Just a random blog that echoed what I was thinking to a degree -- it really seems that he does deserve some time, but how much is the question.
DUI is no joke, they could make an example of a high profile athlete, but i think he will escape doing time. I wonder how many games the league will take from him
Thanks. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if he did a little time, perhaps 30 days, something like that. Depends on the judge and his attorney. I hope he doesn't, because I don't want him to miss training camp, and it's possible that the legal stuff could drag out long enough to cause that to happen. It's a big deal. Back in the day, I'd say no way does he serve time. Times have changed. Status might not "save" you now. Just depends.
In both Colorado and California, DUIs convictions with prior DUIs have manditory jail time. A 3rd time is even worse. If he gets good to very good reports from the Rehab facility, and then does a month or two of clean time on the bracelet outside of the facility, that will give his lawyer some good facts to negotiate with. If they are still hard on him, he could agree to a plea with further continuous monitoring for a probation period. However, if Colorado considers this a DUI with a prior (the Missouri DUI might qualify), then not even home detention can replace jail time. Jail time is manditory; although, the manditory jail time is just 10 days. However, since he got a wreckless driving ticket for his extreme speed, the judge would do more. Then the California one will consider CO to be a prior, and might consider the Missouri one to make 3rd offense. And CA might be further hard, because Lawson was on a No-Alcohol Consumption order.
Or, perhaps they don't have enough evidence to convict? Ask just about any defense attorney what you should do, and most will recommend not to submit to any tests. Ever notice when cops, judges, prosecutors, etc. get pulled over for DWI, they almost never take the tests? Perhaps they know something that most of us don't?
^ No...you are correct. You NEVER submit to a test if you've been drinking and get pulled over. Never. HeyP is one of my favorite posters but I'm not sure where he's coming from with this. You simply NEVER blow if you KNOW (you've been drinking). Period. You give you're attorney much more to work with if you don't....as long as you're not slurring and falling down on video. The portable breath tests are highly suspect at best and rarely calibrated anyway. NEVER BLOW.
heyp, If, God forbid, Lawson were to get one in Texas, would the courts look at him as a multiple-offender and subject to mandatory prison time? Or would it be different since only one of his would be in Texas? Just wondering what kind of unintentional jeopardy he may be in by getting traded to Texas.
Disciple of RP, Not in Lawson's case, since he got arrested. He can still be arrested without taking any tests. I'm not talking about any other case. Once you are arrested in CO, you are required to submit to a blood test. That's what happened. He got arrested for DUI. The reckless driving at high speed combined with a plethora of behavioral things the officer can site is enough. After that, he refused the required blood test, which is then admissable in court. Judges, Prosecutors and Jurors don't like that. It being admissable in court might not be true in every state, but it is in CO. He obviously didn't submit to a field breath test. But he still got arrested. I'm talking about after his arrest. Someone asked me if refusing the blood test helps him or hurts him. That was all I was referring to. Let's not change the subject to how to prevent getting arrested. Obviously, Lawson failed that.
Obviously, I've been researching this and asking my lawyer friends here in Colorado, since this is the Rockets. There is a lot of info out on the web, for others to double check Texas and CO mutually accept each others' DUIs as priors. But set that aside for a second, the big problem is will CO consider Lawson's Missouri DUI as his first offense. And further, will California consider this CO case as a a prior.
Since the offenses happened in different states, do they still count on the multiple DWI record for each state? I mean if he wasn't a high profile athlete would the different states even know this happened? Don't different states have different laws regarding DWI? It seems that if the Rockets expected him to serve jail time they wouldn't be making the deal even at the low cost they paid.
Disciple of RP, The other thing that sheds some light on this state of the evidence is why hasn't he gone to court or made a plea for the January DUI, already. That is indicative that the prosecutors feel like they have enough evidence to go to trial, and Lawson's lawyer can't reach a plea. Wreckless Driving, maybe slurred speech or watery/blood shot eyes or alcohol smell, combined with refusal to submit to required blood test after being arrested is plenty, since the refusal is admissible in court. The point lawyers make, and you can check this out on the web, is once arrested and if the prosecutor feels s/he has enough evidence, the refusal to take the blood test just pisses them off and they go for enhanced punishment, whereas otherwise they would have been more lenient.
Not sure about other states, I suspect they are similar to Texas because of due process. In Texas, you cannot be tried on an enhanced charge (2nd or 3rd) until there is a final conviction on prior charges (after appeal or time to file an appeal has expired) at the time of ARREST. So, basically, if he was arrested tomorrow in Texas for DWI, then depending on the status of the MO case, he could only be charged with a Class B (first if no MO final conviction) or a Class A (second if the MO case is a final conviction). This prevents issues where you're in the middle of an appeal and are charged with a crime subject to an enhancement. However, the enhancements are based on counts not class. So, let's say he pleads to 3 firsts simultaneously and the convictions are final. If he were charged a 4th time, then that would be enhanced to a felony not a Class A (2nd) misdemeanor. BTW, I'm not an attorney, so this is not legal advice.
Yes, California, Texas and Colorado share records and consider each others' DUI as priors wrt Lawson's case. I don't know about Missouri, which apparently was his first. But I do know CO has the lowest requirements for a DUI as any other State, and can accept priors from any other state if they share the same elements. That said, CO has a lower-level arrest called DWAI, which CA does not have. If somehow Lawson can plea down to a DWAI (I find that unlikely), then that wouldn't be a prior DUI in the CA case.