Criminal Penalties for DWI
For a first violation of state law for driving while intoxicated,
or for operating a motor vehicle with excessive BAC, the range of
punishment is up to 6 months in jail, a $500.00 fine or both. A
second conviction under state law within a 5 year period for either
a DWI or BAC is a class A misdemeanor and is punishable by up to
1 year in jail, a $1,000 fine or both. A third conviction for BAC
or DWI within a 10 year period is a class D felony and is punishable
by up to 4 years in prison, a $5,000 fine or both. Felony assault
with a motor vehicle is a class C felony and carries a range of
punishment of up to 7 years in prison, a $5,000 fine or both. Involuntary
manslaughter is a class C felony and carries a range of punishment
of up to 7 years in prison, a $5,000 fine or both.
Under Age Drivers
Under Missouri's Abuse and Lose Law, a court, upon a plea of guilty,
conviction or finding of guilt, or, if the court is a juvenile court,
upon a finding of fact that the offense was committed by a juvenile,
shall enter an order suspending or revoking the driving privileges
of any person determined to have committed one of the following
offenses and who, at the time said offense was committed, was under
twenty-one years of age:
(1) Any alcohol related traffic offense (i.e., DWI, BAC, vehicular
manslaughter or vehicular assault);
(2)Any offense involving the possession or use of alcohol, committed
while operating a motor vehicle (e.g., a minor who is pulled over
for speeding and who is subsequently found to be in possession of
beer or wine and who pleads guilty to possession would fall within
this provision of the Abuse and Lose law),
(3) Any offense involving the possession or use of a controlled
substance (e.g., a minor who pleads guilty to possession of marijuana,
whether or not he or she was found to have possession while operating
a motor vehicle;
(4) Any offense involving the alteration, modification or misrepresentation
of a license to operate a motor vehicle in violation of state law.;
(5) Any offense involving the possession or use of alcohol for
a second time; except that a determination of guilt or its equivalent
shall have been made for the first offense and both offenses shall
have been committed by the person when the person was under eighteen
years of age.
The period of suspension for a first offense under the Abuse and
Lose law is ninety days. Any second or subsequent offense under
this section shall result in revocation of the offender's driving
privileges for one year.
In the case of a county or municipal ordinance violation, before
the Abuse and Lose provisions will be applied, the judge in the
case must be an attorney and the defendant must be represented by
or waive the right to an attorney in writing.
As in the case of an adult driver, a minor's license may be suspended
or revoked in the case of a refusal, unlawful blood alcohol content
(.08% or above), or for unlawful point accumulation resulting from
an intoxicated-related traffic conviction.
In addition, if a minor (under age 21) is stopped upon probable
cause to believe he or she violated a state, county or municipal
traffic offense and such person was driving with a blood alcohol
content of two-hundredths of one percent or more by weight, in the
case of a first offense, the suspension period is 30 days, followed
by a period of 60 days of restricted driving. In the case of a second
or subsequent offense, there will be a one-year revocation.
Any license suspension imposed under the Abuse and Lose law is
in addition to any other suspension or revocation arising out of
a refusal, point assessment or administrative determination of an
unlawful blood alcohol content (either .02% or .08% or above).
Mandatory Education and Counseling Programs
As a condition of probation in any DWI or BAC case, the
judge is required to order the driver to complete the Substance
Abuse Traffic Offender Program (SATOP). The driver is also required
under state law to complete the program as a condition of the return
of the driver's license at the end of a suspension or revocation
period. The program consists of three levels, the first being a
simple offender education class or program (OEP). This program is
generally reserved for first time offenders whose BAC reading was
.17 or less. The cost of this program is approximately $200.00,
consists of 10 hours of education conducted in a classroom setting,
and can be completed on a weekend or during two or three evenings.
The second level program is called the Weekend Intervention Program
(WIP). In this program, the driver spends 48 consecutive hours in
a restrictive environment during which time the offender is involved
in approximately thirty hours of intensive educational intervention.
The cost of this program is about $400.00.
Finally, the third level is called the Clinical Intervention Program
(CIP) and involves approximately 50 hours of outpatient treatment
and counseling with a licensed professional. The cost of this program
is around $800.00, and will take a period of several weeks to complete.
The program includes both individual and group education and counseling.
Insurance (SR-22) Requirements
In order to reinstate your license after an administrative DWI
suspension or revocation, or a point suspension or revocation resulting
from a alcohol-related traffic conviction, the offender is required
to maintain an SR-22 filing with the state for a period of two years
from the effective date of the suspension.
Vehicle Ignition Interlock Devices
If you plead guilty to or are found guilty of a first offense DWI
or BAC, the court may order you to install an ignition interlock
on your car as a condition of probation. You must blow into this
device to start your car and periodically while driving. If the
device detects alcohol on your breath, the car will not start, a
record of that fact will be made, and the judge will be notified.
If you plead guilty to or are found guilty of a second or subsequent
DWI or BAC, the judge must order you
to install the device on your vehicle, with certain limited exceptions.
The cost of installation ranges from $50 to $100, and you will have
to pay $50 to $75 per month for the privilege of having the device
on your car. If your probation period is two years, this will result
in substantial costs to you.
Some Parting Observations
Twenty-five years from now, I am convinced that scholars
will look back at this time in our history and conclude that the
turning point for the erosion of our constitutional rights began
with DWI and drug cases. Drugs and drunk driving are big problems,
and nobody, including me, would condone them. I, too, have lost
close friends and relatives in drunk driving accidents and to drugs.
What we can't do is overreact to these problems. We cannot trade
our basic civil liberties for public security. There is a line that
cannot be crossed, but we have now crossed it. As a result of the
hysteria and the public outcry, we have bastardized long-standing
rules of evidence, good science, and the Bill of Rights in exchange
for the expedient removal of drunk drivers from the highways. Yet,
we do nothing to educate the public about how alcohol may affect
their ability to operate a motor vehicle before they come to the
lawyer's office with their first DWI. Many times, they just didn't
know how much alcohol they could drink given their body weight.
Many of my clients are 100 lb. women, who by drinking two glasses
of wine will raise their blood alcohol level to at or above the
legal limit. Many are young people, who are inexperienced drinkers.
Most are just people who don't know how many is too many. They tell
me if they had known, they wouldn't have had that last beer, that
"one for the road." Has anyone ever thought to include alcohol education
in the high school curriculum? Has anyone thought to include an
alcohol consumption chart in the state's driver's license manual
so that people will at least have an idea how much they can and
can't drink? Some states have. Why is Missouri always last? Don't
Drive Drunk commercials are great, but how does one know how much
he or she can drink?
As an attorney, and as an American, I will do everything within
my power to defend the Constitution from the oppression of the masses.
With my last dying breath, I will fight the Department of Health's
"junk science," the legislature's Draconian rules of evidence, and
the attempts of judges to take away our civil liberties. We have
the scientific means, but not the will, to improve a system where
the innocent may be convicted, and the guilty can go free. Yes,
this will be the turning point for the Bill of Rights. As a wise
judge once so eloquently said:
"Carnage on the highways, and all other crimes, are subservient
to the carnage at Valley Forge, Yorktown, and Gettysburg, where
the civil liberties now hanging in the balance were carefully shaped
and hammered into rights so clean and so pure that they stand the
test of time and resist encroachment."
Hon. Jim Randall,
McDonnell v. Com'r of Public Safety,
460 N.W.2d 363 (Minn. App. 1991)
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