Chicago DUI lawyer comments on teen getting charged with a DUI

This Chicago DUI lawyer has posted here and here on underage drinking and driving. Now comes news of a young, and perhaps troubled, girl being charged with a DUI.

September 17, Streator, IL

A 14-year-old Streator girl was charged Thursday with traffic offenses, including one for driving drunk. The girl was involved in a traffic crash Aug. 30. Streator police sent information to the La Salle County State's Attorney's Office, which filed charges of driving under the influence, driving without a valid license, and failure to notify police of an accident involving damage and truancy.

In 2008, the girl was cited for truancy.

I truly hope this young girl doesn't end up with a DUI in her background before she's even eligible to get a driver's license.

Chicago DUI lawyer comments on DUI offenders being the victims of identity theft

This Chicago DUI lawyer has heard of all sorts of punishments for DUI offenders and posted on some of them here, here, and here. Now comes word that DUI offenders were specifically targeted as victims of an identity theft ring.

September 15, Lancaster, PA

CRIMINAL CHARGES FILED IN CONNECTION WITH IDENTITY THEFT SCHEME TARGETING DUI OFFENDERS IN YORK AND LANCASTER COUNTIES

Dennis C. Pfannenschmidt, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, announced today that Donald E. Stoner, age 37, of Lancaster County was charged with conspiracy to commit identification fraud in connection with a scheme targeting DUI offenders in Lancaster and York Counties. Also filed today was a plea agreement indicating that Stoner has agreed to plead guilty to the charge when he appears for his arraignment in federal court. Stoner faces up to five years’ imprisonment and $250,000 in fines upon conviction of the offense.

The charge filed today indicates that Stoner and another unnamed individual searched the internet and targeted individuals who had been convicted of DUI offenses in Lancaster and York Counties. Stoner and his co-conspirator then requested the court’s files from the clerk’s office and obtained the victim’s social security number, drivers license number and other identifying information that was disclosed on documents in the file. Armed with this information, Stoner and his co-conspirator opened fraudulent bank accounts, created phony email addresses and applied for loans in the victim’s name. The proceeds of the loans were deposited into the fraudulent bank accounts and used by the co-conspirators for personal expenses. More than 100 individuals had their identities stolen and approximately $27,000 was gained as a result of this scheme. The victims have been contacted by law enforcement authorities and advised of the identity theft. The clerk of court for York and Lancaster County have also been advised of the scheme and have been asked to redact identifying information from court documents prior to release to the public.

Hmmm, is it time to re-think how much information the public is entitled to in court cases?

Chicago DUI lawyer comments on the stalling of courtesy rides to avoid DUI's

This Chicago DUI lawyer posted here about a concept where you call, it's not a taxi service, if you've had too much to drink and they give you a ride home. Looks like there's a lot more controversy over a similar offering in a different part of the state.

September 15, Quincy, IL

Alderman Dan Brink (R-6th Ward) says he has nothing against the service Jonathon Shoenekase is providing when he picks up people from bars who think they've had too much to drink.

But Brink has some questions: "Is this a business and does it need to be regulated?"

Shoenekase's "Courtesy Rides" service doesn't charge a fee, instead accepting donations for rides. The Quincy City Council heard a first reading of an ordinance Monday night to amend the city's municipal code to amend the definition of "for hire" pertaining to taxis and limousines in the city.

Schonekase asked the City Council that if it decided to change the law, he wished to be grandfathered in. He also reminded Quincy Mayor John Spring that he made a pledge during the last mayoral election to assist those citizens who wanted to avoid drinking and driving.

James Meredith, owner of Diamond Cab, also spoke to the Council and said Schoenekase is merely skirting state law by not having a license and claiming to take donations instead of collecting fares.

Meredith, whose company has been criticized for not having operating hours to facilitate patrons who close bars and nightclubs, says the hours of operation are 5 a.m. to 1 a.m. and he is now operating until 4 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

He said nightclubs have in the past paid him to operate later hours and he said he would have later operating hours "if business justifies it."

Anyone else think MADD will lend a helping hand to a ride home program for folks who think they aren't safe to drive home?

Chicago DUI lawyer comments on DUI convicts paying for jail

This Chicago DUI lawyer already posted here about debtor prisons. I've also posted here about the costs of a DUI arrest and conviction. Now comes word of charging people for their "stay" in jail.

September 6, Tucson, AZ

If Pima County officials have their way, more convicted drunken drivers will soon have to pay for the privilege of eating and sleeping at the county's Adult Detention Center.

Jail officials recently met with judges and top prosecutors to remind them that they have the authority to make convicted drunken drivers reimburse counties for the cost of locking them up — which the jail officials want them to do.

Although the law has been on the books since 1997, and prosecutors include it in plea agreements, judges have not been consistently imposing the fee, said Jan Kearney, presiding Pima County Superior Court judge.

Pima County statistics show 876 people were convicted of drunken driving between January and June of 2008. They spent a combined 16,595 days at the jail, costing the county about $1.24 million.

Still, Kearney and Superior Court Judge Richard Fields said the chances of judges imposing the fees remains unlikely, for the same reason they haven't been regularly imposed in the first place.

