Measure would make all DUIs after first one felonies

Erin Neff

Monday, March 10, 2003 | 11:05 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- An Assembly panel unanimously passed a measure Friday that would prevent a felony DUI defendant from having his next DUI considered a misdemeanor.

Assembly Bill 34, sponsored by Marcus Conklin, D-Las Vegas, would mean that once a person is convicted of felony driving under the influence of alcohol, subsequent DUI violations would all be felonies.

Current law allows someone with a felony DUI to have his or her next violation treated as a misdemeanor provided that seven years have passed between incidents.

That would allow someone convicted of killing people in a DUI crash to serve time in prison, get released, drive under the influence again and have that offense treated with the lowest criminal penalties.

"This bill is incredibly important because the people that are affected by it the most are the most egregious repeat offenders," Conklin said. "It's only a matter of time before they hurt themselves or someone you or I really care about."

In addition to making all subsequent DUIs after a felony conviction a felony, the bill increases prison terms, allows no plea bargains of sentences and allows judges to increase a sentence if the driver was under the influence with a child under 15 in the car.

Jim Holmes, chairman of the Northern Nevada DUI Task Force, championed the bill as a way to keep repeat offenders from skating easily through the system.

It takes three regular DUIs until a person is charged with a felony. The fourth and fifth DUIs under some circumstances can revert back to misdemeanors and escape treatment and harsher sentencing.

"To us, a drunk driver is a lot like a terrorist," Holmes said. "You don't know who he is, where he is or when he's going to strike again."

The measure cleared the committee unanimously and will now be referred to the Assembly Ways and Means Committee because the bill has a fiscal impact on prosecutors.

Conklin said the impact of his legislation is expected to be less than $5,000.