Fairfax DWI Law Loses Money, Leaves Drivers on the Road
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In Virginia, local governments may adopt their own drunken driving laws and collect the resulting fines as long as the local law conforms to state statutes. But a series of flaws found in Fairfax’s DWI law - including something as simple as an omitted word - has allowed local defense lawyers to successfully and repeatedly challenge the ordinance in court. As a result, Fairfax’s chief prosecutor has ordered police officers to charge drunken drivers under the state’s version of the law, meaning that as much as $1.1 million a year in fines that should go to the county now go to the state instead. Additionally, many repeat offenders convicted under the flawed county code have been able to retain their licenses, because Fairfax prosecutors do not count those convictions against them. Fairfax prosecutors decided not to count convictions under the county’s flawed DWI law because courts had declared it invalid, prompting the prosecutors to pass over about 15 habitual offender cases a month. Source : pqasb.pqarchiver.com |