Party Plates

In some states drunk drivers who are able to get driving priviledges some times are required to purchase what are euphemistically called "party plates."

Sometimes, some of these people never learn.

This is from the police blotter of a small town in northeast Ohio. 

"While making a traffic stop at 9:02 p.m. June 1 at the North Royalton Speedway station, a cop observed a man walk past his patrol car carrying a six-pack. The man got into the driver’s side of a white Mercury displaying yellow OVI tags. The driver, who is under suspension with limited privileges, stated he was on his way home from an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and stopped to get gas, and apparently some beer. The man was issued a citation for driving under an OVI suspension and will appear in court."
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Usually when we encounter the repeat offender it is in the context of ghastly tragedies. 

Bronx Prosecutor Slammed for Alleged 2d DWI



Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Toiano

 DWI, OVI, DUI, OWI...it's all the same, an alphabet soup meaning the driver was drunk.  Yesterday, the NY Post was blasting an assistant Bronx District Attorney or ADA for continuing to prosecute cases while charges of DWI or whatever they call it in NYC are pending against her.  This is the Post account:

The Bronx assistant DA charged with drunken driving and suspected of using her juice to make an earlier DWI disappear is still prosecuting an amazing 75 cases -- which cops and defense lawyers yesterday called the height of hypocrisy.   'She should be fired outright. Anyone else would have been dismissed from their job a long time ago,' a police source said. 'She's a total disgrace to the Bronx DA's Office.'

Jennifer Troiano, 34, was arrested last August after she was found 'stumbling, falling down . . . on the cellphone walking in lanes of traffic"' after an accident on the Major Deegan Expressway, police said. She is awaiting trial for that arrest and also under investigation for a December 2009 incident, when she was brought to the 44th Precinct on suspicion of DWI only to have the arrest disappear after someone called the officers on her behalf, police sources have said.
But those two black eyes have yet to block her career path with the DA's office, where she works out of the Arson, Auto, Economic Crime Bureau. Her last trial was in March, and "She's in court all the time," a law-enforcement source told The Post.

Troiano's lenient treatment was especially infuriating to police officers, who face automatic 30-day suspensions and other disciplinary action if they are arrested.  'We don't even have to be arrested to be put on administrative leave or modified duty,' a Bronx cop said. 'Anybody can make an allegation against us and they take away your gun and badge so fast you won't believe it.'

The anger also extends to Troiano's own office.

'A lot of people in the DA's office are pissed,' said a defense lawyer who regularly works out of the Bronx courts. 'And we're like, how are you keeping your job?'

Steven Reed, a spokesman for Bronx DA Robert Johnson, said the office does not discipline employees based solely on arrests.

Cops and another defense lawyer found it ironic that a member of the DA's office investigating the massive NYPD ticket-fixing scandal may have had her own ticket fixed.   'If they're investigating cops, I don't understand why they're not investigating her,' said a lawyer defending a case Troiano is prosecuting.

The NYPD is only investigating whether precinct cops helped Troiano after her alleged non-arrest for DWI.

Troiano has declined comment.
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A couple of observations:  Miss Troiano is accused or alleged  to have committed these offenses not convicted of anything, yet, although you'd not know that from the tenor of this diatribe. . . , um, story.  Secondly, Miss Troiano must not have made many friends among the cops, press, et al.  Referencing the Bad Lawyer archives should demonstrate that I'm no friend of drunk drivers, especially when they have law licenses, this story is pretty over the top.  It makes me wonder who's dog, Ms. Troiano kicked.

Drunk Driving Death--4 Year Sentence, Cunning, Baffling & Powerful

The Miami Herald reports on the sentencing of a former law student, Stephen Spencer in the drunk driving death of his dear friend Scott Brenner.  Here, once again is an object lesson on driving drunk and for those of us who are alcoholics, there-but-for-the-Grace-of-God moments; the story is by reporter David Ovalle:
"Five years after he killed a pal in a drunken-driving wreck in North Miami-Dade, former Nova Southeastern law student Stephen Spencer made no excuses for the crash.  In a Miami-Dade courtroom Tuesday, Spencer turned away from the judge, faced the family of Scott Brenner and tearfully stammered his best.

'I was friends with your son,'' he said, tears trickling down his cheeks. 'There is nothing I can say, nothing to make you understand how much I loved your son.'

Spencer's apology was short but effective. Circuit Judge Antonio Marin, citing Spencer's remorse, sentenced him to what amounts to four years in prison on charges including DUI manslaughter and vehicular homicide. 'My heart is thoroughly torn,' Marin said. `It's a tragical situation.'

The sentencing capped a frustrating five years for the Brenner family, which lost Scott in October 2005 and has long bristled at the glacial pace of his case through the legal system.  Spencer, with a blood-alcohol level twice the legal limit, was driving a Ford Explorer crammed with five friends on their way to watch a University of Miami football game at the Orange Bowl. The car crashed on Interstate 95, critically injuring two young men and hurling Brenner from the vehicle, killing him.  At the time of the crash, Scott Brenner, 26, of Pembroke Pines, was a senior at Florida International University and had hoped to continue school in Israel. FIU awarded him a degree posthumously.

[Note:  Spencer was arrested for DUI and charged a second time in 2007!  Alcoholism is cunning, baffling & powerful, never doubt this assertion.]

