May 11, 2008...9:26 am
NOW WE GET TOUGHER ON REPEAT DRUNK DRIVERS
This is closing the barn door after the horse has long escaped.
We’ve long been critical of Wisconsin’s slap on the wrist punishments for felony repeat drunk drivers. Instead, we the publicity hounds from MADD and self-serving politicians looking to seem like they care pose for holy pictures when the legal limit is lowered to .08 percent, thus making a guy who stopped at a corner tavern for a couple of beers on his way home from work at risk for arrest for DUI.
All the while, the real dangers on the road — drivers with three, four, five or more convictions — just keep rolling along merrily on their way, free to kill and maim at will with little consquences, except for the inevitable hand-wringing after the death of an innocent victim.
Patrick at Badger Blogger points out the case of a man with his 10th — 10th!!! — drunk driving conviction getting only 18 months per the request of the prosecution, which issued the standard collection of Barbra Steisand (B.S.) to the media of what a danger the guy is. If he’s such a danger, why the soft sentence?
Now we get the high profile case of Jennifer Bukosky, her 10 year old daughter and her unborn child, killed by a three-time drunk driver — three convictions and still on the road. A disgraced former physician whose license to practice medicine had been revoked by the state — technically he surrendered the license — after being caught forging prescriptions for himself.
Now, Gov. Jim Milhous Doyleone and a bipartisan group of legislators are calling for toughening the law to ensure that a third drunk driving conviction becomes a felony.
Excuse me, but why did it take so long to get the lawmakers’ attention? We’ve had multiple case after case of repeat drunk drivers blowing two to three or more times the legal limit killing and maiming and we’ve watched plea deals made by slap-on-the-wrist ADAs allow them to walk away with little if any time in the Crowbar Hotel, free to kill and maim again.
I’ll give those in Madison affected by Cranial Rectal Inversion Syndrome credit for getting it right this time.
In a side note, I’ll also give credit to the judge who ordered the assets of the drunk driver who killed Bukosky and her children frozen to prevent him from liquidating them to avoid paying off the wrongful death lawsuit filed against him.
2 Comments
May 11, 2008 at 8:09 pm
I wondered when you would write this piece Peter. You have been one of the few voices of logic when it comes to this subject. I too was against the .08 law because it was not making us safer, just pandering to MADD. Routinely I have seen stories about people who have been arrested 3+ times for DWI/OWI/DUI. What these drivers are, are attempted murders. A three thousand pound weapon handled by a drunk is truly a loaded weapon. A second time offender should go to PRISON. Anyone who’s been busted 3+ times should be doing a long stretch in prison. The only good thing to come from this tragedy in Oconomowoc is that maybe, (fingers crossed) Madison might actually do something about the dangerous people amongst us. -Ken
May 12, 2008 at 11:41 am
As I posted over at Badger Blogger, I have a family member whose “friend” is awaiting trial for his sixth DUI. It was originally scheduled for last August, however he was unable to be in court. Why you ask? He was in the hospital as a result of an accident - that’s right, his 7th DUI. Fortunately, no one but the jerk was hurt. I’m afraid that he is another one we will be reading about in the paper and asking why, after 7 DUIs, is he still on the streets. Hopefully, all of this publicity will reach the prosecutors and judges up north and they will impose a stiff sentence on him.
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