There is a story that I had missed until today, as I missed one of my Iowa Press-Citizen daily updates and opened it a few minutes ago. It seems that after initially pleading not guilty, Johnson County Auditor Tom Slockett, had a change of thought and pleaded guilty to drunken driving and issued a public apology.
I checked out the story and found several comments from citizens who are mostly against Mr. Slockett being allowed to keep his public job, and they do not wish to see him driving again as well. Beings this is his "first" conviction that will probably not be the case.
From what I could find at the iowa website (link provided),he may receive 48 hours in jail, $1000 fine, 180 days license suspension, but could get a work permit without an ingnition interlock device being needed, and could in fact receive a deferred sentence on all of it, because it is his "first" offense.
So those who did not wish to see this man driving again, you may be sorely disappointed, in that he could actually receive less punishment than a college kid being picked up for public intoxication and spending the night in jail. Perhaps due to the public nature of this case his sentence will be the full extent of Iowa law, but that would still put him back on the streets in a relatively short time.
OWI
IOWA LAW
Showing posts with label Tom Slockett. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tom Slockett. Show all posts
Friday, July 27, 2007
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Johnson County Auditor Tom Slockett Arrested For DUI
I was just reading the story by Lee Hermiston in the Iowa Press-Citizen's morning brief that Johnson County Auditor, Tom Slockett was arrested for drunk driving on Sunday evening.
I have attached a link so that you can read the story in full.
The story says that this was his second DUI arrest in the last six years. I found it interesting that in his previous drunk driving arrest he was allowed to plead it down to speeding and pay a fine. Is that an option for everyone or just people who are connected, because I see a heck of a bunch of DUI's in the paper and they seem to all be found guilty of that charge, instead of a reduce charge such as speeding. I am sure if people know this is an option, more will plead to that charge, as it does much less damage to your insurance rates then does a drunk driving charge.
I have known young people who have taken the chance driving drunk after having tried to walk home and being arrested for public intoxication. I have always thought that this is ridiculous. Instead of punishing people for trying to do the safe thing we should encourage them to walk home.
How many times have we made the wrong choice, because we did not want to walk 30 minutes and increase the chances of being seen weaving down the sidewalk and instead jumped in the car and drove the 10 minutes home.
It shall be interesting to see how this plays out in court and whether Mr. Slockett shall be lucky enough to get another reduced charge or if making people aware of it will encourage the courts to forego that option. It seems like he did not take his first lucky chance and make a better decision than to drive drunk again. He is lucky he did not hurt anyone with his selfish behavior.
DUI
I have attached a link so that you can read the story in full.
The story says that this was his second DUI arrest in the last six years. I found it interesting that in his previous drunk driving arrest he was allowed to plead it down to speeding and pay a fine. Is that an option for everyone or just people who are connected, because I see a heck of a bunch of DUI's in the paper and they seem to all be found guilty of that charge, instead of a reduce charge such as speeding. I am sure if people know this is an option, more will plead to that charge, as it does much less damage to your insurance rates then does a drunk driving charge.
I have known young people who have taken the chance driving drunk after having tried to walk home and being arrested for public intoxication. I have always thought that this is ridiculous. Instead of punishing people for trying to do the safe thing we should encourage them to walk home.
How many times have we made the wrong choice, because we did not want to walk 30 minutes and increase the chances of being seen weaving down the sidewalk and instead jumped in the car and drove the 10 minutes home.
It shall be interesting to see how this plays out in court and whether Mr. Slockett shall be lucky enough to get another reduced charge or if making people aware of it will encourage the courts to forego that option. It seems like he did not take his first lucky chance and make a better decision than to drive drunk again. He is lucky he did not hurt anyone with his selfish behavior.
DUI
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
