 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
City of Bellingham v. Schampera10/20/1960
to public health or safety, and to make all regulations necessary for the preservation of public morality, health, peace, and good order within its limits, and to provide for the arrest, trial, and punishment of all persons charged with violating any of the ordinances of said city; but such punishment shall in no case exceed the punishment provided by the laws of the state for misdemeanors ; . . ." (Italics mine.)
Specifically, RCW 9.92.030 fixes the punishment for the misdemeanors referred to in RCW 35.22.280, supra, at ninety days' imprisonment in the county jail or a fine of not more than two hundred fifty dollars.
It thus appears that, under a city ordinance, the municipal court cannot impose as severe a penalty for the offense here in question as that which is applicable for the same offense when it is charged as a violation of the identically worded state law.
Art XI, § 11, of the state constitution, provides:
"Any county, city, town or township may make and enforce within its limits all such local police, sanitary and other regulations as are not in conflict with general laws." (Italics mine.)
The disparity of penalties between the offenses under the ordinance and under the state statute constitutes a conflict within the purview of the constitutional provision. In this connection, I am referring not only to the longer imprisonment and higher fines prescribed by state statutes, but also to the state's exclusive power to revoke drivers' licenses for the offense in question.
Experience has shown that such great disparity in the penalties which different courts are able to impose inevitably results in improper pressures being put upon public officers and courts by offenders who seek to minimize their
punishment by having their case disposed of in a court limited to the smaller penalties. The implementation of such a choice constitutes a denial of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the fourteenth amendment to the United States Constitution. As the United States Supreme Court said in Pace v. Alabama, 106 U.S. 583, 27 L. Ed. 207, 1 S. Ct. 637:
". . . Equality of protection under the laws implies . . . that in the administration of criminal justice he [any person] shall not be subjected, for the same offense, to any greater or different punishment. . . ."
I dissent.
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Washington DUI Attorneys
DUI Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|