Spencer has been sober since [since his 2007 DUI for which charges are still pending], said defense attorney Edward O'Donnell, who added that Spencer had trouble coping with the death of his father, John Spencer, a well-known forensic psychologist.  Spencer had faced at least 14 years in prison. But prosecutors Tim VanderGiesen and Luis Perez-Medina lobbied for a lesser sentence because Spencer had no prior convictions and pleaded guilty.

`He was twice the legal limit. He should have known better,' VanderGiesen said of Spencer's blood-alcohol level. `However, he can't be locked up the rest of his life . . . These are young guys who all had something going for them. Everybody lost here.'"
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Public Defender Embarassed--No Shit!

The Worcester (Massachusetts) Telegram reports on Public Defender Michael Hussey (pic) pulled over for driving under the influence.  Hussey was so drunk he had pissed and shit his pants. 

Happens, right? 

Hussey made his predicament notable by making a big deal with the arresting officers about "leaving out the [excretory] details," of his drunken humiliation.   First attorney Hussey was so impaired he could not "complete" the Breathalyzer test; and, Hussey had a notorious prior. 

According to the Telegram story, state troopers had previously cut this drunk a break. One of the troopers involved in that earlier DUI arrest was subsequently disciplined for the attempted cover-up, Hussey was never charged.

A wise person I talk to says that the Universe will give you plenty of opportunities in life to see your shortcomings--the things you need to correct.  If you don't take advantage of your early opportunities to make corrections, you can go ahead and piss and shit all over your chances.  At least that's my experience.  Nothing like making things worse?

I was reading about the Jewish myth of King Solomon.  Supposedly, a giant eagle would fly to him as he stood atop his palace, bowing the eagle would present him with two leaves in its beak.  King Solomon understood the leaves to represent two ideas, one was "fallen" and the other was "eyes open."  While I may not understand precisely the moral of this story, I like the metaphor.  I am fallen, but my eyes are open. 

Professional Courtesy: Part 2--Give Me a Break!

Disclaimer:  there are many fine and intelligent people working in law enforcement;  and, I'd be the first to acknowledge that all patrol law enforcement are routinely confronted with challenges I would not wish on you or me.  Some law enforcement acquit themselves with honor, most . . . with competence;  and, there are places on the web where you can read the heartwarming tales of these men and women;  but, as a rule, not here.  This blawg is interested in the fundamental problem of corruption:  the corruption of lawyers (including me), corrupt judges and corrupt law makers. 
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The cops are a species onto themselves. Different rules apply to the cops, and we all have different expectations. On Bad Lawyer it is one of my missions to explore and expose Bad Cops--as we have done and will continue to do with the series of posts like :  Why I Hate the Cops!, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and Boys and Their Toys.  Recently, I had occasion to post on the subject of Professional Courtesy  which deals with what we all know and suspect--law enforcement has a bifurcated set of rules:  the rules that apply to you and me;  and, the rules they enforce or should I say, don't enforce against one another.

Which leads to this morning's post about the cops of New York's Lower Hudson valley  who admit to covering up DWI arrests of one another, here's the report from LoHud.com.  The LoHud.com article is part of a larger look by their reporting staff following the arrests of White Plains patrolman Joe Zepeda, Westchester Officer Joseph Kraus, Dobbs Ferry policeman Michael Huffman and  acounty Correction Officer Patricia Yancy-Johnson on misdemeanor DWI charges following accidents within a three-week period. The four officers were off duty, and each refused blood-alcohol testing.

It is cliche` among criminal defense attorneys that the cops reflexively lie on the stand;-- having handled on average one criminal case a year, I've not arrived at that impression.  I do suspect that law enforcement testimony is pretty "pat," which means officers tend to have canned impressions that come out in little packages of testimony that may or may not be credible.  The police contour their impressions in an outcome-based approach to offering testimony and evidence.  This sort of thing is expected by lawyers and judges, and, I think, to a lesser extent by juries.  In the extreme case, cops contouring their testimony perjure themselves, although I don't think it rises to that level all that often, at least I hope not, at least outside of Maricopa County, Arizona.

The point is: the wholesale practice of allowing Brother and Sister law enforcement to drive drunk drunk,  that my friends is scary, dangerous, and an abandonment by the cops of their sworn responsibility.  It is corrupt.

Grandma blew .415

The Blue Ash (Cincinnati-area) Police jailed Maria Krull last Wednesday after she was pulled over for speeding.  She had her 5 year old granddaughter in the car. When administered the Breathalyzer Mrs. Krull blew .415 blood-alcohol content level, or 5 times the legal limit in Ohio.  According to the Cincinnati Enquirer website, this is not Mrs. Krull first DWI, she is currently under suspension for a September drunk driving arrest.  The arresting police officer, Mark Ziegler  says this BAC-level is "crazy high," noting that the level of intoxication is among the top five he has seen in his two decade career.

The police prosecutor suggests that jail is probably the safest place for Mrs. Krull during the holiday season, who remains incarcerated with bail set at $32,000.  I'm pretty sure the prosecutor is right; although I doubt that Mrs. Krull can recognize it, just about now, she's lucky to be alive, she's lucky she didn't kill her granddaughter and herself, she's lucky she didn't kill others.  She's at rock bottom, the only question is how much further does she wish to burrow and is she going to take anyone else with her?

Personally, I've been there.

For more on Grandma, for more about the Bad Lawyer keep reading:
  http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20091125/NEWS0107/311250031/Grandma+didn+t+get+run+over++but+she+did+blow+a+.415