Clark County DUI / DWI Law Blog

An intoxicated driver involved in an accident which killed a nun in August of 2010 was sentenced on Feb. 3 to 20 years of incarceration for his role in the accident. The motorist, who is an undocumented immigrant, had two previous convictions for DUI at the time, and was already facing possible deportation. At trial, he was convicted of felony murder.

According to sources, the drunk driving incident killed a 66 year-old nun and badly injured two other nuns, ages 71 and 77. The 71-year-old nun was hospitalized for a number of months after the crash, and suffered impairment of both her memory and her hearing. Her left thumb was severed and she requires pins to hold some of her vertebrae together. It took a long struggle for her to regain her ability to sit, stand and walk, she says.

Readers here in Washington were probably at least a little interest in the late-season success of the San Francisco 49ers. After all, since the Seattle Seahawks have not exactly been stellar on the field as of late, it was nice to know a West Coast team was going well.

It might be unfortunate news for some, then, that Aldon Smith, a linebacker for the 49ers, was recently arrested and has been charged with a DUI.

Washington state advocates of increased rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people might soon have reason to cheer. A Senate panel recently expressed its approval a bill that aims to make anti-domestic violence programs more inclusive of these demographics.

The bill is an update of the 1995 Violence Against Woman Reauthorization Act and functions by allocating grant money to community-based programs that fight domestic violence. This update would explicitly make programs for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people eligible for grant money, as long as they have programs meant to decrease domestic violence among those communities.

On Tuesday, a 31-year-old man was sentenced to serve 26-1/2 years in prison for stalking a woman for 17 years. The man reportedly has known the woman since they were both in the eighth grade.

The stalking sentence was, according to King County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Alex Voorhees, the harshest she has ever seen for a stalking case. As our readers may be aware, stalking is an issue closely related to that of domestic violence. Every state has criminalized stalking, though the consequences vary.

We have been following the recent controversy with San Francisco's newly elected Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi. As we have noted in previous posts, Mirkarimi has been accused of domestic abuse involving his wife on New Year's Eve at the couple's home.

Mirkarimi pleaded not guilty last Thursday to misdemeanor counts of domestic violence battery, child endangerment and dissuading a witness. We also noted that, at that hearing, Mirkarimi's Venezuelan wife had harsh words for the judge. She apparently opposes the judge's order that Mirkarimi have no contact with her or the couple's 2-year-old son.

In a previous post, we mentioned that the newly elected Sheriff of San Francisco has become entangled in allegations of domestic abuse involving his wife on New Year's Eve. At the time we wrote that post, the District Attorney's office was still determining whether charges would be pursued in the case.

Well things developed quickly, because on Thursday Sheriff Mirkarimi pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor counts domestic violence battery, child endangerment and dissuading a witness. Interestingly, the Sheriff's wife was present at the hearing to criticize the judge for her handling of the case.

According to a recently released study published in the Journal of Pediatrics, many pediatricians may be more likely to suspect domestic abuse in children from a low-income family than those from higher-income families. The research did find, though, that the race of the child doesn't appear to affect doctor's opinions.

The research, while inconclusive, does point to the stereotypes of many who feel that child abuse and domestic violence doesn't happen in affluent families, and that abuse is more readily suspected among the lower class.

Our readers may have heard of Ross Mirkarimi, San Francisco's new sheriff who is currently embroiled in somewhat of a fiasco that has some calling for his resignation. According to sources, Mirkarimi-who took his oath of office on Sunday-was reportedly involved in a domestic incident with his wife on New Year's Eve.

Mirkarimi's wife is said to have approached a neighbor to reach out for help on the night of the incident. The neighbor reportedly took photographs of the bruised woman, who later denied that domestic violence occurred. She has also said that the situation had been "taken out of context."