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MADD, the national organization dedicated to fighting drunk driving, announced Thursday that a Maryland woman who lost her 15-year-old daughter in a crash caused by an intoxicated motorist has been elected its national president.

Jan Withers of Upper Marlboro, who will serve a three-year term at MADD’s helm, was introduced at a news conference at the R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore.

According to MADD, Withers joined the group in 1992 after her daughter, Alisa Joy, was killed in a crash caused by an underage drunk driver.  Withers, who has served as a MADD volunteer for almost 20 years, will take office July 1.

According to MADD, Withers was an active participant in the successful national and Maryland campaigns to lower the blood-alcohol content level at which a driver is considered drunk from .10 to .08, which has become the national standard. She has served on the national MADD board since 2005.

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ROCKVILLE, Md. — A man has been charged with driving drunk and hitting the car of a retired Maryland judge who once spared him jail time in previous drunk driving case. The suspect, 45, was scheduled to be in court Wednesday to face trial on eight charges related to the August crash where he hit a car being driven by retired Montgomery County District Judge Edwin Collier. Collier, 86, and his wife Ellen Collier, 82, were both injured in the crash.

Collier presided over a case in 1998 in which police charged the man with drunk driving after an officer saw his car idling in a parking lot and gave him a sobriety test. He pleaded guilty in that case, and Collier spared him jail time, even though the man had been arrested on drunk driving charges twice in three months.

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With the legislative session dwindling down to a precious few days, the man everybody knows simply as “the chairman” shuffled through the mounds of paperwork on his desk in search of fresh evidence to make his case.

Other than the guard in the marbled lobby, Joseph F. Vallario Jr. (D-Prince George’s) was virtually the last person in the House office building. His staff was long gone, and the powerful committee he has controlled for 27 years had adjourned to nearby Annapolis eateries.

But Vallario wasn’t quite finished with his argument against efforts to toughen Maryland’s laws against drunken driving.

“I just want to be sure we do the right thing,” he said.

Doing “the right thing” about drunken driving, which killed more than 150 people in Maryland in 2008, has captured considerable attention during a 90-day legislative session otherwise dominated by a massive budget crisis that leaves almost every state program and agency bloodied. The quest has involved powerful lobbyists on each side, futile backroom efforts at compromise and a pair of mini-rebellions against the chairman by his committee members.

More than anything, however, it has demonstrated that with his back to the wall and stripped of his usual cadre of allies, Vallario has the power and determination to stand his ground.

Early in the drunken driving debate, one of Vallario’s closest allies said the outcome wouldn’t be ordained “until we get in that backroom and Joe pulls out his list of the bills that are going to get passed.”

The issue seems simple enough: Advocates for tougher drunken driving laws say the roads will become safer if first-time DUI offenders are required to install a breathalyzer ignition device in their car. Lobbyists for the alcohol industry, led by the legendary Bruce Bereano, say it’s too harsh a punishment for the “one-sip-over-the-line” crowd that might contemplate a second glass of wine over dinner.

Bereano and the chairman have known each other for years. The other group lobbying against the interlock breathalyzer — defense lawyers — also is well known to Vallario because he is one of them.

They are pitted against another powerful lobby: Mothers Against Drunk Driving, which has made mandatory use of interlocks for first-time offenders the centerpiece of its annual agenda in legislatures across the country.

From the outset, MADD recognized that getting a bill through Vallario’s House Judiciary Committee was their greatest obstacle.
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A Washington County Circuit Court judge is scheduled for trial in Hagerstown on drunken driving charges.

Sixty-eight-year-old William Kennedy Boone III was due in district court Wednesday morning for allegedly driving under the influence when his sport-utilty vehicle sideswiped a car on a city street, causing minor injuries to the driver.

Hagerstown police say Boone blew a blood-alcohol level of 0.18 percent, more than twice the legal limit of 0.08 percent. He has expressed remorse for his actions.

Boone was appointed to a 15-year term in 1997 after stints as an assistant Maryland attorney general, assistant state’s attorney and nearly 25 years in private practice.

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Maryland is considering two important bills under the Drunk Driving Elimination Act movement to reduce the incidence of DUI in the state.

One bill would have all DUI offenders, even first time offenders, use an ignition interlock under state mandate for an extended period of time, likely three months. The bill is in line with efforts in other states to increase the use of ignition interlock devices. It is opposed by the Alcohol Beverage Institute, who would like to see the bill only apply to repeat offenders or those facing enhanced charges.

A second bill would remove the right to refuse a breath test from any driver pulled over under suspicion of DUI if he or she is a habitual offender. This bill is highly controversial, as personal rights proponents have long defended the necessity of allowing a driver to refuse the breath test. The change comes after Maryland and other states noted some offenders use refusal as a defense tactic, preferring the civil penalty of a license suspension to criminal court.

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MADD is integral in implementing a number of DUI legislation changes nationwide each year, and now the group is saying Maryland did not go far enough to increase legislation in a recent review.

