As a nationally recognized traffic safety prosecutor, Chief Deputy Prosecutor Tim Barker does not want to appear unappreciative.
The Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed a bill recently mandating a minimum five-year prison term for drivers with prior DUI convictions who are then convicted of a DUI-related death.
The same bill would also suspend those drivers’ licenses for life.
Under state law now, homicide by vehicle while DUI carries a mandatory minimum of three years in prison.
But Barker, who has prosecuted several local DUI-related death cases and has lectured on the topic nationwide, says the bill, if enacted, is still “one-size-fits-all” for deadly drunken drivers.
