Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney Bernie McCabe’s son was booked into a Hillsborough County Jail early Sunday morning on one (1) count of Driving Under the Influence (DUI) with Property Damage, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office as well as an online story by the St. Pete Times.
The suspect, 24, of Largo, ran a stop sign at Miley and Stanley roads, then went off the road and hit a fence at approximately 5:00 a.m. this morning, according to authorities. The crash caused about $1,000 in damage to the fence as well as $1,000 in damage to the Ford Taurus that he was driving.
Hillsborough County Deputies said McCabe was “unsteady on his feet,” “smelled of alcohol,”had “red, watery eyes” and “showed signs of impairment” when performing field sobriety tests (pretty much the standard cut-and-paste that we’d expect in any DUI report). McCabe’s blood alcohol level was .168 percent, more than two (2) times the legal limit at which Florida law presumes a driver to be “impaired.”
McCabe, who works at Big Lots (probably the most interesting part of the entire story), was booked into the Hillsborough County Jail and released Sunday afternoon after posting the standard $500 DUI bail.
State Attorney Bernie McCabe, who has held that elected position since 1992, could not be reached for comment Sunday.
If you have been charged with drunk driving in Hillsborough County look no further than Tampa DUI attorney John Musca.
A drunk driving conviction today carries with it a suspension of driving privileges for a period of time. However, in many states the person convicted of DUI is permitted to drive his vehicle to designated places if he installs an ignition interlock device (IID) in his car. This exception is commonly designed to permit the person to go to work, school, alcohol programs and/or appointments with probation officers.
Nebraska is one of those states that recognizes the wisdom of this approach. The punishment for DUI is harsh, but it shouldn’t ruin a person’s life by causing him to lose his job, drop out of school, or be unable to meet his court-ordered obligations to attend alcohol education programs or probation officer appointments.
The Nebraska DMV also felt that permitting citizens to drive to probation appointments was a logical part of the rehabilitative process.
Federal bureaucrats disagree.
According to a March 13 article in the Lincoln Journal-Star, the federal government has decided that the State of Nebraska should not permit its citizens to report to probation officers by using an IID. And to emphasize their position, they have threatened the state with the loss of $7.15 million in federal funds if they don’t change this law.
Nebraska needs the money. And so a bill (LB924) is now before the Nebraska Senate and has been given first-round approval. The bill would remove visiting probation officers as a permissible destination for those required to have IIDs in their cars. The bill is expected to become law on July 15th.
“This truly shows the disconnect with the feds,” said Sen. Deb Fischer, chairwoman of the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee. “Some bureaucrat has decided people don’t need to drive to probation appointments.”
The St. Clair County Prosecutor’s office is changing the way it handles Driving Under the Influence cases after an assistant prosecutor failed to follow protocol.
State’s Attorney, Bob Haida, said he is making changes after learning an assistant prosecutor was violating office policy by routinely plea bargaining DUI cases.
Suspects who failed a breath test were supposed to have their driver’s license suspended, but were allowed to plead guilty, pay a fine and keep their license.
Haida listed the latest changes in a letter to the Belleville News Democrat after the newspaper reported the plea bargaining in a story in mid-February. After reviewing hundreds of prosecutions, Haida said he is now reassigning personnel, opening up lines of communication with police and putting more experienced prosecutors on DUI cases.
Haida said the assistant prosecutor who was plea bargaining cases resigned on February 16th.
Uh Oh! Looks like the party is over for all you DUI suspects, but the truth be told many times a plea bargain is a bad idea. I think many people would be astounded at the results a knowledgeable DUI lawyer can achieve.
With St. Patrick’s Day a week away, Delaware highway officials are urging holiday revelers to avoid drinking and driving. Police across the state will be cracking down on those who do.
National statistics show that in 2008, 50 people died in traffic crashes involving an impaired driver on St. Patrick’s Day.
That is why the state Office of Highway Safety is coordinating statewide DUI enforcement for the upcoming weekend, St. Patrick’s Day itself and the following weekend as well. Fifteen state, county and municipal law enforcement agencies are scheduled to conduct a total of 127 DUI Saturation patrols March 13, 17 and 19– 20.
Additionally, the New Castle County DUI Task Force will conduct an 8-hour-long sobriety checkpoint on March 13t to coincide with the annual St. Patrick’s Day Loop (or Shamrock Shuttle), which involves activities at several bars in Wilmington. OHS has placed a designated driver message on Loop bracelets that every participant must wear throughout the night.
Agencies conducting patrols include: Camden police, Delaware State Police, Dover police, Felton police, Georgetown police, Laurel police, Middletown police, Milford police, Milton police, New Castle City police, New Castle County police, Newark police, Rehoboth Beach police, Seaford police and Wyoming police. Last year, police arrested 52 people for DUI during St. Patrick’s Day enforcement activities.
According to the OHS, in 2009, 35 percent (41 of 117) of all vehicle deaths in Delaware were alcohol-related. Since Jan. 1 of this year, three of the state’s 18 motor vehicle fatalities have been alcohol-related. For more information on OHS’s year round DUI efforts, visit www.ohs.delaware.gov .
The national president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving wants Wisconsin lawmakers to toughen drunken driving penalties in the state.