Drunken driving is one of the most expensive crimes to commit in terms of the fines and fees required by state lawmakers and fighting at trial, Fields said.

For example, felony drunken drivers are required to pay $1,500 to the state general fund and another $1,500 to the prison construction operating fund. In addition, they more than likely have to pay restitution, lawyers, monthly probation fees and other fines.

"I don't fault the sheriff at all for asking, but the reality is we have to make an assessment of what defendants can afford to pay," Fields said. "In the end, you can only get so much from folks."

Kearney agreed, noting that there is no point assessing reimbursement fees knowing they won't get paid and knowing the defendant would end up in jail again for not paying them.

I suspect this ought to qualify under the 8th Amendment of the Constitution's notions of cruel and unusual punishment. Then again, there is also the peculiar idea that the DUI defendants have to pay for their stay in jail, but not the robbers, rapers, and drug dealers. What on earth is the sheriff thinking?

Chicago DUI lawyer warns of police taking your blood--by force

This Chicago DUI lawyer has posted here, here, and here about DUI blood draws. Regardless of your opinion on the subject, I find it odd that there is distinct and understandable concern about government sponsored health insurance reform (leaving out Veteran's Programs and Medicare) but we are perfectly okay with the police taking a person's blood by force?

September 11, Nampa, ID

Nampa police say a new program that allows trained officers to draw blood to determine whether drivers are under the influence of alcohol or drugs is both cost-effective and more accurate.

By doing the procedure in-house at one of two Nampa stations, instead of at local hospitals like Mercy Medical Center, the department will save about $300 per blood draw, Sgt. Matthew Pavelek said. And by avoiding hospital waits, officers hope to get a more accurate blood-alcohol content reading, he added.

No other police departments in Idaho have implemented the program, first pioneered in Arizona the past 13 years. But the practice has been expanding to other states including Texas.

"The National Highway Association chose us, I assume, because we're the two largest police agencies in the state, and they're doing some studies to see how it affects drunk-driving behavior before and after the blood draws," Pavelek said.

Under the new program, trained Nampa officers can conduct blood draws on suspected DUI motorists who do not consent to breath or other chemical testing during impaired-driver related investigations.

Somehow, I think the majority opinion in Schmerber v. California,384 U.S. 757 (1966) (the U.S. Supreme Court case that permits blood draws for DUI's) holds the key to how most of us actually feel about this:

Finally, the record shows that the test was performed in a reasonable manner. Petitioner's blood was taken by a physician in a hospital environment according to accepted medical practices. We are thus not presented with the serious questions which would arise if a search involving use of a medical technique, even of the most rudimentary sort, were made by other than medical personnel or in other than a medical environment—for example, if it were administered by police in the privacy of the stationhouse. To tolerate searches under these conditions might be to invite an unjustified element of personal risk of infection and pain.

See, in Schmerber the defendant was already in the hospital being treated for injuries from an auto accident when his blood was taken. Accordingly, the Justices thought that was very, very different than the police taking your blood back at the station.

PS Thanks Sonya.

Chicago DUI lawyer says Big Brother has arrived in Illinois and your license plates provide a wealth of information about you

This Chicago DUI lawyer posted here and here about technology to scan license plates. Now, they are arresting people for driving with suspended/revoked license using this technology here in the Land of Lincoln. The technology is amazingly accurrate.

September 11, Collinsville, IL

CitySync Technologies have been working very closely with the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) to provide additional hotlist database information for Police Departments.

The Secretary of State (SOS) has provided two CitySync customers with a SOS Test database before releasing it to the rest of the world. The first Illinois department to try out the database was MEATTF, a stolen vehicle task force part of ISP District #11.

Director Gary Brewer of MEATTF has informed CitySync that the SOS data went live last Wednesday morning and by Wednesday afternoon his team had pulled over and arrested 8 vehicles for Revoked / Suspended driver’s licenses.

The CitySync System can recognize, check and then store thousands of license plates per hour along with GPS co-ordinates and is extremely user friendly. It can be operated using a touch screen with a few simple button pushes.

Did you notice they were using the technology purportedly to recover stolen vehicles? The erosion of privacy rights continue.

Chicago DUI lawyer comments on the double DUI arrest

This Chicago DUI lawyer has commented here and here about couples being charged with DUI's. Now comes word of a police officer who manages to flag down a man for DUI while administering Field Sobriety DUI Tests to the man's girlfriend.

September 11, Salem, OR

A man who pulled over and got out of a car while police were giving a sobriety test to his girlfriend was also arrested for drunk driving in Salem early Friday morning.

A Marion County deputy stopped driver 59-year-old Diane McCaslin at Lancaster and Santiam Pass Way NE just after 1 a.m.

he deputy said he was giving her a field sobriety test when a second car pulled up and 66-year-old Donald Ramsey got out.

Ramsey said he was McCaslin’s boyfriend. The officer said he suspected Ramsey had also been driving under the influence, and gave him a field test.

Both McCaslin and Ramsey were arrested for DUII and taken to the Marion County Jail.

I'm thinking the arresting officer was the only one experiencing double the pleasure and double the fun this morning while making these DUI arrests.