NEW LAW TOUGHTENS DWI PENALTIES

Measure Provides More Enforcement Options

Penalties for drunken driving got tougher under a multifaceted law
signed Tuesday by Gov. Mike Easley.

Known as The Motor Vehicle Driver Protection Act, the legislation
increases penalties for DWI while ensuring laws are applied "fairly
and consistently" throughout the state, Easley said in a prepared statement.

The new law, which becomes effective Dec. 1, adds to the list of
DWI-related crimes, including a new category of charges that apply
when an impaired driver injures a victim. Drivers with previous
impaired driving convictions within seven years of a crash may now be
charged with "aggravated felony serious injury by vehicle" or
"aggravated felony death by vehicle."

Existing laws sometimes made it difficult to apply charges that
specifically fit a driver's actions. In cases involving death,
prosecutors have had to rely on a structure that obliged them to
pursue convictions for crimes with widely divergent sentences, such
as manslaughter as opposed to second-degree murder.

"It gives the officer some more latitude in what they can charge and
for my office in what we can prosecute," said Rex Gore, district
attorney of Brunswick, Bladen and Columbus counties. "There were some
inequities that would appear. Under the prior (guidelines), you could
charge for death but not serious injury. Now we can address it under
the DWI statute."

The new law also limits the discretion of judges to find a DWI
defendant not guilty if breathalyzer test results show a
blood-alcohol concentration of 0.08 percent or more. A BAC of 0.08
percent is the state standard for drunken driving.

"It made the language a little easier for the judges to rely strictly
on the breathalyzer reading, regardless of how (defendants) did on
the dexterity test," Gore said.

The law requires prosecutors to document and report their reasons for
dismissing DWI cases. The Administrative Office of the Courts can
post the information on its Web site. The legislation also expands
the definition of impaired driving to include the presence of any
amount of illegal drugs in the blood.

Gore said many of the measures signed into law by Easley were already
practiced in the three-county 13th Prosecutorial District he supervises.

Statistics compiled by the state Highway Patrol rank New Hanover
County at eight on the statewide list for alcohol-related highway
crashes. Brunswick County ranks 10th, and Pender County 21st.

The legislation is welcome news to Wilmington-based Highway Patrol
1st Sgt. J.O. Holmes.

"There's several parts in that bill that give us more tools. It gives
law enforcement more to work with," Holmes said.