Mississippi Pardon of Repeat DUI Offender Raises Serious Questions

While everyone is focusing on Governor Haley Barbour's pardons of several convicted murderers in Mississippi, nobody is talking about one particular pardon which in many ways is more disturbing.  In January of this year, outgoing Mississippi Governor, Haley Barbour, issued a pardon to a repeat DUI offender while he was sitting in jail awaiting possible DUI charges for an accident that killed an 18 year old girl. The case of Harry Bostick is beyond disturbing.  Bostick is a retired IRS Investigator.  Bostick had been convicted of his third DUI arrest in one year in March of 2009.  For the third DUI, Bostick had been sentenced to one year of house arrest and 4 years in a Mississippi drug court program.  This is a drug and alcohol program with strict requirements that Bostick must follow.  Last summer, while he was still in the program, Bostick began applying for a pardon from Governor Barbour.  Many high profile individuals in Mississippi wrote letters in support of Bostick's pardon, including a letter from a retired U.S. Attorney.  The letters detailed the death of his teenage son in a house fire, and his divorce.  The letters talked about how he had changed his life and was not using alcohol anymore.  On September 30, the Mississippi Parole Board, on a 3 to 2 vote, recommended that Bostick be pardoned.  On October 7, according to the Mississippi State Police, Bostick was driving under the influence of alcohol when he slammed into the side of a car driven by 18 year old Charity Smith.  Charity was killed and her older sister suffered serious injuries.  In January, Barbour granted Bostick's pardon, while Bostick was sitting in jail on a probation violation and authorities were investigating the latest accident and considering what to charge Bostick with. Nobody has been able to explain how nobody knew about the current case.  Apparently nobody bothered to do a final check to see if anything new had happened.  Barbour is blaming the Parole Board, the Parole Board is blaming the Governor's office.  In the meantime, Charity's mother is left to mourn and try to make sense of the heartbreaking loss of her 18 year old daughter.  An 18 year old girl who was saving her money to go to college and get her business degree.  Those dreams have now vanished while the man who extinguished this young life is a free man, having been pardoned by the Governor of the State of Mississippi, absolved of his crimes.


Clearly, something is terribly wrong in Mississippi.

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.legaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.

California Medical Assn Calls For Legalization of Pot

On Friday, the Trustees of the California Medical Association, which represents more than 35,000 physicians in the State of California, approved a resolution at their annual meeting calling for the legalization of marijuana.  This is the first major medical association in the United States to call for the legalization of marijuana.  By taking this position, the association is not saying that there are enough benefits to medical marijuana to justify that it be legalized.  They actually state that there are few, if any, benefits to using medical marijuana.  Rather, they argue that the consequences of criminalizing marijuana greatly outweigh the hazards.  They believe that more research needs to be done to further determine if there are any benefits to medical marijuana and find themselves in a difficult position when they prescribe marijuana because they are violating federal law when they do so.  They agree that there are some dangers to using marijuana but those dangers can be addressed by regulating them the way that alcohol and tobacco are regulated.  In discussing the hazards of criminalizing marijuana, they point to the increased cost of prosecuting and imprisoning people, the damage this does to families and the racial inequalities that are present when defendants are sentenced.  

Not everyone agrees with the California Medical Association including the federal government which considers marijuana to be has bad as any other drug.  Recently, the Obama Administration turned down a request to reclassify marijuana under federal drug laws and has started cracking down on medical marijuana facilities in California including threatening to prosecute landlords who allow medical marijuana dispensaries to operate out of their properties.  There is a slow but steady movement towards trying to legalize marijuana in California.  However, last year California voters voted down Proposition 19 which would have legalized the cultivation and possession of small amounts of marijuana while Los Angeles has recently passed regulations affecting medical marijuana dispensaries ordering the closing of hundreds of them.

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or all us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.

Kane County Cracking Down On DUI Offenders

Kane County is making life more difficult for defendants convicted of Driving Under the Influence.  A new Kane County program is requiring that DUI offenders be tested up to eight times during a holiday season to make sure that they are staying away from alcohol, as required by their court sentence.  This new program was unveiled during the Labor Day weekend.  It's called The Holiday Alcohol Testing program.  The goal of the program is to discourage drivers from drinking alcohol during the time that they are most likely to consume alcohol, a holiday weekend.  The program was announced by John Barsanti, the Kane County State's Attorney.  Fifteen DUI offenders passed the test, one DUI offender failed one of the tests and another failed to show up for all of the tests.  The test takes about two minutes and costs $4 per DUI offender.  Prosecutors will seek to file Petitions To Revoke their Sentences for failing and not showing up for their tests.  Kane County is planning on continuing with the program during all the upcoming holiday weekends, including sports related weekends, like the Super Bowl and the final weekend of the NCAA men's basketball tournament.    

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorney at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.

DUI Study Released - Interesting Statistics

The Scripps Howard News Service has released some interesting figures concerning traffic deaths and the link to alcohol.  In all of Cook County there were 6,000 traffic deaths between 1994 and 2008.  Roughly one-third of the deaths can be linked to drinking and driving.  Cook County's portion of I-94 is ranked the 11th most dangerous road in the United States with a total of 301 deaths between 1994 and 2008.  More than 100 people die in traffic accidents in the United States every day.  In Lake County, 30 people were killed on Illinois 173 and 30 people were killed in Will County on I-53.  The study also suggests that people drive differently depending on the type of road.  For instance, only 24 percent of deaths on interstates involved alcohol.  However 31 percent of deaths on state roads were related to alcohol and 39 percent of deaths on county roads were related to alcohol. 

For a link to their statistics, click here.  You can go to the top of the page and select a state to access their statistics.

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.

Kane County DUI Program May Be Ending

On July 1, 2009, we posted a blog about a Kane County DUI program that has been called the "no refusal" program. The program has been controversial and now some Kane County police agencies are refusing to participate in the program. With this operation, local police agencies set up road blocks pulling over motorists. If the police suspect that the driver is driving under the influence of alcohol they request that they submit to blood draws or breath tests to determine if there is alcohol in their system. Judges are stationed at these road block locations so if a motorists refuses to submit to such a test, a search warrant is obtained on-the-spot. If a driver refuses to comply with the warrant, they can then face additional charges, such as contempt of court and obstruction of justice. At least two local police agencies have informed Kane County State's Attorney John Barsanti that they are refusing to participate in this program. A total of 3 "no refusal" crackdowns have been held. A total of two drivers have refused to comply with these warrants. One driver was charged with contempt of court and won in court. The second was charged with obstruction of justice and his case is still working it's way through court. So far, police in Batavia, Geneva, Elgin, Kane County Sheriff's Police, and Illinois State Police have participated. During the last "no refusal" crackdown, only three drivers were arrested for DUI.

Barsanti has asked 30 local police agencies in Kane County to let him know if they will be interested in participating in future operations. If Barsanti does not receive enough support, he said that he will consider abandoning the program.

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.