Dear Delegates:
My name is Harley Wagner. I come to each of you first and foremost as a birth citizen of West Virginia, a husband, a father of two young sons, a taxpayer and a lifelong resident of Berkeley County and the eastern panhandle. Secondarily, I come to each of you as a licensed attorney in West Virginia and 20 year practicing member in the West Virginia criminal justice system.
I wanted to take a moment of your respective time to ask that each of you please support Senate Bill 534, sponsored by many republicans and democrats in the senate, that will eliminate West Virginia administrative hearings on DUI cases, and in turn not only save our state millions of tax payer dollars that can be used elsewhere on our roads, bridges, teachers, law enforcement equipment, and other important statewide needs; but also, will create a far more efficient, fair and consequential system in our state’s handling of DUI cases. In short delegates, this Bill is good for West Virginia.
This Bill, which passed the Senate today 24-10, if enacted into law, will create a “one tier” system on a DUI case where all issues, criminal and administrative license penalties, will be handled in the criminal court jurisdiction, like many other states currently have in place such as Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky to name just a few. It is anything but “soft” on DUI cases. Please do not be misled by inaccurate and false information concerning this Bill. Please read it. Please educate yourselves. Please ask your fellow colleagues about it. Please do not fall prey to false propaganda by those with personal agendas or otherwise…
