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Nothing succeeds in government like failure.  Here we see it in the DUI/DWI context.  Harold Blain Schmidt, of Montgomery County, Texas ran over a motorcycle ridden by two people; a husband and wife.  The husband was killed and the wife seriously injured with brain injuries.  Her road to recovery will be a long one.  To add insult to injury, this happened on mother’s day.

Schmidt was on probation for a previous DWI condition at the time.  Schmidt had a blood alcohol level of .33; that’s right .33.  That is a potentially lethal dose of alcohol.  Schmidt has a long history of substance abuse; that information was readily available to the government.

Why wasn’t Schmidt receiving the personal attention he needed to prevent this terrible tragedy?  Because government thinks it is good with a hammer and therefore sees every problem as a nail.  The government has convicted this alcoholic again and will send him to prison again but that cannot bring back this husband or cure his wife of her injuries. 

A cynical person would say that catching alcoholics like Schmidt, incarcerating them for a while and then releasing such persons to commit more crimes gives government an excuse to take more power.  Government does a poor job and then requests a raise.

Giving government more money and more power to punish drunk drivers will not solve this problem; we need a new approach that may not involve a hammer.

As of July 15, 2008 a New Jersey Grand Jury has indicted a former chief judge for fixing parking tickets.  Wanda Molina, the former Judge, and Virginia Pagan, a former Court administrator resigned as a result of the investigation into ticket fixing.

Both face a mandatory minimum of five years for the offenses.  This was apparently wide spread ticket fixing for family and friends.  People with power use that power; sometimes for their own benefit.

We represent regular people charged with DUI and reckless driving in Elkton, Virginia; Bridgewater, Virginia; Verona, Virginia;  Harrisonburg, Virginia; Rockingham County, Virginia; Staunton, Virginia; Augusta County, Virginia; Woodstock, Virginia; Waynesboro, Virginia; and Shenandoah County, Virginia. You can find information about my firm at:  www.bobkeeferlaw.com; www.bobkeeferlaw.org; www.keeferlawfirm.com; www.duidriver.net; www.recklessdriving.net; www.keefercard.com; www.keeferlawfirm.biz 

Seattle police show what they think of college students.  In 2006, Brittany Beaulieu suffered complex fractures to her face after being injured by a police officer.  Apparently Ms. Beaulieu had the audacity to advise a friend under investigation for drunk driving not to submit to a breath test without a lawyer.

In her lawsuit, Beaulieu alleged that Officer Aaron Parker picked her up and dropped her on her face.  Parker claimed that she fell on her face after he kicked her legs from under her in response to her failure to come along as he directed.

Internal Affairs first recommended that Parker be disciplined; that recommendation was rejected and Parker was sent to retraining; however, Parker’s retraining blamed the victim, Beaulieu.  I guess that was the retraining.  Seattle ended up settling the suit for $115,000 of taypayer money to repair Beaulieu’s face.

We represent people charged with DUI and reckless driving in Elkton, Virginia; Bridgewater, Virginia; Verona, Virginia;  Harrisonburg, Virginia; Rockingham County, Virginia; Staunton, Virginia; Augusta County, Virginia; Woodstock, Virginia; Waynesboro, Virginia; and Shenandoah County, Virginia. You can find information about my firm at:  www.bobkeeferlaw.com; www.bobkeeferlaw.org; www.keeferlawfirm.com; www.duidriver.net; www.recklessdriving.net; www.keefercard.com