A recent Brentwood Homepage article provides good insight into the current “criminal mentality” of drinking and driving laws. “DUIs in Williamson County: Read and heed” is an interview with Asst. District Attorney Carlin Hess. “Do not drive drunk in Williamson County” is sound advice, as it is in any jurisdiction. However, the combination of the “strict DUI enforcement” and Tennessee’s Implied Consent law raises the question of whether drinking or driving—at all—is worth the risk.
The article reports that there have been 544 convictions of “drunk driving” in the county in 2013, and that “very few cases are dismissed or reduced to “reckless driving.” The article doesn’t disclose how many cases are dismissed or reduced, or how often a jury acquits a defendant at trial. Mr. Hess states that there are “many advantages to hiring an attorney” (ahem) and outlines the complexity of DUI cases both in terms of prosecution and sentencing. However, he may have overstated the cost of hiring competent—if not the most expensive—criminal defenders; attorney’s fees for first-offense DUIs can vary widely, from approximately $1,000 to $10,000 or more. Because of the disparity, there is a value in “shopping around” to find the attorney best suited to handle your case and situation.
There is no dispute that drunk driving is a crime worth punishing, and there is evidence that tough DUI laws are a deterrent to some extent. However, if Mr. Hess’s suggestion that a DUI conviction “ruins a lot of people’s lives” is taken at face value, then it would seem more ways to “change the culture” are worth exploring—like increasing awareness of and access to BAC measurement devices and alternative transportation options, to name a few.
