"DWIs are quasi-crimes in that there is no intent."

That's a quote from a defense attorney commenting on a judge in Tarrant County being arrested for DWI. Maybe this is why we are having such a hard time getting the public to take DWI's seriously.

Note to public: DWI is a full crime. It is in the Penal Code. It has punishments from Class B misdemeanor to habitual felony, just like all the other real crimes in the Penal Code.


Details.

Looks like Wisconsin is facing some drinking/reality issues as well. This NY Times article identifies some social problems with drinking and driving in a state that has a strong culture of drinking. And, by the way, it takes 5 DWI's to make a felony in Wisconsin.

Think about that. They give you five times to try and kill someone before it is really serious.

National Stats: Drunk Driving is the most frequently committed violent crime in our country.

Drunk and Impaired drivers kill or injure a person every minute (65 deaths and injuries each hour).

About three in every ten Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related crash during their lifetime.

Texas Stats: 45% of all traffic fatalities are Alcohol related (National average is 40%).

Nearly 1,700 persons are killed each year by Drunk Drivers.

More than 11 percent of all the people arrested for drinking and driving are under 21.

Judge dismisses drunken driving charges against Krusee

By Isadora Vail | Monday, November 17, 2008, 10:50 AM
State Rep. Mike Krusee has been cleared of a misdemeanor drunken driving charge from April. Visiting Judge Chuck Miller announced that the case had been dismissed this morning.

According to a written statement by Williamson County Attorney Jana Duty, "After reviewing all of the evidence in the case it was determined that the officer did have probable cause to arrest, due to his observations on the scene, however the evidence is insufficient to sustain a conviction by jury"

[... snip ...]

Krusee carried and passed legislation in 2003 that created the driver responsibility program to help fund the Texas Mobility Fund. That program included a number of surcharges for driving offenses, including $1,000 for a first conviction of driving while intoxicated.


emphasis added

But that only applies to everybody else.

Officials are refusing to release the results of a blood test conducted on state District Judge Elizabeth Berry after she was stopped by Alvarado police for speeding on Interstate 35W, but Berry has been charged with driving while intoxicated.


Details.

Judge Berry not running for re-election. Her case still is pending.

Details.

My former homestate of Wyoming prosecutors and other have been trying to get the lawmakers to pass law against having an open container in the car.

Last I heard it had failed twice, has citizens could not bear the 2 hour drives without a few beers in the truck.

Texas took awhile to get there, too.

Star-telegram story

FORT WORTH - A state appellate court has dismissed the Johnson County attorney's appeal of a lower court ruling that threw out blood tests in a DWI case against Tarrant County District Judge Elizabeth Berry.

[this post edited to comply with forum policy on the posting of news content from other sites - Administrator]

[This message was edited by Shannon Edmonds on 07-28-09 at .]

What, the defendant didn't intend to drive? They didn't intend to drink? What part of intent am I missing here?

How does Mark Daniel get that the appellate court's dismissal based on want of jurisdiction somehow supports his allegation of no probable cause. Or am I missing something ih his remarks.

Just spin.

http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews/stories/wfaa090805_js_cleburnejudge.ae0f92bb.html

JAS

I don't envy you guys in the trenches trying to pick juries and try misdemeanor DWIs. From reading the newspapers, it is easy to get the impression that there is a double standard in effect. Police officers and judges seem to get escorted home or get their case dismissed, while Joe Sixpack ends up in front of a jury. I assume a skillful defense attorney will have ways of reminding jurors of this during voir dire and closing argument.

Alcohol Level Of Arrested Tarrant Judge Now Known

FORT WORTH (CBS 11 / TXA 21)
Aug 10, 2009

It is now known just how drunk a Tarrant County judge was at the time she was pulled over in Johnson County in November of 2008.

Laboratory results obtained by CBS 11 News show that Tarrant County District Judge Elizabeth Berry had an alcohol level of .09. And the blood test wasn't administered for some three hours after she was pulled over on Interstate-35 by an Alvarado police officer.

Rest of the story here

REALLY?

"Drunk and Impaired drivers kill or injure a person every minute (65 deaths and injuries each hour)."

Lets see thats 65x24x365=569,400 deaths or injuries a year. Seems a bit inflated to me.

Take a look.

http://www.madd.org/About-Us/About-Us/Statistics.aspx

1,300 alcohol related fatalities per year in Texas alone. Some comfort can be taken in the fact that 58% of those deaths are the impaired drivers themselves. That is about 800 executions per year in Texas for DWI, not under the penal laws but under the laws of physics. Texas is second only to California in self imposed capital punishment for DWI. The lucky impaired drivers are arrested and prosecuted. Judge Berry is lucky to be alive and she has a couple of cops to thank for it.