Katelyn Baker
Well-Known Member
Illinois has improved its unfair DUI law regarding marijuana, but not by much, a local attorney said Thursday.
The new state law dealing with marijuana and impaired driving has only slightly lessened the legal dangers, including long prison terms, of causing a serious or fatal accident after ingesting the drug, Jeff Hall warned.
The law "is getting better," but remains flawed, said Hall, a defense attorney who practices in Tazewell County.
"Now, instead of zero tolerance" of marijuana in a driver's body, "there's a little tolerance," he said.
"It's a move closer to fairness," said county State's Attorney Stewart Umholtz.
Before the law was changed, its "zero tolerance" feature left it short of that goal.
In Tazewell County, four people have been convicted since 2012 of causing a death while driving under the influence of marijuana. In none of the cases did prosecutors prove the defendant was impaired by the drug at the time of the accident.
They didn't have to. The mere chemical presence of marijuana in a person's system - no matter how small and regardless of when the drug was ingested — was enough to find guilt.
Prosecutors now are required to prove that a driver was impaired by marijuana at the time of an accident. That should be the purpose of a DUI law, Umholtz said.
The new law, however, sets the legal definition of marijuana impairment at the general level of one can of beer a driver drinks an hour before an accident.
It states that a blood test within two hours of an accident must show at least five nanograms of trace elements of THC, marijuana's active ingredient, before a person can be charged with DUI.
Five nanograms equates to a blood-alcohol content (BAC) of about .02 as the legal minimum for being considered under the influence of alcohol, said Hall, citing a scientific report by the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration.
"We wanted 15 nanograms" as the marijuana minimum, which the report found was comparable to .08 BAC, the state's level for DUI charges, Hall said.
Gov. Bruce Rauner last year refused to sign a bill sent by the General Assembly that would have replaced zero tolerance of marijuana, but not other controlled substances, with 15 nanograms, said Hall, who helped lead efforts by the Illinois State Bar Association to change the law.
This year, the ISBA feared Rauner and other opponents of the 15-nanogram level would stall the entire marijuana bill, including changes from criminal to civil offenses for possession of small amounts of the drug, if they kept pushing for the higher level, Hall said.
"We decided not to bring the amendment to the (Assembly) floor," he said.
Only four other states - Oregon, Nevada, Colorado and Washington - have defined marijuana impairment at five nanograms or lower, Hall said.
The Tazewell County defendants convicted since 2012 of aggravated DUI causing death, with marijuana as the primary factor, received between six months in jail with probation to 12 years in prison. Their cases ranged widely.
Hall, a former Tazewell County prosecutor, defended Krystin Rennie, one of the four. Had the state's law defined impairment at 15 nanograms then, she never would've spent the rest of her youth behind bars, he said.
Rennie, of Washington, was 16 with a fresh driver's license and little night driving experience in June 2010. She admitted smoking marijuana in the hours before her car drifted into the left lane of Washington Road in East Peoria as she drove her boyfriend home. She struck a motorcycle, killing its passenger and badly injuring its driver.
"She was below 15" nanograms, Hall said.
Rennie has 51 weeks left to serve on her six-year prison term.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Marijuana DUI Law Changed Little, Attorney Warns
Author: Michael Smothers
Contact: (309) 346-1111
Photo Credit: None Found
Website: Pekin Daily Times
The new state law dealing with marijuana and impaired driving has only slightly lessened the legal dangers, including long prison terms, of causing a serious or fatal accident after ingesting the drug, Jeff Hall warned.
The law "is getting better," but remains flawed, said Hall, a defense attorney who practices in Tazewell County.
"Now, instead of zero tolerance" of marijuana in a driver's body, "there's a little tolerance," he said.
"It's a move closer to fairness," said county State's Attorney Stewart Umholtz.
Before the law was changed, its "zero tolerance" feature left it short of that goal.
In Tazewell County, four people have been convicted since 2012 of causing a death while driving under the influence of marijuana. In none of the cases did prosecutors prove the defendant was impaired by the drug at the time of the accident.
They didn't have to. The mere chemical presence of marijuana in a person's system - no matter how small and regardless of when the drug was ingested — was enough to find guilt.
Prosecutors now are required to prove that a driver was impaired by marijuana at the time of an accident. That should be the purpose of a DUI law, Umholtz said.
The new law, however, sets the legal definition of marijuana impairment at the general level of one can of beer a driver drinks an hour before an accident.
It states that a blood test within two hours of an accident must show at least five nanograms of trace elements of THC, marijuana's active ingredient, before a person can be charged with DUI.
Five nanograms equates to a blood-alcohol content (BAC) of about .02 as the legal minimum for being considered under the influence of alcohol, said Hall, citing a scientific report by the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration.
"We wanted 15 nanograms" as the marijuana minimum, which the report found was comparable to .08 BAC, the state's level for DUI charges, Hall said.
Gov. Bruce Rauner last year refused to sign a bill sent by the General Assembly that would have replaced zero tolerance of marijuana, but not other controlled substances, with 15 nanograms, said Hall, who helped lead efforts by the Illinois State Bar Association to change the law.
This year, the ISBA feared Rauner and other opponents of the 15-nanogram level would stall the entire marijuana bill, including changes from criminal to civil offenses for possession of small amounts of the drug, if they kept pushing for the higher level, Hall said.
"We decided not to bring the amendment to the (Assembly) floor," he said.
Only four other states - Oregon, Nevada, Colorado and Washington - have defined marijuana impairment at five nanograms or lower, Hall said.
The Tazewell County defendants convicted since 2012 of aggravated DUI causing death, with marijuana as the primary factor, received between six months in jail with probation to 12 years in prison. Their cases ranged widely.
Hall, a former Tazewell County prosecutor, defended Krystin Rennie, one of the four. Had the state's law defined impairment at 15 nanograms then, she never would've spent the rest of her youth behind bars, he said.
Rennie, of Washington, was 16 with a fresh driver's license and little night driving experience in June 2010. She admitted smoking marijuana in the hours before her car drifted into the left lane of Washington Road in East Peoria as she drove her boyfriend home. She struck a motorcycle, killing its passenger and badly injuring its driver.
"She was below 15" nanograms, Hall said.
Rennie has 51 weeks left to serve on her six-year prison term.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Marijuana DUI Law Changed Little, Attorney Warns
Author: Michael Smothers
Contact: (309) 346-1111
Photo Credit: None Found
Website: Pekin Daily Times
