State Mandates use of Ignition Interlock

Many States are trying to make the roads a safer place by mandating that Offenders who are charged with A DUI, DUII or DWI.  Do you think this is right?  Do you think it is fair? Do you think it makes the road safer?

This is NUTS!

An Anchorage woman on release for a March DUI violated the “no driving” terms of her probation in an a fatal accident and is charged with murder.

The head-on accident occurred on Seward Highway this Saturday. Lori Phillips, a 55-year-old woman with 4 prior DUI charges, was not supposed to be driving at all. She has confirmed she violated the terms of her release when she drove, but she has not admitted to drinking before the accident.

She was not supposed to be drinking or driving based on the terms of release, whether the two activities were combined or not. Due to the release violation and circumstances of the crash, a judge has determined she is a hazard and will need stricter monitoring. She is currently being held in jail. Really? Stricter monitoring? Wow, America; I love this plcae.  Give me a break. cut off her hands and feet and have her take a cab. 

Bail was set at $20,000 cash. Phillips will also have a third-party custodian when she is out on bail. She will wear an ankle monitor during that time period. Phillips will be required to blow into a breath test machine periodically to report random samples back to the court house. If she is found to have any level of alcohol in her blood, she will have her release revoked. 

I am a big believer in allowing people to be released on bail.  I think bail forces accountability.  I think $20,000.00 bail is a joke. I wonder what the bail would have been set at if the judges child was involved in the accident?!  What type of ankle monitor/ GPS, alcohol montoring? what?

For now, Phillips has received the ultimate charges in the pending case. She will be arraigned this afternoon, facing charges of second degree murder, first degree assault, DUI, driving with a revoked license and reckless driving.

Come on, add the total of those offenses and at least make the bail commensurate with what the charges call for.  I guess I have probably pissed the judge off with my rantings, but I hope this brings the matter to someone’s attention.

New tool to fight alcohol-fueled crimes

Click to enlarge

Alcohol Monitoring Systems, Inc. manufactures and markets the Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitor, or SCRAM. The device provides 24-hour-a-day alcohol monitoring, as frequently as once every 30 minutes, regardless of the offender’s location.

Alcohol Monitoring Systems, Inc.

Prosecutors will be asking judges to order the use of a 24-hour alcohol-monitoring ankle bracelet that would ensure a defendant is not violating terms of probation prohibiting alcohol use. The other option, in many instances, would be jail.

“Implementing this program will increase public safety, while holding individuals accountable for their behavior,” District Attorney Stephan Passalacqua said.

The device, called a Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitor or SCRAM, is a small square electronic device attached to an ankle strap. Every 30 minutes it sends readings of any alcohol emitted from the wearer’s skin to a central site.

The anklet’s strap is similar in appearance to a sportswatch and the monitoring device is a small box.

Violators — pretrial defendants who have been released on conditions that include abstaining from alcohol, or who have been ordered to avoid alcohol as part of their conviction — are reported to the court for possible prosecution or additional treatment.

“Everyone who is on SCRAM should be in treatment,” said Linda Connelly, president and CEO of Leaders in Community Alternatives, the service provider. “It’s part of a comprehensive program.”

Defendants would bear the cost of the device and its management, which is about $12 a day. Those unable to pay the cost will receive assistance from the company that provides the device.

Leaders in Community Alternatives is a private company based in San Francisco. The 18-year-old company reported $3 million in sales each of the past three years.

The program will be administered through the local nonprofit California Human Development in Santa Rosa, which will communicate with the courts and Probation Department when there are suspected violations.

Initially the device will only be available to adult defendants, but the program could be extended to juvenile defendants and could include location monitoring and curfew alert systems, Passalacqua said.

Prosecutors see the device as a valuable tool to help prevent repeat offenses related to alcohol use, particularly drunken driving and domestic violence aggravated by alcohol. The device could also be used in other crimes, and even child custody and child visitation disputes, according to program coordinators.

“It’s an innovative solution to how we can address tragedies,” Passalacqua said.

Others, such as Sonoma County Public Defender John Abrahams, are withholding judgment until use of the device is fully implemented.

“I have mixed feelings about it,” he said, citing the costs for indigent clients and whether the device will stand up to legal challenges. Costs for 90 days of the device could reach $1,080, although program organizers say there may be a sliding scale for poor clients.

“I hope this isn’t meant to just catch someone, but to stop them from drinking,” Abrahams said. “Hopefully, that’s what this is about — not just punishing them.”

Use of the device in “highly emotional” situations like child custody and visitation should be limited, Abrahams said.

Company representatives and those in law enforcement tout the device as a scientifically proven, tamper-resistant, money-saving option that can actually encourage a defendant to remain clean where random testing doesn’t.

About 10,000 of the devices are currently in use nationwide, according to an Orange County Register story in June. Contra Costa County in the Bay Area is also using the system.

Deputy probation chief Sheralynn Freitas said the device has proven successful with alcohol abusers.

The device doesn’t actually prevent someone from drinking, but the psychological effect of having it on 24/7 — and the threat of it taking readings every half hour — may be enough to deter someone from taking that first sip, she said.

