Memorial service honors crash victim
PORTSMOUTH, Va. – He was his parents’ only son, but Hunter Richardson became a brother to many. “Just him being there; his smile could brighten up a room, the worst day, he could turn it into the best,” friend Samuel Markham said.
Richardson’s life was honored Tuesday morning at a memorial service just 4 days after he died. “It’s overwhelming, its too much , it’s still so surreal, it’s I don’t know,” sighed Andrew Sullivan.
For some, it was a day to mourn a loss; for others, a time to celebrate a life. But together, they gathered to support one family. Centenary United Methodist Church holds approximately 700 people in its sanctuary and balcony. Still, there was standing room only.
“It speaks volumes about his character, a tremendous human being, it’s hard to put into words.”
“God makes everything happen for a reason, I’m sure He has a reason for this and you can see how many lives he touched.”
It directly touched Garrett Staats life. Staats’ daughter Charlotte survived the crash. She and Richardson were walking across the street near Town Center when they were hit. Police said the person driving the car, Natasha Herzog, 29, was drunk.
“There’s always a lesson, the lesson’s been being told for I don’t know how many years, I guess since the invention of the MADD organization, so the lesson has been there, the message has been there, just got to get somebody to listen to it,” Staats excliamed.
In a sad irony, tonight the local chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving will hold it’s annual vigil to remember local victims.
“We’re going to be lighting a candle with each victim’s name in our local area and unfortunately that list continues to grow,” said Southside President Michael Goodove.
Richardson’s name could likely join that list. But it was clear to see his name already written across the hearts of the people he loved.
“Life is fragile, and I think he had it right: live like you might not have a tomorrow.”
Article taken from wvec: Click for Link
In: Archive 2009 · Tagged with: car crash, D.U.I., Drunken Driving, Goodove, MADD, manslaughter
Va. Beach officer accused of DUI now charged with hit-and-run
VIRGINIA BEACH — A Virginia Beach police officer charged with DUI is now facing a hit-and-run charge.
The new charge against Officer Bryan Womble is related to his May 20 drunken driving arrest, according to police spokesman MPO Adam Bernstein.
The Chesapeake special prosecutor on the case determined there was enough evidence to prove Womble tried to flee the crash scene after colliding with a 1995 Dodge Neon near the Oceanfront.
The hit-and-run charge is a misdemeanor and not a violent crime, so police determined Womble could remain on administrative duty, assigned to him after his DUI arrest.
Womble worked as a DUI enforcement officer, pulling over former NFL great Bruce Smith for drunken driving in May.
Womble is set to testify against dozens of defendants in the coming weeks, including a raft of DUI cases.
Article taken from WVEC.com
In: Archive 2009 · Tagged with: Bruce Smith, Drunk Driving, Goodove, MADD, Va. Beach Officer DUI
Motorists who paid abusive driver fines to be offered refunds
Author: TOM HOLDEN
Edition: VP – The Virginian-Pilot
Section: Front
Page: A1
Estimated printed pages: 4
Article Text:
By Tom Holden
The Virginian-Pilot
The Virginia Supreme Court will send letters this week to some of South Hampton Roads’ worst drivers, offering them refunds for drunken- and reckless-driving fees.
Some were convicted of eluding police during the commission of a crime, while others were caught behind the wheel after lower courts had already revoked their licenses and ordered them not to drive.
At least 4,204 drivers convicted in the five cities as of the end of 2007 will be told the special fees they were once asked to pay are forgiven, according to the state Supreme Court. Those who have already paid hundreds of dollars of those extra fees will be getting refund checks.
The bad drivers are still obligated to pay their original fines for DUI, reckless driving and other offenses. They still have to pay court costs and suffer the burden of higher vehicle insurance because of their offenses.
But they’ll no longer pay the “abusive driver fees” because last month Gov. Timothy M. Kaine was persuaded by a public uproar to sign the repeal of a law that he and the General Assembly had hoped would help finance millions in interstate maintenance projects.
The fees were a small part of a huge 2007 transportation bill and were intended to punish the worst drivers with a new category of fine – a “civil remedial fee” – that would apply to crimes or misdemeanors committed while driving.
Simple traffic infractions such as ignoring a highway sign or failing to yield were not subject to the harsh new fees.
The law ensnared an estimated 58,000 Virginians who were ordered to pay the fees after the law went into effect on July 1, 2007, said Katya Herndon, director of legislative and public relations for the Supreme Court.
About 23,000 of them had begun making payments, she said.
Some of the fees were eye-openers.
Reckless driving brought three fees of $350 each that had to be paid to the Department of Motor Vehicles within 14 months of conviction. A manslaughter conviction arising from driving while intoxicated brought three annual fees of $1,000 each.
But the fees were withdrawn under an onslaught of public anger, driven in part by an online petition signed by an estimated 180,000 Virginians who wanted the law repealed. Many were confused over what offenses were included, while others objected to a provision that limited the fees to Virginia drivers only.
The repeal will force Virginia to repay $7.32 million to bad drivers, said Virginia Controller David Von Moll, of the Department of Accounts. The Virginia Department of Treasury will print the checks, he said. State officials had not yet computed how much of that money will be refunded to drivers in Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk and Virginia Beach.
“We’re trying our best to make sure that we get a check to the person who paid the fee,” Von Moll said.
The high court did not reveal the names of those convicted, but the data it did provide offered insights into driver behavior in South Hampton Roads.
More tickets were issued in Norfolk for driving on suspended or revoked licenses than in any other South Hampton Roads city, while Virginia Beach led in abusive driver fees for driving while intoxicated, records show.
Mike Goodove, coordinator of southside Virginia Mothers Against Drunk Driving, is discouraged that the fees were eliminated.
