OHSO Impaired Driving Forum

Gary L. AckleyAssistant District AttorneyOffice of the District Attorney for Oklahoma County

Norman, OK3/21/2013

Breakout Session 1: Panel presentationsTrack 4: Prosecution/Adjudication

Oklahoma Impaired-Driving Program Assessment Final Draft Report

Prosecution Recommendations: Establish and adhere to strict policies on plea

negotiations and deferrals in impaired driving cases and require that plea negotiations to a lesser degree be made a part of the record and count as a prior impaired driving offense.

What would this change at your courthouse?

What would this change at your courthouse?

“Strict policies on plea negotiations and deferrals in impaired driving cases.”

Who has unlimited discretion to reach any agreement desired?

What would this change at your courthouse?

“Require that plea negotiations to a lesser degree be made a part of the record.”

District Court: Summary of Facts on Plea of Guilty

Q. Is there a plea agreement? Q. What is that agreement?

What would this change at your courthouse?

“Require that plea negotiations to a lesser degree count as a prior impaired driving offense.”

What are our concerns as prosecutors re: DUI, especially amendment to non-alcohol related charges, and the ill effects of such practices?

Prosecutor’s Recommendations Prosecutions focus on specific deterrence, i.e., What can I do in this case to prevent this defendant

from re-offending? Hopefully, by doing a good job on Specific Deterrence,

we further the cause of General Deterrence: The Split Sentence is our friend.

Prosecutor’s Recommendations, cont.

1. Suspended in part as allowed by 22 O.S. §991(a): A. …when a defendant is convicted of a crime

and no death sentence is imposed, the court shall either:

1. Suspend the execution of sentence in whole or in part, with or without probation. The court, in addition, may order the convicted defendant at the time of sentencing or at any time during the suspended sentence to do

one or more of the following: …

Prosecutor’s Recommendations, cont.

2. Deferred sentence and county jail time as allowed by 22 O.S. §991(c):

A. Upon a verdict or plea of guilty or upon a plea of nolo contendere, but before a judgment of guilt, the court may, without entering a judgment of guilt and with the consent of the defendant, defer further proceedings upon the specific conditions prescribed by the court not to exceed a ten-year period. The court shall first consider restitution among the various conditions it may prescribe. The court may also consider ordering the defendant to: …

5. County jail confinement for a period not to exceed ninety (90) days or the maximum amount of jail time provided for the offense, if it is less than ninety (90) days;

I am on probation for DUI, It is a felony if I get caught again, it will cost me

almost $4,000 for bail, attorney fees, etc., I can go to jail for DUS or Public Drunk by violating my probation, etc.

Specific Deterrence:

My friend just got arrested for DUI. He is on probation for the next 5 years,

they are trying to send him to prison, it cost him almost $5000…

General Deterrence:

Handout Daily Oklahoman, Cost of a DUI Arrest, 12/30/2010

Nearly $10,000

Are there any new specific deterrence tools available? Deferred DUI sentences count as convictions: Deferred sentences, enhancement w/ prior deferred 47 O.S. 11-902(B)(2): 2. Any person who, during the

period of any court-imposed probationary term or within ten (10) years of the date following the completion of the execution of any sentence or deferred judgment for a violation of this section … commits a second offense pursuant to the provisions of this section or has a prior conviction in a municipal criminal court of record for the violation of a municipal ordinance prohibiting the offense provided for in subsection A of this section shall, upon conviction, be guilty of a felony and shall participate in an assessment and evaluation pursuant to subsection G of this section and shall be sentenced to:b. placement in the custody of the Department of Corrections

for not less than one (1) year and not to exceed five (5) years and a fine of not more than Two Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($2,500.00), …

Rule 6 appeal basically as an ex-post-facto law

State v. Salathiel S-2012-623 Argued 2-14-13 Accelerated docket argument, opinion any day

now. Jurisdiction over DUI’s in Municipal Courts is

limited: 47 O.S. 11-902(C)(7): In any case in which a defendant is charged with a second or subsequent driving under the influence of alcohol or other intoxicating substance offense within any municipality with a municipal court other than a court of record, the charge shall be presented to the county's district attorney and filed with the district court of the county within which the municipality is located.

Enhancement of Felony DUI’s by prior convictions for felonies besides DUI

VanWoundenburg, July 22, 2003 Handout