DWI Cases Charged as Murder Likely To Go Up
Posted on:8/3/2009
Written By: Chris Robideaux
| Once every 39 minutes drunk driving kills. That's more than 13,000 Americans a year. It is being called an epidemic. Authorities say that despite all the publicity, all the education campaigns, and all the advertising over the past decade, the number of drunk-driving fatalities has not gone down. |
Once every 39 minutes drunk driving kills. That's more than 13,000 Americans a year. It is being called an epidemic. Authorities say that despite all the publicity, all the education campaigns, and all the advertising over the past decade, the number of drunk-driving fatalities has not gone down. So, what's the answer to this conundrum, in a socirty that loves its alcohol? Some prosecutors have started taking a different approach to the problem, getting so tough on drunk drivers who kill people that the penalties they exact are now so extreme as to be unheard of in the past. What once used to regularly be termed manslaughter at worst, can now be labeled murder.
How can this be possible, if premeditation of intent to kill cannot be proved?
DUI-homicide cases can be difficult for the prosecutor, according to Orange County DUI Attorney John Murray. "Jurors hesitate to convict someone of the ultimate crime for conduct that amounted to an accident. There usually has to be very aggravating circumstances."
California law allows drunk drivers who cause a fatal accident to be prosecuted for second-degree murder under an "implied malice" theory. This means the person intentionally and knowingly engaged in conduct dangerous to human life, and with a conscious disregard for human life. Prosecutors tend to pursue DUI-murder charges mainly for defendants who had prior DUI convictions.
One thing is for sure: The controversy over calling DUI/DWI accident fatalities flat-out murder is sure to heat up, as the legal loopholes don’t exactly match up with the witch hunt about to go down.