Maryland formed a special task force under the General Assembly to address the drunk driving problems in the state. Mostly, the group was to consider whether the current laws are inadequate, as many anti-DUI activists have been claiming. The review by the task force resulted in 40 recommendations, some of which were signed into law by Governor Martin O’Malley this year.

However, MADD is saying the recommendations were not followed completely, and the Governor did not go far enough to make changes. MADD would like to see an ignition interlock mandate for all offenders in Maryland, in keeping with its push for these devices nationwide. The group is also supportive of vehicle impounds, though this bill is not likely to pass due to lack of additional supporters.

Adding to their arguments, MADD is using the death of a Johns Hopkins University student who was only 20 at the time of an accident. A man charged in connection with the accident, Thomas Meighan, Jr., has 8 prior offenses in Maryland. He claims he was not driving that night but lent his vehicle to a friend. He has not been charged with the DUI death. Meighan has had license suspensions assessed against him; he has also been forced to use an ignition device in the past. The question of whether he was driving that night remains unanswered in the minds of many. They blame the ability for this man to have a car and a license for the death of the student.

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According to the Baltimore Sun, some are saying that Maryland’s new DUI laws that go in effect this week are missing a key component- mandatory treatment for first time offenders.

Michael Gimbel, the former Baltimore County director of substance abuse whose program was used as a model by the National Commission Against Drunk Driving says the term “first-time offender” is a misnomer when it comes to drunken drivers. He strongly supports mandatory treatment for first time offenders.

In fact, Gimbel said,

“The reality is that these people drove drunk hundreds of times before they got caught the first time,” said Gimbel, a former drug addict and alcohol addict. “Most of these people don’t belong in jail; they belong in treatment.”

Of Maryland’s 600 traffic fatalities last year, 152 were alcohol related. These laws are built to prevent those accident from happening, but if you ask me ignition interlock devices are their best tactic in doing that.

Have you been accused of DUI in Maryland? Hey, we all make mistakes, but now you need to limit the damage you have done. In Maryland, when you are arrested for DUI you have 10 days to schedule and then, of course, attend an administrative license hearing. At this hearing it is possible to have your license suspended before you even go to criminal court. I would recommend attending with a lawyer specializing in Maryland drunk driving law. While it is unnecessary, you know nothing will be overlooked with an expert on your side.

According to WCBC 1270 AM Online, Maryland will see changes to its DUI laws and penalties starting October 1st, 2009.  The changes will include:

• A second Maryland DUI means an automatic 1 year license suspension.
• Offenders are now prohibited from Probation Before Judgment (PBJ) more than once in a 10 year period.
• There is a a provision for fines and incarceration for persons violating a Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) imposed driver’s license alcohol restriction in one bill.
• Another bill criminalizes the furnishing of alcohol to minors;

The changes came from the 2009 legislative session in Annapolis.

It’s not only in Maryland that DUI penalties are getting tougher. All over the country a drunk driving conviction can follow you for a very long time. If you have been arrested for DUI in Maryland or anywhere else, you would be well advised to contact a DUI attorney. If you already have a DUI on your record considered having it expunged.

A Baltimore City Councilman has been accused of drunk driving in Baltimore. Hope he hires a Good Baltimore DUI Lawyer! The Story from Today’s news:

Baltimore City police have charged Baltimore County Councilman Stephen G. Samuel Moxley, a Catonsville Democrat, with driving under the influence of alcohol after an accident in West Baltimore early Friday morning. Moxley, 50, was involved in a 1:20 a.m. four-car accident in the 2000 block of West Franklin St., police said. Anthony Guglielmi, city police spokesman, said Moxley “was swaying a bit” when officers arrived at the scene. He was asked to perform a field sobriety test, which he failed. Guglielmi said that Moxley was then put in custody and transported to the Western District police station, where he declined to undergo a breathalyzer test. Moxley was then transported to Central Booking, where he was processed and charged. In September 2005 he was given probation before judgment and a year of supervised probation and ordered to enroll in a drunken-driving program after he sideswiped a vehicle three months earlier.
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Been arrested for DUI in Baltimore, Maryland?

The need to contact a Baltimore DUI lawyer cannot be stressed enough when you are accused of a DUI.  A lawyer specializing in Baltimore DUIs and has enough experience will ALWAYS get you the best results.

Maryland State Police at the Leonardtown Barrack arrested the following people for DUI the week of Oct. 2 through Oct. 8:

Curtis Jerome Mason, 34 of Lexington Park, on Oct. 2, by TFC K. D. Lashley

Louis Charles Prochazka Jr., 27 of Patuxent River, on Oct. 3, by TFC R. B. Rezza

Bernard Eugene Hutching, 50 of Leonardtown, on Oct. 3, by Tpr. J. A. Pilkerton

John Joseph Winters, 38 of Leonardtown, on Oct. 5, by TFC K. D. Lashley

Erik Douglas Edgar, 38 of Mechanicsville, on Oct. 6, by TFC K. D. Lashley

Roger James Clark, 57 of Compton, on Oct. 5, by Tpr. C. M. Evans

Rodger Glen Eschinger, 55 of Upper Marlboro, on Oct. 7, by Cpl. J. L. Linger
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