In the state senate, President Richard J. Codey proposed to enforce stricter punishment upon repeat drunken-driving offenders. The impetus for such an initiative has come from a Morris Township crash where a man’s license had been suspended 78 times.

The Senator filed a package of bills in the state Legislature on Monday. These proposals are set to include one that would charge criminals with a fourth-degree crime for driving under the influence while already suspended for a DUI conviction. If enacted the bills would also increase penalties for repeat DUI offenders who have a blood alcohol content of .20 and over (the legal limit is .08) and also those who lend their vehicles to anyone with a  suspended license.

Codey said in a prepared statement that he wanted to send a message to repeat offenders who don’t learn from their mistakes that “we are going to have zero tolerance.”

Codey’s three proposed bills were greeted with enthusiasm by the head of the state chapter of the National Motorists’ Association. Steve Carrellas, the state chapter coordinator, praised the bills for focusing on repeat offenders. But he also said his group has long held that defendants in DUI cases should have an option to jury trials.

In the original accident that encouraged a need for stricter penalties, a 48-year-old man crashed his vehicle while his four-year-old daughter. Supposedly, this man’s license had already been suspended 12 times.

Another accident, involving an East Rutherford man, involved an offender who had 12 suspensions on his license relating to DUI offenses and was also suspended at the time of the crash. He was convicted of assault by auto and driving under the influence (DUI).

“Ideally, we’d like any DUI to go to a jury,” he said, saying he believes that would lead to more acquittals for wrongly charged drivers.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 17th, 2009 at 5:27 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.