So it snowed last night. A fair amount. I think we’re up to about 3 inches. The freeway won’t be a problem, but the side road is iffy. Rather than risk certain death (I’m ever-phobic of driving on snowy roads…people are idiots). I decided to peruse fark.com.
That’s when I came across a story that was a little disturbing. It starts out like most drunk driving stories, with a man almost putting himself in a ditch and generally driving like the opposite of Ms. Daisy. Soooo…replace Morgan Freeman with Charlie Sheen.
So he gets popped, blows double the limit, but there are inconsistencies in the blow. Best consistent reading is .13. The prosecutor sees the weakness, even though there’s three sets of FSTs, all very damning. So what does he do, gives a plea to Operating an Aircraft under the Influence. This doesn’t count as a driving offense, so none of the usual DUI penalties are put in place. The guy never even had a pilot’s license.
Friends on both sides of the v, I’d be happy to hear your take on it. What do you think of pleading down a DUI to a non-traffic offense?
One side note, the process in Wisconsin, where this went down, will still count the Flying while Intoxicated charge on his offender score.
Tags: Breathalyzer, DUI, Fark, Field Sobriety Tests, FST, Justin P. Walsh, Justin Walsh, Offender Score, OWI, Prosecutorial Discretion, Wisconsin
March 6, 2012 at 9:14 pm |
I honestly don’t know how that plea got worked out. The facts still need to support any amended charge. Otherwise, the judge will not find a factual basis to support the charge and reject the guilty plea. I don’t know how they do things in Wisconsin, but if that was done here, a few people would be disbarred.