The Stupidity of The Alabama Supreme Court

In a 6-3 decision, the Alabama Supreme Court voted to invalidate the power of city courts. Sure only 592 cases are affected but now because of this ruling there are 592 habitual DUI offenders potentially back on the streets to kill and maim their fellow citizens.

How political was this ruling? Think about it - where do most DUI offenders get caught - Duh - in their home towns. The court has ruled that the threshold for DUI for a certain time frame is a conviction in a state court only. Read the following article and be careful on the roads!

Published in the July 13 Online edition of The Gadsen Times

High Courts DUI Decision is Troubling Sometimes, sticking by the rule of law seems wrong. On Friday the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that convictions in municipal courts for driving under the influence don’t count when determining whether repeat offenders have the four DUI convictions that can send them to state prison.

The law since has been rewritten, but as it stood in 2005, the court said, municipal court convictions didn’t count. State law, the court ruled, cited only state court convictions in determining whether a repeat offender had hit felony status.

We understand that municipal courts don’t handle the same kinds of cases that state courts do in most instances, and it may seem simplistic to say so, but a DUI is a DUI in our minds. The venue of the conviction should not matter.

The Legislature rewrote the law in 2006, making municipal court and out-of-state convictions within the last five years count toward the felony level.

It’s unknown how many of the state’s 592 felony DUI offenders will be affected, but there will certainly be some offenders who gain their freedom because of the ruling. We hope they’ve learned a lesson and don’t repeat their behavior.