Custom Motorcycle Builder Billy Lane is sentenced to 6 years in prisonYou can read many of the articles I have written on the Billy Lane case below or by typing in Billy Lane in the search box on the sidebar to the right.

Billy Lane is a custom motorcycle builder who got famous on reality TV shows like Biker Build off on the Discovery Channel in the early 2000’s. He then went on to make regular appearances on the motorcycle event circuit at events such as, Sturgis, Daytona, etc.

Billy Lane got rich and famous as a biker off of bikers. Then Billy Lane did something really stupid; he got shit faced drunk. Then, while his blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit he decided to jump into a free SUV given to him to drive as a promotional item by Dodge, along with a lady who rode in the passenger seat, and proceeded to drive.

While driving intoxicated, he decided to cross a double yellow line and hit a biker named Gerry Morelock head on killing Gerry Morelock. Although Gerry Morelock himself had been drinking, he was in no way responsible for the accident or his death. His only mistake that day was being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

As a biker, I empathize with Gerry Morelock, because it could have been me; it could have been any biker on the road that day. When you have an asshole like Billy Lane crossing a double yellow and plowing into you head on it really does not matter who you are, you are dead. Gerry Morelock is dead. He is dead because Billy Lane decided to get drunk and drive.

I have heard commenter’s on my Biker Law Blog make the argument that we should not talk shit about Billy Lane because we have all drank alcohol and driven, so who are we to throw stones? I say bullshit. How many of us have got drunk then crossed a double yellow line and smashed into a fellow biker head on, killing him?

Billy Lane and Dodge reached settlements of civil cases brought by the family of Gerry Morelock well before Billy Lane’s criminal case was resolved.

So Billy Lane was sentenced to 6 years in the pokie, (prison) by a Vera, Florida Court. He was also placed on three years of probation following his incarceration, and the loss of his driver’s license for life. For basically murdering a man, he got off real light.

May Gerry Morelock rest in peace.

By California Motorcycle Accident Lawyer and Biker Attorney Norman Gregory Fernandez, Esq., © 2009

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5 Comments

  1. Sandie [MEMBER]

    Norm excellent commentary!! I agree with you 100%. I thought Billy Lane got off real light for killing someone. The folks who complain when we say Lane got off easy would feel differently if it was their loved one dead on the highway.

    Reply
  2. Dragon

    He’s lucky he didn’t get life in prison, or the death penalty like NC prefers for drunk drivers. Especially since Gerry Morelock was a cop. Cop killers usually get the book thrown at em.

    Except in Knoxville TN, where all charges are dismissed after they confess on police video with the murder gun the night of shooting a motocop in the back while riding his Harley off-duty. The copkiller even had a prior murder conviction.
    piratenews.org/copkillers.html

    2 years is the standard sentence for voluntary manslaughter by hitmen, especially when employed by the US Govt or local police as drug-dealing “informants”, and on their 2nd murder conviction they get released 3 years before their parole date.
    piratenews.org/how-to-catch-a-govt-hitman.html

    Knoxville TN even names highways in honor of alcoholics convicted of fatal hit-and-run of motorcycle tourists, and state legislators tell AMA they don’t want no dirty bikers in TN.
    piratenews.org/koella.html

    Reply
  3. Mark Watters (Australia)

    As a biker myself , and an ex-serviceman, I am glad to see, finally, a court system actually make a person responsible for their actions. Drink driving/riding is bloody stupid and needs to be stopped, maybe the courts and law makers all over need to say enough is enough, and if you get caught over the limit that’s it, no licence ever. I agree at 6 years in prison, he got off pretty light, the other family has lost their loved one for life.

    Reply
  4. jim Cattle

    One less retard walking the steets.
    Now if they could only find a reason to lock up that oxygen thief Jesse James.
    Oh, did I mention that both of them make crummy looking motorcycles!
    Also the centurys Darwin Award goes to Indian Larry.

    Reply
  5. Don

    I agree, Billy should have gotten a more strict punishment. But really, would 500 years bring back the victim? Would it end the hurt and loss his family feels every day since he was taken from them? Of course it wouldn’t and is Billy Lane the real reason for this death? Or is it the fact that all to many people feel that “just one more” isn’t going to make a difference? Why do we allow alcohol to send us to prison, destroy families, and send those we love to a far to early grave? I’m quite sure that Billy didn’t wake up that morning thinking…”I’m going to get hammered, and kill someone.” That wasn’t his plan, it’s never anyone’s plan, and yes, it happens over and over again. Today, you’ll be or someone you love will be out there and along with them someone will be over the limit or texting someone. There’s a chance that you’ll never see that person again. Never again get the chance to give that person a hug or a hand shake. What happened to Billy Lane can happen to any of us regardless of how much time he got. Maybe, just maybe, partying and driving is too deadly, to possible, to foolish for everyone. Just stop, it’s just that easy.

    Reply

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