Ray Flavin's Legal Blog

My wife reads The Globe and the Star and other tabloid journalism.  She claims that their stories are accurate and its the best place to get the news early.

I have heard some gossip that I predicted would happen sooner or later.  I have written extensively with respect to McHenry County DUI prosecutions.  I have always maintained that the villages just don't understand the law and if they did there would be changes.

When a driver gets their first DUI they are suspended.  They may get permission to drive during this suspension, with a Judicial Driving Permit, but not for the first 30 days.  Many villages will allow drivers to avoid their suspensions entirely for an additional fine (usually about 500 dollars).

Well, here's what happened.  Cary and Algonquin and Huntley have always taken a stance of no tossing the suspension for a higher fine.  Kind of a churchy preachy blah blah blah stance "sinners must pay b.s."  The secret was that all of the other villages were getting 500 a pop more than the dumb villages. 

I'm being a little hard, I should explain why they are dumb.  The only difference between two is 30 days of driving.  Its not like the driver is never going to drive again, they are.  Its not like half of them don't drive anyway during the suspension, they do.  So some villages are getting rich, while the others have to raise money with village stickers, etc.

Well, Cary used to have a prosecutor that collected the extra fine for them, but now they have instructed the new prosecutor not to toss suspension for increased fines.  Of course, we all know what happened next.  The village is wondering, "Where did all the DUI money go?"  I think they just figured it out.

I have a fix for this problem, I'll write it up later.

Ray Flavin