a transparent attempt to soften the sentencing for Cameron. In other words, the Herrins (or at least their attorney) were hoping that the Court would consider the wrongful death settlement as punishment, and, for that reason, reduce Cameron Herrin’s sentence. And this was despite Robert’s understanding that the wrongful death settlement would have no impact on the criminal sentencing. Although, he revealed that he knew that the Herrins would attempt to leverage this, even several years ago, when he “was forced to sign a one-way non-disclosure agreement.”
He also mentioned, as Bryan did, Cameron’s request to have his license back immediately following the collision that killed Jessica and Lillia. And their further attempts to “delay justice with a lengthy and slow deposition process. Then threatened to deposition me to conduct a forensic search of Jessica’s mobile phone,” which he described as a “very unremorseful attempt to place blame in her direction.”
He then adopted an odd approach. Rather than make an emotional argument, as everyone before him had done, he crunched the numbers. He simply added up the length of time that his family members, and David’s family members would have had with Jessica and Lillia, based on normal U.S. life expectancy. He excluded David, because he struggled with assigning a numeric value to David’s time with his wife and daughter. He ultimately decided to leave David out, because “just his time with Lillia would be immeasurable.” He concluded that this would have added up to 750 years. He then contrasted that with the length of time Cameron would stay in prison if given the maximum sentence of 30 years.
There was one more victim impact statement, in the form of a video that lasted more than forty minutes. Some of the participants in the video we’ve already seen. David, Michelle, Bryan, Pamela, Robert were all in this video. But we did see some new faces, such as Katie Reisinger, Jessica’s sister and Lillia’s aunt, Daniel and Thomas Reisinger, Jessica’s brothers and Lillia’s uncles. Also included in the video were pictures of Jessica at various stages of her life, and pictures and video footage of Lillia. Cindy O’Connor, who was Jessica’s aunt and Lillia’s great aunt. We also got to see David’s parents, who were present in the courtroom, but did not give individual victim impact statements. While the video reiterated points already made, such as Cameron’s ill-thought-out attempt to have his driving privileges reinstated immediately after the accident, it presented no new information or perspectives not already considered.
However, the video’s effectiveness was in seeing the pictures and videos of Jessica, a youthful, vibrant woman, and precious Lillia.
Cameron’s supporters will undoubtedly be outraged that I should refer to their adored Cameron as “pathologically arrogant.” But I stand by it. It was his entitlement and arrogance that prompted him to violate, repeatedly, the speed limits of his own neighborhood, a peaceful, residential area, intended to accommodate pedestrians. And obviously, it was pathological; he more than doubled the posted speed limits many times, and it ultimately resulted in two deaths.
Cameron’s supporters also attempt to find ways to blame Jessica for her own and Lillia’s deaths. Even the defense attorney didn’t sink that low.
The police said that Jessica made a “lawful crossing.” Cameron Herrin was most definitely not lawfully driving, at 62 mph over the posted speed limit.
But suppose they’re right. They’re not, but for the sake of the argument, suppose they are. Suppose that Jessica really did have a hand in her and Lillia’s deaths. We have Cameron, over the course of four days, racking up 14 egregious violations of the speed limit. Given his driving habits, if he hadn’t killed Jessica and Lillia, he would have eventually killed someone else. Or possibly himself. He is a serial violator of speed limits.
If Jessica and Lillia had not been there that day, how long would it have been before Cameron killed someone else, given his arrogant and entitled disregard for speed limits? How long can a young, inexperienced driver continue to drive 50, 60 mph or more over the posted speed limits before he kills someone?