DWIs: OPINIONS DIFFER ON HANDLING OF DRUNKEN DRIVERS

The state shouldn't lock up first-time offenders who drive drunk, says Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle, who prefers treatment to jail time.

Rep. Mike Schilling, D-Springfield, has proposed a measure that would require first-time driving-while-intoxicated offenders to serve two days in a county jail.

A person caught a second time for driving drunk would be sentenced to at least 10 days in jail. The sentence would be at least 30 consecutive days for a person with three or more DWI convictions.

Swingle said his view about mandatory jail time for drunken drivers has changed over the years. "I used to think every drunken driver should have to spend time in jail," he said, but he has changed his mind during his 16 years as a prosecutor.

"Many people who are caught driving while intoxicated the first time are young people who have really not gotten it through their heads not to combine alcohol and driving," he said.

Requiring first-time offenders to go through a treatment program works, Swingle said. Seventy-five to 85 percent of those who go through an alcohol treatment program as a condition of probation are never seen in court again, he said.

Swingle said the state already has sound laws in place to deal with persistent drunken drivers. A person convicted of a second DWI must serve at least two days in jail or at least 10 days of community service. A person convicted of a third DWI can be sentenced to as much as five years in prison.

In Cape Girardeau County, judges routinely sentence persistent drunken drivers to from three to five years in prison. The judge then retains jurisdiction over the case for 120 days.

If the person goes through an alcohol treatment program in prison, the judge typically would suspend execution of the remainder of the prison sentence and place the individual on probation for five years, Swingle said. The bottom line, said Swingle, is that Schilling's bill is unnecessary.

The measure has yet to make it out of a House committee.

State Sen. Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, also would prefer a different approach. Kinder backs a bill by Sen. Wayne Goode, D-Normandy, that would create the crime of aggravated driving with excessive blood-alcohol content. It imposes stiffer penalties for those convicted of driving with excessive blood-alcohol content of .15 percent or greater.

Under the proposal, the first offense after a prior conviction would be a misdemeanor. The second and subsequent BAC offenses within 10 years would be felonies.

The DWI horror stories largely are the result of repeat offenders, said Kinder. Goode's bill would address that problem, Kinder said.

Swingle doesn't like the legislation. Once a person gets over .10 percent blood-alcohol content he or she is a danger on the roadway, the prosecutor said. Even at 0.08 percent, a driver is nine times as likely to be involved in a car crash as a person who hasn't had a drink, he said.

At .10 percent, a person is 12 times as likely to be involved in a car crash, Swingle said, citing national statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Sen. Morris Westfall, R-Halfway, has introduced a bill that would lower the blood-alcohol content to 0.08 percent. Currently, a driver must have .10 percent alcohol content to be charged with a blood-alcohol-content violation. That is the same level as required for a DWI charge, Swingle said.

Swingle supports Westfall's bill, but Kinder doesn't. Kinder said Missouri has come a long way from the days when police officers used to drive drunk drivers home rather than charge them. Social attitudes have changed for the better, he said, and society is less tolerant today of drunken drivers.

But Kinder said lawmakers shouldn't criminalize the behavior of law-abiding citizens who have a glass or two of wine or beer while dining with friends or family at restaurants or parish picnics.

Swingle said lowering the blood-alcohol-content level required to charge a driver wouldn't pose a problem for a person who drinks a couple of beers in an hour.

Swingle said 16 states have lowered the blood alcohol level required to charge a driver to 0.08 percent. The states include Illinois, which lowered it in 1997. The number of fatal accidents in the state subsequently dropped 11 percent, Swingle said.