There are crimes and there are crimes.

Lemuel Payne is charged with fleeing the scene of an accident and trying to cover-up the evidence of his involvement. In so doing, if guilty, he has caused greater pain to the family of Faith Sinclair Ferrell, the victim in the case.

If convicted that should be taken into strong account during sentencing.

If there is any evidence that Payne was driving under the influence and that was the reason he fled, that too should be taken into account at sentencing.

There is, as far as I know, no evidence that anyone set out to intentionally kill anyone, which makes this essentially a tragic accident. That it evolved into a serious crime was the result of poor - maybe panicked - decisions made by the driver of the car.

But the fleeing could also be a rational decision made by the driver knowing he was under the influence and that he would be charged with vehicular homicide if caught sooner, rather than later. We'll have to see the evidence at trial.

In the meantime, at least Faith's family can have the sad satisfaction that a suspect has finally been charged and the gears of justice are grinding forward.