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DUI Convictions and Public Records; DWI Sentencing Considerations

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Criminal convictions are public records, so there isn’t much that can be done when DUI/DWI convictions are published in Maryland newspapers. In the times of quick and easy online access to public records, it is difficult to hide these facts. For some people, it is a reason to consider fighting DWI or DUI charges in court.

Insights into Penalty Differences

These drunk driving conviction records do give us an interesting view on how penalties for pleading guilty can vary, even with the same offense in front of a different judge.

For example, one particular judge appears to insist on the defendant abstaining from alcohol as a condition of probation, and getting an alcohol restriction on your license.

This may be a fairly minor distinction, but the larger point is that judges have specific tendencies. Some are very fair to defendants, and some are very tough. Some judges may be reasonable on process and motion issues, but extremely tough when it comes to sentencing.

This is just another area where an experienced Maryland drunk driving defense lawyer can make a significant difference in the outcome of your case. An attorney who knows the judges who preside in a particular court, and his or her tendencies may be able to anticipate certain situations you would like to avoid.

You can’t pick the judge in your case, but if you do end up with a judge that might be more likely to rule unfavorably in a certain situations, then you might be more likely to ask for a continuance, or agree to a continuance if the prosecutor requests one for some reason.

That kind of specific experience really does matter, and can make a real difference in your case.

So when you call for a consultation, be sure to ask about specific experience with cases just like yours, as well as experience in the court where you are assigned. An experienced defense attorney will know the court, the judges, and their tendencies, and will be able to factor that information into whatever recommendations you are given.
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For a free case evaluation on a DUI or DWI charge in Maryland, please contact us today!

More on License Plate Scanners Use in Maryland

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In what appears to be a new trend, use of fixed license plate scanners under the guise of homeland security is coming to Maryland. As reported by wjz, 200 new license plate scanners are going to be deployed by Maryland law enforcement, including 40 at fixed locations.

The New York Times also recently reported that their homeland and countererrorism surveillance efforts would employ automatic license plate scanners on anyone entering Manhattan.

As we’ve mentioned before, thus far, this real-time video scanning technology has largely been used in Maryland directly on police cruisers in order to instantly detect stolen vehicles and drivers with suspended licenses or outstanding warrants.

But it is not surprising that this big brother surveillance technology would find wider and even more insidious applications.

While it makes sense for those who are concerned with governmental intrusion, privacy violations and other civil liberties issues to fight these efforts, it is also important to at least be aware of what is going on.

It is unrealistic for anyone who might have an outstanding warrant for skipping a court date to expect not to be caught. Please contact us if you find yourself in this situation, and are wondering how to get out of it. We can frequently help fix warrant problems, often with little to no additional penalties. Contact us for a criminal defense case evaluation.

License Plate Scanner Use Becoming Widespread in Maryland

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Charles County Maryland is getting on the bandwagon of police passive monitoring tools. Here’s the article on the police use of license plate (tag) scanning technology for locating stolen vehicles, stolen or expired tags, and out of date emissions stickers. The device is also effective at locating cars who’s owners may have suspended driver’s licenses or outstanding warrants.

The device works by the video camera scanning and doing optical character recognition (OCR) on the plate images to translate it into numbers and letters. It then compares the license tag to an updated database of tag numbers with Motor Vehicle Administration flags. If there is a match, the officer inside is alerted via a laptop computer.

There are many interesting technical details in the article, including:

  • There are two cameras in the standard setup, one pointed forward to scan oncoming traffic, and one on the right side to scan parked cars.
  • The scanner works fine in the dark.
  • If it can’t distinguish between a 3 and an 8, it simply runs both combinations against its database.
  • The device will scan approximately 3000-4000 tags over a typical 8 hour shift.
  • The camera is linked to a GPS system, and logs all tags scanned and their location from the past 30 days. So they can look back on historical data if they wish to track your movement in the past.

The last one is particularly scary and big brother-ish. You are being watched all the time. And no doubt the 30 days is arbitrary. I’m sure they can save the data indefinitely if they want to.

The Maryland State police is training officers to operate this system on five additional vehicles. The day is fast approaching when all of you driving is tracked.

Maryland Pol Pleads Guilty to DUI

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Kumar Barve, the majority leader in the Maryland House of Delegates, pleaded guilty to a first offense DUI. News reports here and here. He was sentenced in Montgomery County District Court.

Reports indicated he blew a .10 on a breath test, slightly above the legal limit of .08% BAC. Police reports suggested that he crossed a double yellow line, failed a “walk and turn” so-called field sobriety test. Officers also indictated that he smelled of alcohol, his eyes were bloodshot, his face flushed, and his speech was slurred, as they typically do in DUI arrests.
He received a standard sentence of a probation before judgement, which essentially means that the guilty finding will be recinded if he meets all the conditions of his probation. And he will be eligible to have the charges expunged in the future.
Other conditions of his probation include not drinking alcohol for 1 year, attending MADD meetings, and completing a 26 week alcohol awareness class.
Delegate Barve took full responsibility for his actions, and no one was harmed. We wish him the best, and understand that this is a mistake that anyone could make.
All in all, he got a reasonable, standard result for someone under the circumstances. A good DUI defense lawyer would be able to get a similar result for anyone under these circumstances who chose to plead guilty. There is no evidence at all that he received any judicial favoritism in this outcome.
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If you are charged with drunk driving/DUI/DWI in Maryland, please contact us for your free defense consultation. We can help you fight the charges and defend your license, or work to make sure you get the best and fairest deal under Maryland DUI laws. There is no obligation for our advice.

