Stories That Make You Lose Faith in the Justice System

Right now in the Houston area there are thousands of DWI cases that are in jeopardy because of the dishonesty of an inspector of alcohol breath test machines.  According to this article over at Chron.com, the inspector didn’t conduct the inspections that she said she did.

Officials in Houston say that the woman who was contracted through the department had been falsifying records for at least a year.  There are at least 2,600 DUI charges that could be affected.

I echo these thoughts shared over at the Minnesota DWI Defense blog:

“How can you trust the people and machines that were made and trained to prove your innocence? Imagine … your life is now in shambles, because a faulty computer says so.”

And people wonder why DUI lawyers are so adamant about investigating and defending their cases.  What if it was you who had just one drink and your alcohol level was well below the legal limit – yet here’s the officer arresting you for a DUI because of a defective breath test machine? Imagine having that on your criminal record, yet you know for a fact that you’re innocent!

If this is going on in Texas, who knows where else this type of unscrupulous activity is going on.  It’s stories like these that make you lose faith in the justice system.

Sobriety Checkpoints and the Fourth Amendment

This Union Tribune article says that DUI checkpoints will increase in Escondido, an area in North County.  The Escondido police department plan to have 12 DUI checkpoints as opposed to 9 which have been set up in the past couple years.  According to traffic Sgt. Dana Ray, the department has made 69 DUI arrests in the past two years.  I don’t know about you, but 69 arrests doesn’t seem like much considering that there were probably so many more people out there who did drink and drive but didn’t get caught.

I often wonder if sobriety checkpoints are truly effective.  The Fourth Amendment comes to mind which is the amendment that guards against unreasonable searches and seizures.  Some would say that checkpoints are not unreasonable considering that they help protect the roads and highways while others feel that checkpoints violate our privacy.

Looking at the Fourth Amendment from another perspective…What if the police came knocking at your door every weekend wanting to search your home to make sure you weren’t harboring criminals?  Wouldn’t you feel violated?  Wouldn’t you want a search warrant?  What makes searching cars any different?

I believe that education is the key to prevent drunk driving, in addition to offering more help and counseling for repeat drunk drivers.

What do you think?

Here’s another article of interest: Legality of Sobriety Checkpoints

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Photo Credit:  ZanePaul Photos

Justice Is Served

Finally, justice is served.  John Joseph Taskey will be sentenced to 15 years to life in state prison on Nov. 12.  Taskey was on parole for a DUI conviction when he drove drunk and caused a freeway crash that killed a 75-year-old grandmother and injured a child back in September 2007 here in San Diego.  He pleaded guilty to murder to second-degree murder this week.

Yes, these seemingly senseless things happen and I’m sure they happen for a reason, but at the same time I know that this could have been prevented.  I’ve written before about the different ways that we could prevent drunk driving, but an idea has come to me that I’d like to share.  Tell me what you think…

What if drunk drivers had to watch so many hours of video showing people who were involved in San Diego DUI accidents?  What if that was part of their DUI program?  Let’s say every time they went to their rehabilitation or DUI class, convicted drunk drivers had to watch at least an hour-long video with images of people who had died from a drunk driver.  Wouldn’t that make some kind of impact?  I think so.

Source: San Diego 6

What Are Field Sobriety Tests?

Field sobriety tests are used by law enforcement to determine whether or not a driver is intoxicated.  These series of tests include several exercises to test balance, coordination, and divided attention. Studies funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) have shown that only three of the field sobriety tests are effective in detecting a drunk driver:

1.  The Walk and Turn Test: This is also known as the heel-to-toe test in which the suspected drunk driver has to walk nine steps heel-to-toe in a straight line, turn around, and walk nine steps back. The police officer must observe the DUI suspect from three or four feet away and remain motionless while the suspect performs the test.  If the police officer is too close to the driver, or is causing excessive motion, the police officer’s actions may cause the DUI suspect to make errors they may not have otherwise committed.

2.  The One Leg Stand Test: The suspected drunk driver must stand on one leg with his hands down at his sides and count to 30.  This type of sobriety test must be performed on a hard, dry, non-slippery surface and should not be given to drivers who are more than sixty-five years of age, more than fifty pounds overweight, or those individual who have physical impairments that interfere with balance and coordination.

3.  The Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus Test: This is a test where the officer holds a pen or similar object in front of the subject’s eyes to determine whether she can follow it.

In 1981 the NHTSA also created a standardized model for field sobriety testing and recommends that all law enforcement agencies use this standardized program – otherwise they can open up an area for a DUI lawyer to find fault in the system.