Chicago DUI lawyer is saddened by the passing of the Dean of the National College of DUI Defense

We have lost a champion for the rights of the accused. National College of DUI Defense (NCDD) founding member and current Dean, Victor Pellegrino, has died.

June 9, Tampa Bay, FL

For much of his professional life Pellegrino defended DUI cases. He was the lead attorney on more than 1,000 cases, and successfully challenged portions of the state driving under the influence laws, such as the law giving judges the authority to impound the cars of convicted drunken drivers, regardless of who owned the vehicle.

In 1991, he was among attorneys who challenged the use of breath tests in cases because the state did not have specific guidelines for ensuring the accuracy of machines conducting the tests.

Pellegrino thought that DUI was "a matter of opinion," and that a jury should decide if a defendant was impaired, not just police officers, deVlaming said.

Pellegrino was a founder and current dean of the National College for DUI Defense. He lectured and published articles on DUI issues, tactics and ethics.

I had the good fortune of attending the NCDD Mid-Winter Session this year. I even posted information I learned from the conference. Through the NCDD Victor was instrumental in putting into place mechanisms that harness the collective knowledge of DUI defense attorneys from all over the country. He was successful. Many of us are better attorneys due to all of the hard work and effort of Victor Pellegrino. We are persistent, just ask our judges and prosecutors, in our zeal to get the best results for our clients. Thank you Victor.