N.C. aims for stiffer DWI laws: ‘Significant step forward
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Jun. 26–Promising they’ll overhaul North Carolina’s DWI laws this year, legislators have advanced a bill that would make it harder for judges to second-guess the results of alcohol breath tests. The bill, expected to win approval from lawmakers and Gov. Mike Easley, follows recommendations from a state task force and the findings of Charlotte Observer investigations. It also would require police to investigate the immigration status of some impaired drivers, and stiffen penalties for drunk motorists involved in deadly wrecks. “I think it represents a significant step forward,” said Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand, D-Cumberland, who sponsored the bill and served on a Senate judiciary committee that approved it Thursday. “It certainly makes it abundantly clear what the law is.” N.C. law says a driver with an alcohol level of 0.08 or more commits the offense of driving while impaired. But Observer stories published in 2004 showed that N.C. judges acquitted more than… Source : accessmylibrary.com |