DUI Double Standard Continues
Posted by Lawrence Taylor on February 5th, 2005I posted stories a few days ago about favorable treatment recently given to a prosecutor ("The Untouchables") and a DUI police officer ("The Untouchables – Sequel") arrested in separate incidents for drunk driving. To complete the law enforcement triangle, the Denver Post reports on the latest application of the double standard in DUI cases, this time for a judicial appointee who just got the same treatment (presumably not yet available to the general public):
JUDICIAL APPOINTEE GUILTY OF SPEEDING:
DUI CHARGES TOSSED
A man appointed to be a judge in Arapahoe County pleaded guilty in Denver on Thursday to speeding, while prosecutors dropped charges of driving under the influence of alcohol and careless driving.
If Vincent R. White, 41, had been convicted of the DUI charge, it would have been his second drinking-and-driving-related conviction in four years. White pleaded guilty in 2001 to driving while ability impaired in Arapahoe County.
In August, Gov. Bill Owens appointed White to fill a judicial vacancy on the Arapahoe County District Court. Dan Hopkins, Owens’ spokesman, said White spoke in his job interview about his remorse over the conviction and his efforts to prevent others from drinking and driving.
In January, a Denver police officer stopped White on Park Avenue West for speeding, smelled alcohol and asked if White had been drinking. White, who felt the stop was the result of racial profiling, told the officer he had about a glass of wine and wouldn’t take a sobriety test, said White’s attorney, Craig Truman.
White is expected to be sworn in as a judge later this month. Hopkins said Owens believes the recent case "raises some concerns," but he said at this point the appointment cannot be rescinded.
