The DWIs I have handled this year include the usual assortment of vehicles: automobiles, trucks, snowmobiles, and boats. But if you’re committed to drinking (or “consuming alcoholic beverages,” as the police reports say!) and to getting somewhere, there are other options . . . maybe.
People ask me why I defend criminals. I answer that I presume they are innocent of the charges and need my help proving their innocence. This protestation is often met with an indulgent smile.
The goals of DWI arrests — and laws to effectuate those arrests — can get lost in the rhetoric about the menace of drunk driving.
Minority children or “children of color” are treated as criminals and punished in the “correctional institutions” rather than given treatment, therapy, or a “diversion program” in numbers disproportionate to their white juvenile counterparts.
Prosecutors have almost no accountability. It is up to us in the criminal defense bar to force prosecutors to uphold their ethical obligations by fighting bogus charges all the way to a jury if necessary.