Filed Under: dui

Increased Penalties for Speeding/Reckless Driving?

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Michael Dresser at the Baltimore Sun thinks that people who speed are as bad as sex offenders.

That is certainly bad enough, but he also believes that Maryland should adopt Virginia’s extremely tough reckless driving laws, and charge anyone speeding 20mph over the limit as a criminal. Currently, reckless driving here in Maryland is typically a civil charge, though it can lead to a suspended license.

The fact is, tougher reckless driving laws do little to prevent so called “dangerous driving”. The primary goal of most aggressive/reckless driving crackdown laws is revenue for the state. These laws are extremely profitable, and cost drivers thousands of dollars in fees, fines, lost work time due to court dates, increased insurance costs.

And there is absolutely no evidence that they make the roads safer.

Virginia tried to push the envelope even further when then enacted “abusive driver fees”, a shameless effort that state officials admitted was merely to extract even more revenue from hapless citizens. That law was repealed after less than a year due to citizen outcry. And rightly so.

Maryland doesn’t need to follow this same path in severely punishing relatively minor driving offenses.

For advice on a driving citation, traffic ticket or other criminal charge in Maryland, please contact us.

Non resident penalties for buying drugs in Baltimore?

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The Baltimore City Council is proposing a $1000 fine for non-city residents who purchase illegal drugs within the city. The fine would be in addition to any criminal charges.

This unusual penalty is an effort to pay for the drug enforcement costs due to county & out-of-town drug users who travel to Baltimore to participate in the city’s significant drug trade marketplace. Police officers would issue the additional citation when confirming the residence of the person arrested for drug possession/drug purchasing.

Attorneys note that there may be significant constitutional issues with this ordinance. It may be illegal to treat residents and non-residents differently for the same criminal charge. It is also not likely to effectively fight the drug trade.

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If you are charged with drug possession in Maryland, please contact us for a criminal defense legal case evaluation.

More Scanning and Surveillance Technology

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The city of Gaithersburg, MD is considering a proposal to add street surveillance cameras and automatic license plate scanner technologies to monitor and identify ongoing criminal activity, and identify cars with drivers with suspended licenses or outstanding criminal arrest warrants. Both of these high tech policing methods are widely employed in Baltimore, and in other Maryland cities and across the country.

The license plate scanners are video cameras connected to police cars that are able to scan the license plates of any cars, either while the police cruiser is driving down the road, or while other cars pass by. The tags are instantly cross checked with police, criminal court and MVA records to identify cars and drivers with issues such as stolen cars/stolen plates, criminal warrants for the driver, or revoked or suspended driver’s licenses.

Even a warrant that is decades old, from another state, could somehow show up in a database and cause you serious problems today.

If one of these situations is flagged, the police officer is instantly alerted and instructed to pull over the vehicle to investigate.

It’s a simple fact that it is becoming increasingly impossible to avoid any mistakes of the past without serious risk of harm. The wise course of action is to find out if you can solve the problem now, without being arrested and losing any leverage you may have in negotiating with the courts about a past problem. If you are already charged and in jail, the prosecutors may not be willing to work out a reasonable deal.

However, in many cases, we can make old warrants go away with minimal problems, if we get to them beforehand. Please contact our Maryland criminal defense law offices to find out what we can to do to help.

Insurance Fraud Penalties Issued to Maryland Man

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A former officer for the Maryland Transit Association was sentenced to 5 years in prison for his participation in an insurance fraud scheme. He destroyed his SUV and that of some friends in order to get out from under the loan payments due to tight financial conditions.

Often criminal fraud charges in Maryland result from desperate financial situations and momentary panic. If you committed an act of fraud , exercising bad judgment in a weak or stupid moment, we understand how this can happen. You do need to face that these charges are serious.

But that doesn’t mean you deserve the maximum penalty allowed by law for a stupid mistake. Please contact us to find out how we can help you work out a reasonable deal, and get on with your life.

Everyone deserves a second chance, and fair treatment under the law. But you will not be treated fairly without an attorney on your side to protect you.

Proposals to Increase DNA Database

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The Maryland House of Delegates is proposing a new DNA collection law pushed by Governor O’Malley. Under the proposed law, Maryland police and law enforcement agencies would routinely collect DNA samples from anyone arrested for a criminal charge in Maryland. The result would be an expanded database of DNA from which to search in future cases, but civil libertarians argue that it is a violation of the rights of a person who has not been convicted of a crime.

Similar laws are in place in 12 states, including Virginia, and are being actively considered in 22 other states, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Connecticut.

Members of the Maryland legislatures Black Caucus are against the proposal, saying that it unfairly targets African-Americans, who are arrested at a much higher rate than whites. Supporters of the bill suggest that it is no more of a violation than collecting fingerprint samples during the booking process, but DNA is arguably much more personal, and contains sensitive and detailed information about a person’s medical history and background.

Maryland State Senate Increases Fines for Giving Alcohol to Minors

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The Maryland State Senate approved a measure to increase fines for adults providing alcohol to minors, but rejected the House proposal that would have made doing so a misdemeanor criminal charge.

If the proposal becomes law, maximum civil penalties will increase from $1000 to $2500 for a first offense act of providing alcohol to someone under the legal drinking age of 21, and fines for 2nd or subsequent offenses will rise from $1500 to $5000.

Keeping the offense as a civil penalty was controversial, as lawmakers were clearly torn by the difficulties in balancing the dangers of alcohol use by minors with the practical realities of enforcement and prosecution. One factor in stopping the criminal enhancement was that the criminal charge of “Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor” is still an option for prosecution of serious cases.