DRUG-IMPAIRED DRIVERS WHO KILL ARE TARGETED

Drugs such as meth, cocaine and prescription pain relievers are as
deadly as alcohol on Utah roads, but their users often escape
punishment because the drugs are less detectable and harder to measure.

The state's current automobile homicide statute makes it incredibly
tough for prosecutors to go after offenders who are involved in fatal
traffic accidents after using drugs illegally.

The most serious charge now available is a class B misdemeanor, hardly
what prosecutors and victim advocates equate to justice.

A proposal on Capitol Hill would change that, closing a gap in Utah's
efforts to eradicate driving under the influence.

Proposed by Paul Boyden, executive director of the Statewide
Association of Prosecutors, the measure would allow prosecutors to
charge the third-degree felony of automobile homicide in those
instances where it was previously out of reach.

Sen. Carlene Walker, R-Sandy, is sponsoring the bill, which was heard
by the Legislature's Transportation Interim Committee on Wednesday and
approved for debate in the 2003 general session.

Boyden said a number of circumstances would have to exist, but the
proposal, if passed, would herald a new era in prosecuting DUI deaths
linked to use of drugs other than alcohol.

Unlike alcohol, Schedule I and Schedule II drugs such as meth,
morphine, cocaine and painkillers lack a definitive standard of
measurement in which police and prosecutors can say this much is "too
much."

If someone is operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol,
field sobriety tests and blood work can determine if the suspect is
impaired above the legal limit of .08 percent.

No such correlative exists for the other drugs, Boyden
said.

Walker's proposal does not invoke a measurable standard but simply
says automobile homicide can be charged if the drugs are in the system
illegally, the driving was criminally negligent, and someone died as a
result.

"We can prove that the person has ingested, we can prove someone died
as a result, but what we cannot prove is that they were impaired or
under the influence of that drug," Boyden said. "The reason we cannot
prove that is we don't have scientifically reliable standards that say
when a person is under the influence of these drugs."

Prosecutors did allow for an affirmative defense to the charge if the
motorist has legally taken the drug because of a doctor's
prescription.

All others are up for grabs, Boyden said.

"If someone is using those drugs and they are in their system and they
are not lawfully prescribed for them, public policy dictates that they
should be held criminally liable for causing that death."

The proposal would also allow prosecutors to charge automobile
homicide as a second-degree felony for those offenders who have
previous DUI convictions.