MADD’s president wants lawmakers to hold a hearing on a bill that would legalize sobriety checkpoints and make a first-offense drunken driving arrest a crime instead of just a traffic violation.
Democratic State Senator Mark Miller of Monona says it doesn’t make sense to move ahead with the costly bill. He says the state should wait to look at another proposal to toughen drunken penalties until a bill passed last year takes effect.
Kingsport Police have filed a 10th DUI charge against a driver who was going about 20 miles per hour on Interstate 26 and weaving. The Kingsport Times -News reported that the 57-year-old man told the officer on Tuesday, “I’m drunk. Do what you gotta do.” The police report stated that when asked to take sobriety, breath or alcohol tests, the man kept repeating that he was drunk.
Police charged him with DUI, violation of the implied consent law and being a habitual motor offender.
The man has no driver’s license. Police said it had earlier been revoked for repeated offenses.
If you have been charged with DUI for a first time or a subsequent offense you should contact a DUI lawyer for a free consultation.
One of eight drunken driving offenders, returned to prison in February after a Reno Gazette-Journal investigation showed they failed to serve the mandatory two years, was paroled briefly Tuesday but reincarcerated after the Nevada attorney general ruled against giving the prisoners credit for time on house arrest.
Jennifer Hovey, 27, was told she must return to prison after Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto issued the long-awaited decision about house arrest.
For two weeks, the Gazette-Journal asked Masto numerous times whether the offenders would receive credit for their house arrest or must serve the full two years in prison.
After receiving calls and e-mails from the newspaper on Tuesday about Hovey’s release, Masto in an e-mail notified Howard Skolnik, director of the Nevada Department of Corrections, that the eight offenders must spend two years in prison.
Masto said they would get credit for the time they spent on house arrest, but it would count toward the end of their sentence. They first must serve two years behind bars, she said.
Hovey went on house arrest three months after starting her prison sentence in March 2008, for the death of her passenger in a 2007 crash on U.S. 395 near Red Rock. Under the law, Masto said she must serve 21 more months in prison before being eligible for parole.
Hovey’s lawyer, Scott Freeman, was incensed by the opinion and vowed to fight the order.
“It is patently unfair and unjust,” Freeman said. “The fact that the attorney general’s office is using Ms. Hovey as a political yo-yo doesn’t serve any purpose. It is destroying her family.”
“Since the prison allowed her to be on house arrest, she should be given credit for all the time she’s been under their supervision and supervision of parole and probation,” he said. “An independent parole board granted her parole. She should be allowed to serve it.”
On Feb. 14, the Gazette-Journal reported that a 2005 Nevada Supreme Court ruling said that drivers convicted of killing or severely injuring someone while drunk must spend at least two years in prison before being released on house arrest or parole.
Yankees senior vice president in charge of minor leagues, Mark Newman, was charged with a DUI late Monday night.
Newman, 60, was arrested at 10:56 p.m. in Tampa, according to the area sheriff’s web site.
He has been with the organization for 22 seasons and was released after posting a $500 cash bond.
“The New York Yankees do not condone this kind of behavior,” the team said in a statement. “We take this situation seriously and we are looking into the matter. We will have no further comment at this time.”
If you have been charged with DUI in Tampa Bay call the Musca Law Firm at 813-362-5623.
A bill in the House Judiciary Committee could remove the requirement that drunken drivers who are required to get ignition interlock devices installed in their vehicles report to the state that they had done so.
Opponents to the proposal say fewer convicted drunken drivers would get the devices installed in their vehicles without the reporting requirement.
The change came in an amendment offered by Sen. Mary Pilcher Cook, R-Shawnee, when Senate Bill 368 was being debated on the Senate floor.
The House committee will debate the bill next week and the amendment will likely be altered or removed, said Rep. Lance Kinzer, R-Olathe, committee chairman. Kinzer also sits on the state’s DUI Commission, which is in the midst of a comprehensive overhaul of Kansas’ drunken-driving laws.
Cook said she was trying to address the problem a constituent had alerted her to. The constituent was required by the court to drive with the ignition interlock device for a year before regaining a driver’s license. The problem was the constituent did not have a car.
RICHMOND, Va. – If you’re under 18, drive drunk and get convicted twice, you could lose your license – and your car – under a bill that Gov. Bob McDonnell is expected to sign.
The legislation is one of four bills aimed at underage drinkers approved by the General Assembly this week.|
Another bill would change current law to prevent a judge from allowing people convicted of a DUI from driving to and from school on a restricted driver’s license.
Washington Regional Alcohol Program spokesman Kurt Erickson says one bill that was aimed at adult drunk drivers failed to pass in the General Assembly.
The legislation would have required an ignition interlock system on the car of anyone convicted of a DUI – even first-time offenders.
Ignition interlocks require the driver to blow into a breathalyzer before the car can start.
“At the very last minute, that bill was tailored to not apply to all DUI offenders, but those with a .10 or higher BAC,” Erickson says.
The changes killed the bill, Erickson says.
A similar bill is being considered in Maryland.
Last week, the U.S. Partnership for a Drug-Free America released a new study showing that alcohol use among high school students increased by 11 percent in 2008.
