DUI laws scenario for you to decide if it is fair treatment?

Question

It is 2:30 am; a man makes a left turn doesn't use a signal. Officer behind him pulls him over smells alcohol; after a field sobriety test, and breathlizer man is arrested for DUI, BA of .09
5 days later this man goes before a judge (with an attorney he has to hire) pleads no contest and takes his penalty. No one is hurt, every thing went smooth right?
Now what if I tell you this man was 21 years old had just come back from deployment from Iraq. Hasn't been home since he was 18. Was drinking at a bar 2 blocks from home and driving his friend home who passed out and was unable to walk. This young man gets the following;Suspended liscense.
Court ordered DUI prevention, MADD, and several other classes. Court ordered interlock device for 1 year. court ordered 96 hours community service,He paid the attonery $2000, the court $700 after all is said and done,and the interlock company gets a total of $ 1000,Plus his commanding officer gives him a dishonarble and fines him 30days pay.

I guess what I am asking does the punishment fit the crime?

Not apples to oranges..
We are talking about someone who came home went drinking and started taking a friend home who was obviously intoxicated. While the person in question was over the legal limit and breaking a law why is the punishment so harsh. This is a first time offense. However with the nations current laws this man will not be eligble for any respectable career because he recieved a dishonarble discharge, and is now presumably in debt. My personal opnion is that this penalty does not fit the crime in question. No one was injured or in apperant danger. The person in question was nearly a 100 yards from home. So why so strict for every offender?

No people this does happen in several states on a first offense. Also several commands through out the US will give a dishonarble or Other than honarble to a first time offender that pleads guilty to prevent backlash from MADD or other agencies.

Answer 1

So yeah I get where you are coming from, it all depends on the judge for the most part I think...
I was arrested for DUI with BAL of .16, which in Indiana is 2 times the legal limit.. I hired a lawyer and took the plea, I got 1 year probation, 100 fine, 20 hours court referral class, and 1 victims impact class, I lost my license for 90 days.. After the 90 days license suspension was over I did all my classes paid all my fines, and appealed the court to be released at 6 months..
I am now waiting one more month, I was accepted to be allowed off probation...

But I think it is because I had a judge that was a freinds of my family.. I know My *** should be sitting in jail right now.. But as for your friend he got the worst for some reason, he might want to speak with his officer and see if they will let him off early...

But I do get what you are saying they are harder on some then others... Just depends on the day the Judge is having I think...

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

Yes. It fits the crime. The whole spiel about the man being a vet or his friend being passed out is completely irrelevant. Most accidents happen close to home, so the fact that he was 2 blocks away is irrelevant, too. You drink and drive, you break the law. There should be no exceptions for this (whether you be an Iraqi vet or a spoiled rich hotel chain heir). People's lives are at stake when you get behind a wheel drunk. That's the bottom line. If he didn't want this to happen, he should have walked the 2 blocks home and called a cab for his friend, or called someone sober to come get him. There is no excuse. If you don't want to do the time, then don't do the crime.

Answer 4

It is all about the STATE it happened in. Arizona? He has to live with it. California, same without the community service, and interlocking device (Required after 2 DUI's). Other States not sure.
Granted he served his Country, but he should get what everyone else does. Hell, Paris got all that PLUS Jail time!!!!!
Sounds like the Lawyer was terrible...

Answer 5

Your agument goes south when you assume that everyone buys into the idea that if you serve your country in the military that the laws no longer apply or that you get some free violations. Thats not what people serve for. We can only assume that the judge was made aware of all of this by his attorney (that he had to hire like everyone else). He got a suspended sentence. The rest of the sentence appears to be what is given with someone who has priors. His CO gave him a dishonorable what? Discharge? If so then there is much more to this than you have let us know like prior arrests for DUI. I am retired ARmy, my son is serving now. I, nor he, expect that people place us above the law. The secret is simply to not drink and drive and then you do not need to appeal to sympathy from others.

Answer 6

If you drink and drive you must be prepared to suffer the consequences. I just erased everything I had typed about how they could have let this slide because I remembered something.Clearly my judgement must had been clouded because every single injury and death caused by drunk driving is totally preventable.Look at the statistics. Over twenty percent of all traffic fatalities in the United State each year are caused by drunk drivers. Thus, drunk driving remains a serious national problem that tragically affects thousands of victims annually.
It's easy to forget that dry statistics represent real people and real livesbut it does.This person could of killed somone.
During 2005, 16,885 people in the U.S. died in alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes, representing 39% of all traffic-related deaths (NHTSA 2006).
In 2005, nearly 1.4 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics (Department of Justice 2005). That’s less than one percent of the 159 million self-reported episodes of alcohol–impaired driving among U.S. adults each year (Quinlan et al. 2005).
Drugs other than alcohol (e.g., marijuana and cocaine) are involved in about 18% of motor vehicle driver deaths. These other drugs are generally used in combination with alcohol (Jones et al. 2003).
More than half of the 414 child passengers ages 14 and younger who died in alcohol-related crashes during 2005 were riding with the drinking driver (NHTSA 2006).
In 2005, 48 children age 14 years and younger who were killed as pedestrians or pedalcyclists were struck by impaired drivers (NHTSA 2006).

The consequences were not harsh the person should of thought about the fact that he could have ended someones live!!!!!!!!

Answer 7

Does he have a history of DUI?

In the end DUI is incredibly dangerous. My father was almost killed by a drunk driver.

I respect his contribution to national safety but that doesn't get him a pass for drinking responsibly. It only takes one incident for his irresponsible drinking to cost other people their life.

Answer 8

Look, DUI is against the law no matter who does it. I could care less if it was the king of England, in the US it's against the law, period!

Answer 9

WOW.

While part of me thinks -- it's good that they are strict on DUI's there (I mean, it could save lives)...

I don't think a .09 warranted all THAT.

What's an interlock device?

:(

Answer 10

If you drink and drive, regardless if you 'feel' drunk, be prepared to suffer the consequences of your actions. In this case no one was hurt, lucky for 'him'.