A man who was recently arrested in Colorado has 16 DUI convictions on his record. They were not all given out in the state, but many of them were. However, in a landmark case, he has now been indicted on other counts as well.
A grand jury was used to get this indictment, and they brought forward nine different charges. Two of those were for attempted manslaughter and for attempted first-degree assault. He has not been convicted of either one at this time.
This is such an important case because it could set a precedent for how multiple DUI charges are handed in Colorado. According to the 18th Judicial District Attorney, they have never before used a grand jury to bring these types of charges into a DUI case. He said that they wanted to be more aggressive about it.
The District Attorney also said that he thinks the laws that Colorado has on the books right now are weak. As it stands today, you can only get a minor charge for a DUI, no matter what your record looks like. It is impossible to get a felony DUI charge–which does exist in other states–because Colorado does not have that charge.
This means that the maximum sentence that can be handed down for a DUI is a year behind bars in the county jail. This is true even with 16 or more DUI charges on your record.
As you can see, laws like this vary from state to state. If you have been given a DWI or a DUI, make sure that you know exactly what the local laws are and what rights you have.
Source: 9 News, “Man with 16 DUIs calls Colorado law into question” Anastasiya Bolton, Dec. 02, 2014
