New DWI policy leaves a lot to be desired

If rumors are to be believed, the new Harris County DWI policy going into effect on August 1, 2009, leaves a lot to be desired.

Apparently a citizen confronted with a first-time DWI will be offered pretrial diversion (if eligible) or 30 days in the county jail. The other option is to ask the judge for probation without a recommendation from the prosecutor.

For those unfortunate enough to pick up a second DWI, the choice will be 60-90 days in the county jail or asking the judge for probation without a recommendation from the prosecutor.

Said an unnamed source, "the plan is to force people into pretrial diversion."

The problem with such a "one size fits all" program is that one size doesn't fit all. There are no two identical drunk driving cases. The driving facts vary, the circumstances vary, the "results" of field sobriety exercises vary, breath test results or refusals vary. Such a program takes all discretion out of the hands of the prosecutors and reduces them to mere functionaries.

We've seen this scenario before - they were called the Federal Sentencing Guidelines and they hamstrung judges until the Booker decision.