California DUI case: Justice or good old boys network?
Here's a riddle.
Is justice the same when a prosecutor is a defendant as it is when a DUI prosecutor is just a prosecutor?
According the the DA in the story below, the reckless driving deal that this Nevada prosecutor took after his California DUI arrest was just business as usual, the same deal would be offered to anybody else.
Now before we DUI defense lawyers get our panties all up in a bunch, let's consider what we do every time we negotiate a case for one of our clients with a prosecutor. More on that later. First the article, quoted in full:
Calif. Prosecutor Drops DUI Charges Against Nevada Prosecutor | NBC Los Angeles: "A Nevada prosecutor pleads guilty to reckless driving and won't be prosecuted for DUI in connection with two crashes in a six-hour span, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Nye County District Attorney Bob Beckett crashed two cars within six hours on the same stretch of California highway in June 2008. He failed an alcohol breath test at the scene of the second crash.
In September, Beckett pleaded not guilty to DUI charges.
But he changed his plea after the DUI charges were dropped, pleading guilty instead to reckless driving. As part of the plea, he is also required to complete a class on alcohol and automobiles.
Beckett will not be prosecuted for drunken driving under the plea deal entered in Barstow, Calif., Superior Court on Friday.
In the first crash, which happened early afternoon, Beckett totaled the county-issued SUV he was driving on California Route 127, south of Shoshone, Calif. No other vehicles were involved.
After riding home in a tow truck, Beckett went out to the same highway in his own van, crashing six hours later.
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After failing a breath test for alcohol at the scene, Beckett was arrested, taken to Baker, Calif., and released into the custody of a friend, according to LVRJ.com.
San Bernardino County deputy district attorney Joel Buckingham said the plea agreement was not out of the ordinary and Beckett did not get any special consideration."
Now, back to what DUI defense lawyers do when they plea bargain a case.
1. First we present the facts and explain to the prosecutor why they favor our client.
2. If the facts don't favor our clients, then we present our legal theories.
3. If our legal theories are no good, then we present our client as a human being. We bring out the good. We hide or minimize the bad. "This client is an upstanding citizen, a doctor," we say. "This client just got home from Iraq where he took two bullets and rescued 5 babies from certain doom." We sell our clients value to society, and we emphasize that their behavior is more negligent than criminal, that they are guilty perhaps, but never condemnable.
4. If none of the above work, then some of us beg. Some of us whine. Some of us threaten litigation, and some of us vow to rid the planet of several trees as we explain to the judge in many motions what is wrong with the case.
For us DUI defense lawyers, if any of the above tactics work, then we are successful. It really does not matter how we got there if we got the client a good result, as long as we didn't violate the ethical rules.
So, for defense attorneys who are inclined to say that this is favoritism and not justice, think of the example it sets. Now, for California DUI lawyers practicing in San Bernardino County, they can cite this example.
This was a good result for a California DUI defendant who just happened to be a prosecutor. I congratulate him and hope that he has the good sense to learn from this not just one, but at least two lessons:
Lesson 1: Don't drive drunk. Pretty basic, huh?
Lesson 2: Perhaps this ordeal will cause him to approach people he prosecutes with greater compassion, and approach justice with a people based perspective. Perhaps he will set a tone for younger prosecutors in his office to follow.
Perhaps.
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