Posts Tagged ‘MADD’

The cop and the criminal defense attorney

Ferrell Hunter, a sheriff’s deputy in Tunica County, Mississippi, was a Stakhanovite arrester of motorists on DUI charges, hailed by the state chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving as the state’s top such enforcement officer. But something MADD did not realize was that Tunica County has had a peculiarly low rate of actual conviction for DUI defendants. It turned out that Hunter had an arrangement with former Oxford attorney Joe Gregory Stewart: Hunter would provide Stewart with the names of motorists he arrested, Stewart would approach them and sign them up as clients, Hunter would then fail to make court dates so that the charges would be dropped, and Stewart would kick him back $200 or $300 per case. Now Hunter will serve three years probation after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit extortion, while Stewart was sentenced to three years probation, hit with a $20,000 fine and disbarred. (Andy Wise, “Former Tunica County Deputy Sentenced For Fixing DUI’s”, WREG, Mar. 10)(via Lori Patel).

Karma ran into her dogma

“Wisconsin’s state Attorney General [Peg Lautenschlager], who pushed hard for a .08 BAC limit in the state, was arrested for drunken driving Monday night. We don’t know what her BAC was, because she refused to take a breath test (by the nature of the accident, I’d guess it was far higher than .10). Wisconsin is one of 37 states to adopt a measure championed by MADD that’s truly one of the most hysterical drunk driving laws on the books — the state actually imposes a harsher sentence for refusing to take a roadside breath test than it does for taking one and failing it.” (Radley Balko, Feb. 25) See Phil Brinkman, “Lautenschlager gives emotional apology, takes no questions”, Wisconsin State Journal, Feb. 27; Steven Elbow, “AG cited in drunk driving”, Capitol Times (Madison), Feb. 24 (in 1981, state’s then-AG was picked up driving with BAC above legal limit; was easily re-elected the next year); Elbow, “AG’s alcohol level was 0.12”, Feb. 25.