Opinion: No new DUI rules

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

By Shane Scheid

Wyoming has a serious problem with drunk driving. I don’t know of anyone who could credibly dispute this.  What to do about it, however, is a matter of dispute. State Representative Keith Gingery has legislation pending which would theoretically address the DUI mess in Wyoming. He should be lauded in his efforts, but also cautioned against throwing the baby out with the bath water.

In a recent interview with a newspaper in Casper, Gingery, promoting his version of DUI reform in Wyoming, made two very key points. He differentiated between a person who gets behind the wheel with a blood alcohol level (BAC) of .15 or more and a person with a BAC of .08. In his words, referring to the former: “Those are the drivers that actually kill people.“ His proposal would carry very stiff penalties for these offenders.  The second point he makes concerns repeat offenders. His bill would stiffen the penalties for repeat offenders, and change the way that repeat offenses are catalogued. These are good moves.

This brings me to two aspects of his proposal that I must take issue with. We in America enjoy the best justice system in the entire world, and we should not subvert it for the sake of simply increasing prosecution rates. Our courts are designed for discovering truth and identifying wrong, not securing convictions. Too many people in this country and this state have subconsciously equated courtroom convictions with justice and automatically assume that a defendant is guilty simply because they are charged. As someone who has been arrested, in Wyoming, for crimes I did not commit, and other crimes that were never committed in the first place, I can assure readers that I didn’t get away with anything but my life when I “got off.”

Representative Gingery wants to take away a defendant’s ability to argue that their BAC rose above the legal limit after being arrested, after they would have been safely home. He considers this to be a loophole that hinders prosecutors. With all due respect to Representative Gingery, facts are not loopholes. Taking away anyone’s right to defend themselves using facts completely disregards the reason we have courts in the first place. Why spend the money and go through the motions, if defendants are not allowed to defend themselves?

Gingery also wants to make it a crime to refuse a BAC test by the accused. He says this is a serious loophole. Again, with all due respect, the United States Constitution is not a loophole. The Fifth Amendment was specifically intended to hinder prosecutors. The Fourth Amendment provides prosecutors their own “loophole,” called warrants. Making a crime out of refusing to assist with one’s own prosecution is a slap in the face to those who fled the kangaroo courts of Europe to establish America.

All in all, I applaude Gingery’s efforts. It is high time something is done on this issue, but not at the cost of destroying the principles our country was founded upon. Despotic courts have historically killed more innocent people than drunk driving. JHW

Shane Scheid lives in Cody, Wyo.



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