Tag Archives: DUI

These charges seem so very appropriate

crash

A woman plowed her car into a Stillwater, Okla., crowd over the weekend.

Four people are dead, including a 2-year-old toddler.

The woman reportedly was drunk at the wheel, although the suspect’s lawyer contends there “absolutely” was no alcohol involved. We’ll have to wait for the tests to come back on that one, counselor.

She is now facing at least four counts of second-degree murder over the carnage she created at an Oklahoma State University homecoming parade.

My initial reaction to the charges being filed? Good!

The rage is palpable in Stillwater toward Adacia Chambers, a 25-year-old resident of the city.

These kinds of tragedies hit us all quite hard. The very idea that a crowd of people enjoying a day of celebration for a college football team could be victimized in this manner by someone who might have been impaired by drugs and/or alcohol simply boggles the mind.

It’s not a “mere” drunk- or reckless-driving case here. If Chambers gets convicted of the murder charges, she’s going away for a very long time. What’s more, several of the people who were injured are in critical condition; if any of them loses the fight for survival, the counts against Chambers could add up to even more prison time in the event of a conviction.

One of the witnesses to the mayhem said, “I’ve lived here my whole life and this blows my mind. This is something that doesn’t happen in Stillwater.”

Tragically, yes it does.

 

Perry needs to go to trial quickly

Prosecutors have defined more sharply the allegations of abuse of power leveled against former Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

So, let’s get this trial underway in short order, OK?

http://www.texastribune.org/2015/02/13/prosecutors-perry-case-amend-charges/

The state has redefined the charges, bringing them into sharper focus. They result from an Aug. 15, 2014 Travis County grand jury indictment charging the then-governor with two felonies: abuse of power and coercion of a public official.

As the Texas Tribune reports, the charges stem from his public threat to veto money appropriated for the Public Integrity Unit run by Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg, who pleaded guilty to drunken driving. Perry wanted Lehmberg to quit. She didn’t, so he made good on his threat, vetoing the $7.5 million appropriated by the Legislature for the PIU.

According to the Tribune: “The prosecutors argue that a governor’s veto power is not absolute, and can be misused for criminal purposes. In this case, they contend, Perry’s veto threat was meant to accomplish one of two goals: either forcing an independent, local elected official out of office or hindering corruption investigations. Either goal was illegal, they say.”

It’s the interference in the affairs of an “independent, local official” that rubs so many of us the wrong way.

The governor does have the authority to veto money the Legislature appropriates. Gov. Perry would have been on firmer footing had he kept his trap shut prior to vetoing the money. He didn’t. Instead, he made a big public splash about Lehmberg’s conduct — which surely was abominable. Perry became entangled in the DA’s office improperly. He had no legal standing to force her to do anything.

All the governor had to do was veto the money without making such a huge public issue of Lehmberg’s DUI arrest.

Judge Bert Richardson, who now sits on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, had declined a defense motion to dismiss the indictments. The trial should go forward, he said.

So it will. Let’s get this thing done. After all, the former governor has a presidential campaign to launch — provided, of course, he isn’t convicted of the crimes for which he’s been charged.

 

This DUI doesn't get under Perry's skin

Texas Gov. Rick Perry must have gotten over his anger at a public official’s arrest for drunken driving.

What got him all worked up when Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg got busted doesn’t seem to phase him when it involves Jack Stick, the top lawyer for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.

Oh, I know now what it is.

Lehmberg is a Democrat; Stick is a Republican — like Perry.

http://www.texastribune.org/2014/09/28/top-republicans-dwi-case-being-seen-softer-light/

Stick got popped for DUI and faces a pre-trial hearing. We’ve heard nary a peep from Perry’s office over this one. Compare that to what happened when Lehmberg got arrested, pleaded guilty and then served jail time. Perry threatened to veto money for her public integrity office, which he did. A Travis County grand jury looked into that and indicted him on abuse of official power.

Perry just couldn’t stand it when a Democrat got busted for drunken driving. When it’s a Republican, though, well that’s different.

OK, the cases aren’t identical. Lehmberg behaved boorishly when she was booked into jail. Stick apparently has minded his manners.

It still interests me that the lame-duck governor would get so worked up over one case but clam up on another one.

Aren’t they both worthy of the governor’s righteous anger?