CLOSING THE LOOPHOLE

Prosecutor Wants To Change Under Influence Laws

BELLAIRE - A Central Lake man, who authorities said was under the influence
of marijuana when involved in a car accident that killed two women last May,
has been sentenced to prison.

Antrim County prosecutor Charles Koop said he now will the state Legislature
to enact laws to make it easier to prosecute people who operate motor
vehicles while under the influence of drugs.

Judge Philip Rodgers Jr. exceeded state sentencing guidelines in sending
Daniel Wade Shaw to 40 to 60 months in prison.

Shaw, 25, was involved in a head-on collision last May 16 in Torch Lake
Township. Police said his car crossed the centerline and hit another
vehicle. Two women died in the second car - Vivian Cooley, 74, of Elk
Rapids, and Lorraine Bigelow, 63, of Kewadin.

Koop said evidence indicated Shaw was under the influence of marijuana at
the time of the crash. He was initially charged with five felonies but
eventually pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted operating a motor
vehicle under the influence of a controlled substance causing death.

Part of the reason Koop said he was willing to reach a plea agreement in the
case was the difficulty police have in verifying how recently a suspect has
smoked marijuana and how it may have affected him or her. There is no
indicator to pinpoint a person's level of intoxication, such as with a
person's blood-alcohol level, measured through a breath or blood test, he
said.

With a controlled substance such as marijuana, "it's all experts and they
are all over the place" in terms of what they might say in court, Koop said.

"I'm attempting to address that problem through the Legislature," he said.
"It's kind of a loophole in our laws."

In Indiana, the law states that if a person has certain controlled
substances in their system, they are guilty of a crime if involved in a car
accident. There is no need to demonstrate how the controlled substance may
have affected their behavior, just as there is no need to do so when a
person's blood alcohol is at an illegal limit in Michigan, he said.

Koop said he will ask the state association of prosecuting attorneys'
legislative liaison to lobby for legislation to prosecute people operating
motor vehicles under the influence of drugs.