 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Jones v. White8/23/2004
Following an April 2002 hearing, defendant, Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, denied plaintiff, Robert F. Jones, Jr.'s petition for reinstatement of his full driving privileges. In July 2002, Jones filed a complaint for administrative review; and following an August 2003 hearing, the circuit court reversed the Secretary's denial **1107 ***896 of Jones' petition to reinstate his full driving privileges.
The Secretary appeals the circuit court's order, and we reverse.
I. BACKGROUND
In June 1987, Jones was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs or both (DUI) (Ill.Rev.Stat.1987, ch. 95 1/2, par. 11-501) after he submitted to a Breathalyzer test that disclosed a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.17. In August 1987, Jones' driver's license was summarily suspended for a period of three months (Ill.Rev.Stat.1987, ch. 95 1/2, par. 11-501.1). In December 1987, Jones received court supervision for the June 1987 DUI offense.
In February 1992, Jones' Illinois driver's license was surrendered to another state. (The record does not show to which state Jones surrendered his license.) In July 1992, Jones was again arrested for DUI (625 ILCS 5/11- 501(a)(4) (West 1992)) after he was stopped and refused to complete a Breathalyzer test. In February 1993, Jones was convicted of DUI and driving while his license was suspended.
In February 2002, Jones, who was then 47 years old and lived in Michigan, filed a petition, seeking reinstatement of his full driving privileges in Illinois and a formal hearing on his petition.
*318 The evidence presented at the April 2002 hearing on Jones' petition showed the following. Jones testified that he received his first DUI after he drank "a lot" of 16-ounce beers at the Chicago Blues Festival. Prior to that arrest, Jones typically consumed "maybe a 12-pack [of beer] a week or a little more."
At the time of his second DUI arrest, Jones had been drinking beer and had taken Xanax (a benzodiazepine), which a physician had prescribed for him in 1998 for anxiety related to his self-described "horrible" marriage and work-related stress. Jones explained that his then-wife was violent and controlling, and he had been arrested 12 or 15 times for domestic abuse, although he was never convicted.
Jones also testified that from 1988 through July 1992, he took Xanax in increasing amounts and beyond the prescribed dosage. His prescribed dosage was one milligram, three times per day, but Jones was "probably taking somewhere between six and nine milligrams." At some point during that four-year period, he became aware that his Xanax use was going to affect him, and he did not want it to interfere with his work. (Since 1990, Jones had worked as an environmental health and safety manager for Washington Group or one of its predecessors.) Jones made numerous unsuccessful attempts to stop using Xanax on his own. He explained that he would stop taking Xanax on a Friday morning, and by the end of the day, he would become "very irritable and jumpy." By Saturday, he would be "bouncing off the wall," and by Sunday, he "would have some hallucinations and actually lose motor control." For instance, if Jones wanted to pick up a cup of coffee, he could not make his arm pick up the cup even though he could see it sitting on the table. When that occurred, he had his then-wife go to the pharmacy, where the "doctors always had plenty of refills on the books" for him, and get a prescription refilled. Jones acknowledged that he "knew [he] couldn't get off of [Xanax]," and he eventually realized he had a problem and wanted to get treatment.
One or two weeks prior to his July 1992 DUI arrest, Jones had arranged to complete inpatient alcohol- and drug-abuse treatment at Hazelden Foundation in Center City, Minnesota. Beca
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Illinois DUI Attorneys
DUI Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|