“Alcohol is probably the most challenging drug to measure and monitor,” she said. “When you think about all the pressures the offenders have to drink: peer pressure, their own addictions, whatever it is. When you know you’re being tested at every moment, there is great self-deterrent. A lot of people find it very successful for that reason.”

Presiding Judge Gary Nadler, who oversees the county’s DUI court, predicts the SCRAM device will prove valuable.

“So many crimes are alcohol-related, whether it’s criminal or family violence. It doesn’t have to be a straight DUI,” he said. “This is a tool that, one, reports to the court if someone violates the terms of probation and, two, gives (an offender) something on their body they know is there that might serve as deterrent.”

Thank you to the www.Sacbee.com for this article

It was 10:23 p.m. A Saturday. Two calls rolled into the Elk Grove Police Department, seconds apart: A motorcyclist was down on East Stockton Boulevard.

The night was clear, the pavement was dry, the street lights were on.

Between 10:23 p.m. and 8:03 the following morning, 22 Elk Grove officers would respond to the hellish scene, where 54-year-old Stanley Spaeth had been killed instantly, struck from behind by a black, 1997 Acura TL. Spaeth, a Sunday school teacher and family man working two jobs, had sent his wife a text message at 8:05 p.m.

Kiss me, he wrote with his thumbs the night of April 18. Later, they chatted briefly by phone.

That was the last time Denise Spaeth would hear from her husband of 20 years. But she would soon hear the name “Rebecca Vela,” the 33-year-old Sacramento woman arrested at the scene on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Vela had been down this legal road before, with three prior convictions for drunken driving.

This was different. Now they were talking murder.

Men still dominate drunken driving statistics, but women are setting an alarming new pace.

Between 2000 and 2008, DUI cases filed against women in Sacramento County rose 60 percent, triple the increase for male offenders, according to an analysis done for The Bee by the District Attorney’s Office.

The trend is especially dramatic among young women, including teenagers, statewide. In 1998, girls made up 16.8 percent of the total DUI arrests of those under 18, according to data from the California Office of Traffic Safety. By 2007, that percentage had shot up to 24.3 – the largest increase of any age group, male or female.

While men lead in drunken-driving busts, teenage girls and women of all ages are rapidly gaining entry to this dangerous club. In California, the female DUI arrest rate rose between 1998 and 2007 in every age group – from the under-18 crowd up to the 71-plus, state figures show.

“Males are still the major knuckleheads, but females for some reason seem to be trying to catch them,” said Christopher Murphy, director of the California Office of Traffic Safety.

“I think this is a wake-up call to say, ‘Wait a minute. It’s not just the boys. … It’s our daughters, too.’”

As DUI arrests of women climb, so do the body counts.

In the last 12 weeks, at least four people have died in the Sacramento area in crashes involving female drivers suspected of being under the influence.

Nancy E. Richards, a 26-year-old mother of three, lost her own life June 11 when she veered into a construction zone at 70 mph near Marconi and Howe avenues and killed a worker, Arnoldo Plasencia, a 49-year-old father of five. While the toxicology report on Richards has not been completed, the California Highway Patrol reported a strong odor of alcohol in her vehicle.

A 14-year-old boy, Devante Parker, died May 28 after being struck by a van the night before and dragged 100 feet in his Phoenix Park neighborhood. The 28-year-old driver, Latoya Marie Buckner, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence. No charges have been filed as the case remains under CHP review.

The Sacramento District Attorney’s Office moved quickly in filing charges against 33-year-old Rebecca Vela, suspected of hopping lanes and speeding when she rear-ended Stan Spaeth just north of Elk Grove Regional Park. The 5-foot-2, 130-pound woman was booked into the Main Jail at 3:51 a.m. on April 19 and, two days later, she was facing charges of murder, felony DUI and hit and run.

Law enforcement would not reveal Vela’s blood-alcohol content at the time of the crash. Vela did not respond to requests to interview her, relayed through the jail and her attorney.

“I have difficulty having mercy for her at this moment,” said Denise Spaeth, 50, who is left alone to raise their two teenage daughters, one of them deaf.

“I don’t hate her; I disdain terribly what she did,” Spaeth said. “You don’t just lose what you have right now. You lose your future.”

LAWRENCE (AP) — Kansas lawmakers are being urged to tighten restrictions on drunken drivers and expand the mandated use of vehicle ignition interlock devices, which measure a motorist’s blood-alcohol content, to even first-time offenders.

Cleveland Browns wide receiver Donte’ Stallworth pleaded guilty to killing a pedestrian while driving drunk and began serving a 30-day jail sentence on Tuesday.

A suspected drunk driver plows into an SUV creating a big mess for clean up crews in Phoenix.

A South Korean man allegedly shot and killed a 10-year-old boy after hitting him with his car, apparently to hide the fact that he was driving drunk, police said.

Police in Poland say an eight-year-old boy saved his sister and three drunk adults from a fire by calling police and fighting the flames before help arrived.

BEAVERTON, Ore. — A suspected drunk driver wreaked havoc and destroyed property in residential Beaverton Tuesday morning. The driver was accused of crashing into multiple cars and a home around 3 a.m. in the 13000 block of SW Butner Court, Washington County sheriff’s deputies said.