When I find out a politician has been charged with DWI, I'm going to blog about it.
Representative Vito Fossella, a Republican from New York City took his DWI case to trial in Alexandria, Virginia yesterday. Fossella was charged with driving with a BAC (blood alcohol content) of .17%. In VA, a person convicted of driving with a BAC in excess of .15% must serve a mandatory 5 day jail sentence. Wow! I thought New York's DWI penalties were tough. In New York, DWI offenders usually aren't looking at potential jail time until their third or fourth offense.
Tying jail time to a BAC level is absolutely nutty. As a DWI lawyer, believe me when I tell you that the machines that produce these numbers are not nearly as accurate as lawmakers would like you to believe. There are so many ways a breathalyzer can make a mistake. I have personally seen mistakes. I have spent many hours studying how these machines work (or do not work I should say). Entire DWI defense seminars are devoted to debunking the fuzzy math and mechanics that breath testing machines are based on. Sending a first time DWI offender to jail because of a breathalyzer computed BAC level is absolutely wrong.
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