Our Chino drunk driving criminal defense lawyers wrote back in August about a proposal to put mug shots online for certain DUI arrestees. The city of Huntington Beach was considering this because the local newspaper, the Huntington Beach Independent, had stopped publishing mug shots online because of concerns about due process. According to a Nov. 17 article from the Los Angeles Times, the city is still considering this idea -- but is now looking at putting the pictures on Facebook rather than on the city's website. Huntington Beach is fighting drunk driving aggressively, in part because it has one of the highest rates of DUI arrests among California cities of similar size. The city attorney and the police are reportedly looking into the idea, which originated with the city council.
Huntington Beach had 274 car crashes related to alcohol and 1,687 arrests for DUI in 2009, numbers the city would like to drive down significantly. Its campaigns include adding police officers to handle DUI enforcement as well as sending letters to bars when a patron is arrested for DUI -- a reminder that businesses can be held responsible for over-serving. To these measures, City Councilman Devin Dwyer would like to add an online mug shot gallery, with the explicit goal of shaming people arrested for driving under the influence. A police spokesperson pointed out that the mug shots are public information that anyone can request at the police station. Critics of online mug shots say they imply that the drivers are guilty long before they've had a chance to prove their innocence.
Councilman Dwyer said he didn't think shaming DUI arrestees is such a bad idea. As Westminster DUI criminal defense attorneys, we'd like to explain why we disagree. Our legal system presumes everyone is innocent until they are proven guilty in a trial, or by a voluntary guilty plea. However, most people who don't interact with the justice system very often don't realize this -- they assume that if the police arrest someone, that person is probably guilty. In our experience, this leads to some very nasty discussions on websites where mug shots have been posted. The mug shots can also be found by family, co-workers and friends, with potentially serious consequences. The councilman may not think this is an injustice if the driver was drunk -- but what if he or she was not? Police officers do make mistakes, and everyone deserves a chance to prove their innocence before being publicly shamed and punished.
Howard Law, P.C. aggressively protects the rights of clients who are facing prosecution for driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs. As this story shows, drunk driving carries a stigma in our society -- but we believe our clients have the same right to a fair trial as any other defendants. Our Irvine intoxicated driving criminal defense lawyers start every case by requesting a driver's license suspension hearing, if we get the case early enough, because that hearing can save your license. We coordinate defense of your driving privilege with defense of the separate criminal case against you, which carries penalties like high fines, probation or jail, DUI classes and more. Even when there's a 0.08 or higher BAC count on record, we can sometimes find mistakes or rights violations by police that require the court to throw out that evidence, making it much harder to prove a case against you.
If you're accused of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and you'd like to learn more about your legal options, Howard Law, P.C. offers free, confidential consultations. To set one up, call us toll-free anytime at 1-800-872-5925 or send us a message through our website.
