MADD: About one-third of all drunk driving arrests are repeat offenders
The two APD routine arrests over the weekend for Driving Under the Influence illustrate perfectly why the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on Monday reaffirmed the common sense notion that perps who have been detained for DUI have no right of counsel prior to administration of the Breathalyzer.
In Massachusetts, an "implied consent" state, you do have the right to say "No" but that will result in a loss of license for six months. And you do have the right to a phone call within one hour of being escorted into the police station.
Since the Breathalzyer test is time sensitive and DUI attorneys are not always available in the dead of night, requiring police departments to forgo this invaluable tool would result in far too many guilty parties going free.
With any one of them potentially going on to change forever the lives of an innocent family.
Rafael Garcia, age 21 (APD intake photo)
Click to enlarge/read (note time of stop)
Joshua Silver, age 27
Another late night incident
I'll drink to that.
ReplyDeleteI figured you might.
ReplyDeleteCivilization won't defend itself against these criminals.the US may have the most people in prison but it is way too tolerant! When I read someone's been convicted of their 3rd 4th or 5th DUI I am stunned!
ReplyDeleteThe solution is to require the legal profession to do what the medical profession already does -- work nights occasionally on a rotating basis. Much as doctors who don't don't have hospital privileges, lawyers who don't won't have court privileges.
ReplyDelete"When I read someone's been convi've made it a lot easier to convict them.cted of their 3rd 4th or 5th DUI I am stunned!"
ReplyDelete0ne word: Inflation.
There are fewer drunk drivers now than there were 50 years ago. Instead we arrest a lot more people--many of whom couldn't have been arrested back then, and we make it a lot easier to convict them.
In inflating the number of arrests & convictions, the consequences of each is deflated. The same thing happened to speeding tickets -- people used to be physically arrested for those.
How do you register a car inMA if you don't have a MA license and your CA license is suspended?
ReplyDeleteDr ed...you make no sense....as usual!
ReplyDeleteAs a victim of an illegally un-insured hit & run DWI drunk driver bar hopper-I can assure you IT IS ONLY THE VICTIMS of drunk driving crashes that lose their civil rights-I spent almost two decades in shoddy nursing homes-staffed by drunks and druggies _ I KNOW how unsympathetic boozers are !!(One guy got fired-on the spot-DRUNK at work)I lost everything-my right to work-marry-have kids- even ever walk again !!save MY family fortune) Go cry in your Celestial Seasoning herbal tea !
ReplyDelete