Drunk-Driving Arrests Increase
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Hooray for the wonderful new drunk-driving law, the lawyers’ dream. Drunk-driving defense is now a growth industry.
The tough penalties decrease the number of guilty pleas. Anyone cited for drunk driving now has a real incentive to plead not guilty and hire a lawyer for a full jury trial. Minimum fee: $6,000. But it’s worth it to keep a conviction from your record. Who cares whether drunk-driving trials further congest our courts?
The client who can’t afford the full jury trial will hire an attorney to do some judge shopping and negotiate a plea to avoid jail. Once the penalty gets chiseled down to 10 days or less, the job is done. The jails are so crowded that the client needn’t even take his toothbrush. He gets on the jail bus for a quick round trip downtown, stopping long enough to be booked in and booked out, then back home on the same bus. The price: $500 fee plus a conviction on the record.
The people won’t vote money for more courts and more jails, and yet they want more and tougher jail sentences. Something’s got to give.
MARIA McNAMEE WALP, Beverly Hills
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