Should I plead to (DUI-DWI-News.net) a Metabolite DUI?
Should I plead to a Metabolite DUI?
I was discussing a case with a prosecutor today. He made the offer that my client plead to Driving with a Measurable Amount of a Controlled Substance in his system. This is basically the same thing as a DUI, except the prosecution does not have to prove any impairment or level whatsoever. The only thing they have to show is that the person had a small amount of the byproduct of a drug in their system. The only defense to this charge is that the person has a valid prescription for the controlled substance. Should the person plead to this charge? My answer is if there is another way around it, don’t plea to. I suggested a Drug Related Reckless charge. The prosecutor asked why? Here are my four reasons?
- A metabolite charge will suspend your license for 90 days, or 1 year if it is a second offense.
- A Drug Related Reckless driving charge will save the license (if you kept it at the DMV hearing), or will reduce the license suspension to 60 days if it is a first offense.
- Usually, the Courts will give a lessor fine for a DRR.
- Usually, the DRR will not involve jail time or as much community service hours.
Be aware that both charges are similar in nature. They both will stay on your record for 10 years before expungement can take place. Both usually require a drug class. Both will have the stigma of DUI along with insurance implications.
Publication:Standard Examiner; Date:Jan 11, 2008; Section:Opinion; Page Number:4A
Utah’s justice system needs repair
What’s wrong with the justice system?
Prosecutors are overly aggressive and seek convictions at any cost to further their careers, and different levels of law enforcement are abusive to inmates. The system has corrupt officers who hide behind their badges while breaking the law, and a judge who failed to recuse himself from a trial due to friendship with the victim’s family.
There are people who are innocent and are sent to prison, and people who have mental disabilities and need help but are sent to jail or prison without getting the help they need.
The state then asks for more federal funding, and our taxes are raised because a new prison needs to be built.
The problem is there is not one elected official who is willing to step up to the plate and recognize that there is a problem, nor do they use their position to promote a healthy, safe rehabilitation program within the prison or jail. They have the feeling that prison is a problem with no solution.
The temptation is always to look away, hoping the troubles inside the walls will not affect us.
Every day people go to prison, but the public knows very little about their conditions of confinement (rape, abuse by officers, infectious diseases, etc.) and whether they are being punished in ways that no jury ever intended. Unless the experience of incarceration becomes real through the confinement of a loved one, the people inside the confined walls are far removed from daily concerns.
Bonnie Terry
West Haven
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2008/07/25/20080725b1-talker0725.html:
Ariz. Appeals Court rules in stationary-car DUI case
A new appellate-court ruling tackles a long-standing issue for Arizona courts in DUI cases: control of a vehicle that isn't moving.
That question typically involves people in parked cars, and that was the circumstance in the Arizona Court of Appeals' ruling in a Pima County case. A man had a blood-alcohol level of .357 percent and a revoked license when a police officer found him in a car with one hand on the steering wheel and the other putting the key in the ignition.
Jurors were instructed to weigh whether the man's potential use of the vehicle presented a danger to himself or others.
The appellate court says potential use of a vehicle isn't a crime and that the real issue is whether the defendant demonstrated actual control of the vehicle.
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