 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
State v. Shaver9/17/1999
UI offense, the person is charged with the misdemeanor violation of DUI. See § 32- 5A-191(a). Typically, between the time the ticket is issued and comes to trial in the municipal or district court (see §12-12-51, establishing the jurisdiction of the municipal or district court for misdemeanor prosecutions for traffic offenses), the state, county, or municipal officer runs a driving history on the person to determine if the person had previously been convicted of DUI. If the charged offense is not the person's fourth or subsequent DUI offense, the municipal or district court allow the person either to waive an attorney and trial and to plead guilty to the offense, or to request an attorney, in which event the case is set for trial. If the present DUI charge may result in a fourth or subsequent DUI conviction, then the municipal or district court typically transfers the case to the district attorney's office for presentation to a grand jury. The return of an indictment invokes the jurisdiction of the circuit court so that the felony punishment mandated in § 32-5A-191(h) could be imposed; Disposition of the case occurred in circuit court. If the circuit court concludes before trial that the defendant does not have three or more prior DUI convictions that could be used as enhancement to invoke the felony punishment, circuit courts dispose of the indictment in different ways. If the defendant is willing to plead guilty, some circuit courts in the interest of judicial economy accept a misdemeanor plea and impose the appropriate sentence. See Casey v. State, [Ms. CR-97-0677, October 2, 1998] ___ So.2d ___ (Ala.Cr.App. 1998). See also § 32-5A-191(e), (f), and (g), Ala. Code 1975. Other circuit courts dismiss the indictment, on the basis that it was fatally defective. Still others transfer the case to the lower court for Disposition. If the circuit court determines that the defendant has three or more prior DUI convictions that could be used as enhancement to invoke the felony punishment, the circuit court either allows the defendant to plead guilty to the charged DUI and imposes the felony punishment or, if the defendant desires a trial, the circuit court, sitting either with or without a jury, conducts a trial. If the defendant is convicted, the circuit court imposes the felony punishment.
One of the questions that arose from this procedure of obtaining an indictment and trying fourth or subsequent DUI offenses in circuit court was whether the prior DUI convictions should be included in the indictment as elements of the offense and then proven at any trial of the case. This Court answered this question affirmatively in State v. Parker, [Ms. CR-95-1435, September 27, 1996] ___ So.2d ___ (Ala.Cr.App. 1997). The Supreme Court, however, reversed this Court's determination that § 32-5A-191(h) created a substantive felony offense; it held that § 32-5A-191(h) was an enhancement provision, applicable only to punishment. Ex parte Parker, supra. In Ex parte Parker, ___ So.2d at ___ the Supreme Court specifically addressed the following issue:
" hether § 32-5A-191(h) states a substantive offense, of which the three prior convictions referred to in that subsection are elements, or whether the prior offenses referred to in that subsection are properly to be considered only for the purposes of determining whether upon conviction a defendant shall receive an enhanced sentence."
Our Supreme Court held:
"Section 32-5A-191, plainly read, compels the Conclusion that the provisions of the present subsection (h) were intended to declare certain DUI convictions to be felony convictions and to prescribe punishment, rather than to define the substantive elements of a separate offense. Furthermore, t
Page 1 2 3 4 Alabama DUI Attorneys
DUI Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|