Stupor Nanny

Let's take a brief detour from the freeway of politics and contemporary current-events, and take a look at where the rubber meets the road, as the kids say in their impenetrable lingo.

Outside of California, the case of the hit-and-run nanny may not be well known, but it showcases a person at least as execrable and despicable as any of your Scott Peterson or Robert Blake types. Generally I am either apathetic or openly scornful of public trials with soap-opera potential such as this, but I have been keeping an eye on this one literally since the tragedy first happened.

I'm not entirely sure why this case has my balls in such an uproar; perhaps the sheer inscrutable nature of someone as repulsive and disgusting as Jimena Barreto presents itself as a sort of puzzle. What makes this sort of person tick? Normally I couldn't possibly care less. Maybe it's because her victims were children. I really don't know, but this vile woman's continued existence gnaws at me every time I read about her.

As the boys grabbed scooters and bike helmets, Jimena Barreto, 45, slid into her gold 1979 Mercedes to drive 15 miles to her job as the nighttime nanny for a family with a 3-year-old and a newborn. Her 12-hour shift started at 7 p.m., and she wanted to be on time. A native of Colombia, she had been fired from two other jobs. Her new employers had already warned her about being late.

In the glove box, she carried an expired insurance card, dummied-over to appear up-to-date. She'd left her driver's license in her apartment, but that was the least of her problems. She had four previous convictions for driving under the influence, and her license had been suspended nine times. Picked up recently for drunk and disorderly conduct, she was an emotional wreck — the man she'd been living with had left her.

This may also be the crux of it for me -- this dumb cunt had been popped four fucking times, and her license suspended nine times. Honestly, I didn't even know you could have a license suspended that many times. What the fuck does it take to have your license permanently revoked in this state -- running over a couple of little kids?

Regardless, there have been other stories about Barreto that have colored the facts in almost sympathetic tones. She had a "problem". Awwww. I fucking care, really. I am as libertarian as they come about what people choose to put into their bodies, but keep your fucking bad habits at home. And when you keep getting popped by The Man for your bullshit, and your significant other gives up on you, then maybe alcohol and drugs are not for you, and you should just accept that and grow the hell up, m'kay?

Unharmed, Barreto walked back to the wreckage. Witnesses, including Carmen and the Cunhas, remember her repeating over and over: "I'm not from this country. I'm going to go to jail" and "Those damn pills, those damn pills for my back."

She asked if the girl was dead, and made the sign of the cross. Something — mother's intuition? — told Carmen she would try to flee. When Barreto said she wanted water from her car, Carmen limped after her, reached inside and took the keys.

Minutes later, Barreto flagged down a passing van. Hyperventilating, she asked for a cell phone, saying she'd been in an accident and needed asthma medicine. The driver, suspicious, swung the van around and headed back to the scene.

"I can't go there. I can't be seen. I can't let people see me," Barreto allegedly said, hopping out and disappearing as the van driver tried to get an officer's attention.

So much for the "I panicked" defense. She had several chances to stay and do the right thing. She dodged every obstacle and fled like a rabbit. She deserves no mercy.

Read the whole article and judge for yourself. It's nice that the Packs have used this situation to try to strengthen some penalties and toughen license regulations after DUI convictions, but I submit that that would not (indeed, did not -- she had a fake insurance card in her car, and I don't see how the hell she could legally have had a license with 4 DUIs and 9 suspensions) have kept an indecent soul like Jimena Barreto from doing exactly what she did.

It's funny -- even though after much investigation and many witnesses, a grand jury found that Barreto had been driving under the influence, she still denies it. Still fucking denies it. Imagine that. Okay, dummy, then why did you run and evade and scheme to have all your drugs flushed and your money and jewelry sent to you, if it was all just an honest accident? Please.

And since her capture, Barreto has made repeated claims about her depression and guilt, and how she has contemplated suicide.

I would be more than happy to buy some rope and toss it in her cell, if I thought for one minute she was sincere about that. But this is clearly a delusional, narcissistic sociopath who has no conscience whatsoever about what she did. A decent person would express contrition, and remorse, and regret, and just come clean already and hope for some sort of absolution. Barreto has done none of this, and I hope she gets the rest of her life in prison to think about that.