DUI News Digest

For years, Downers Grove and other towns throughout DuPage County have used outside attorneys to prosecute misdemeanor drunken driving arrests. That practice is under new scrutiny as a recent Tribune investigation revealed town prosecutors charge DUI defendants much higher fees and fines than do county prosecutors and routinely increase those costs in plea deals allowing drivers to avoid losing their driver’s license as mandated by Illinois law. Read More »

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that police need a search warrant, in most cases, before drawing blood from a suspected drunken driver for testing. But the ruling didn’t help a Bay Area man whose blood was taken without a warrant more than a year earlier. Read More »

Forty-one drunken-driving defendants from Palm Beach County, suing on behalf of themselves and other DUI defendants, claimed the administrative code governing FDLE oversight was too vague and didn’t provide sufficient guidance for the approval and use of the Intoxilyzer 8000 breath test instrument. Read More »

The Arizona Court of Appeals on Tuesday ruled the state’s medical marijuana law doesn’t give drivers immunity from prosecution if there is marijuana or its chemical compound in the body. Read More »

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.  — A Marion County judge says a new alcohol tracker is making a difference.  The device helps keep DUI offenders sober, at no cost to taxpayers. It’s called “RADAR,” or Real Time Alcohol Monitoring Detection and Recognition.  Offenders are given random Breathalyzer tests throughout the day.  The results are sent in real-time to correction officers.  The program is used as either a condition for release, or part of a sentence. Read More »

Arizona medical marijuana users can face jail time or have their licenses suspended for driving with cannabis in their system even if they are not impaired, according to a series of court decisions including a new one from the state Court of Appeals. The ruling stems from a case involving Travis Lance Darrah, a medical marijuana cardholder, who was pulled over in 2011 and charged with DUI. The Mesa jury acquitted Darrah of DUI but found him guilty of a misdemeanor ... Read More »

NAMPA, ID– No more waiting for a blood test. A handful of Nampa police officers are trained to draw blood from suspected impaired drivers. The eleven officers are phlebotomists. They spent 60 hours training at the College of Western Idaho. The program has been going on since 2009, but recently had a major change. Read More »

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution A 60-year-old Athens man died in police custody Sunday after he was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, authorities said. Read More »

GREENVILLE, S.C. – There are drastic new changes to South Carolina’s DUI laws. Now, state officials are making sure they’re ready to hand down the new punishment to first time offenders. It requires more drivers to use “ignition interlocks,” a breathalyzer designed to transform convicted DUI offenders into responsible drivers. Under “Emma’s Law,” anyone convicted for the first time of driving under the influence with a blood-alcohol level over 0.15 must use the device for 6 months. Offenders convicted for ... Read More »

Two years from now, Florida police may have a new category of impairment to consider: driving under the influence of a physician-recommended intoxicant. Assuming Amendment 2 passes on Nov. 4 allowing the use of medical marijuana in the state, residents would be able to treat a raft of conditions — ranging from cancer to glaucoma — with the plant. Read More »