Goodove, who lost his 19-year-old brother Jeffrey to a drunken driver, felt remedial fees would have saved lives if given a chance.
“But we’ll never know now,” he said. “I thought they got a lot of people’s attention. When you get people in the pocket, it can affect their decision-making process.”
Goodove said the arguments from opponents that the fines were unfair or overly expensive “pale in comparison to the damages done by drunk drivers on the road.”
The repeal of the abusive driver fees, one of two major portions of the transportation bill of 2007 that were struck down this winter, represented a major setback for lawmakers who have struggled to develop a long-term solution for funding improvements to Virginia’s ailing transportation network.
The fees would have generated about $65 million a year for highway maintenance.
In a separate action, the state high court on Feb. 29 struck down the centerpiece of the transportation bill, saying regional transportation authorities do not have the power to impose taxes on localities. That responsibility rests solely in the hands of elected leaders, the justices said.
The ruling meant that Hampton Roads suddenly had no means to finance six long-sought transportation projects that have thus far proved impossible to build.
Virginia Beach lawyer Sonny Stallings, a former Democratic state senator, derided the civil fees as a “ridiculous attempt that was all smoke and mirrors” designed to hide the need for a statewide tax increase.
Stallings said defense lawyers in Hampton Roads benefited from the law.
“It was going to bolster our business, because the people could not pay,” he said. “If they were convicted and didn’t pay, then they’d lose their license and get a ticket for that. Then they’d be back to us again. It was a lawyer’s moneymaker.”
Tom Holden, (757) 446-2331, tom.holden@pilotonline.com
Memo:
local paybacks
The repeal will force Virginia to repay $7.32 million to bad drivers who paid the special fine. State officials have not yet computed how much of that money will be refunded to drivers in Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk and Virginia Beach. effect of repeal
The repeal of the abusive driver fees represents a major setback for lawmakers who have struggled to develop a long-term solution for funding improvements to Virginia’s ailing transportation network.
Copyright (c) 2008 The Virginian-Pilot
Record Number: 1005145663
In: Archive 2008 · Tagged with: Abusive Driver, Goodove, MADD, Michael Goodove, Mothers Against Drunk Driving
Drunken Driving Fatalities Up In Virginia
Virginian-Pilot, The (Norfolk, VA)
Deaths due to drunken-driving accidents in 2006, up from 322 the year before. However, Hampton Roads deaths went down from 32 in 2005 to 22 in 2006.
For city-by-city breakdown, see Page 5. By Jen McCaffery
The Virginian-Pilot
Virginia police officers will be out in force looking to nab drunken drivers this Labor Day weekend, the third-most-deadly holiday for alcohol-related deaths.
The annual Checkpoint Strikeforce efforts are happening as state statistics show that for the first time in several years, the percentage of people killed by drunken drivers in Virginia has increased.
In 2005, there were 322 deaths in alcohol-related accidents, compared with 374 deaths in 2006, according to figures from the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. However, in most South Hampton Roads cities, the number of fatalities from alcohol-related accidents during the same time period decreased, DMV statistics show.
Twenty-two people died locally in 2006, compared with 32 in 2005.
“Perhaps our friends in Hampton Roads are just listening a little better,” Virginia Attorney General Robert F. McDonnell said.
McDonnell, a former Virginia Beach legislator, helped implement a package of new laws that reformed the state’s DUI restrictions in 2004 .
They include harsher punishments for repeat offenders and mandatory jail time for some drunken-driving offenses.
According to the DMV report, Virginia Beach was the only city that recorded a significant increase in the number of fatalities from alcohol-related crashes .
Last year, Virginia Beach had 15 fatalities connected to people driving under the influence of alcohol.
In 2005, there were 10 deaths , DMV statistics show.
“We’ve come a long way, but the increasing number shows that impaired driving is a serious and high priority for both MADD and law enforcement,” said Mike Goodove , president of the Southside chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving .
The resort city’s DUI statistics don’t reflect the work of the Virginia Beach Police Department, which Goodove described as a model for the nation when it comes to impaired driving enforcement.
Virginia Beach police make about 10 percent of all DUI arrests in the state , said Sen. Kenneth Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, who used to work for the department.
In 2005 and 2006 , the department, which has two units dedicated to DUI enforcement, averaged about 2,000 arrests , spokesman Adam Bernstein said.
“The Virginia Beach Police Department does a great job of enforcement, but they can’t be everywhere,” Virginia Beach Commonwealth’s Attorney Harvey Bryant said.
He estimated that for every driver who is arrested on charges of driving under the influence, another 25 to 35 are on the street driving drunk.
McDonnell said he doesn’t believe that the state’s recent uptick in the percentage of fatalities statewide will become a long-term trend.
Over the past five years, the number of injuries related to people driving under the influence has decreased, he said.
Stolle, who notified next-of-kin about DUI-related deaths when he worked for the Virginia Beach Police Department’s fatality team, said it’s too soon to tell whether the numbers in South Hampton Roads reflect the impact of the new legislation.
“I would hope what you’re seeing is the beginning of a downward trend,” he said.
Jen McCaffery, (757) 446-2627,
jen.mccaffery@pilotonline.com
Memo:
lives lost in 2006
Copyright (c) 2007 The Virginian-Pilot
Record Number: 17792698
In: Archive 2007 · Tagged with: Drunk, Drunken Driving, DUI, DWI, Goodove, MADD, Mothers Against Drunk Driving
Looking Down On Lindsay
Virginian-Pilot, The (Norfolk, VA)
WHEN IT COMES to the bad (young) girls of Hollywood messing up and seeking redemption, usually for thousands of dollars at a secluded rehab clinic, there’s never a dearth of stories, from singer Brandy’s vehicular manslaughter charges earlier this year to Paris Hilton’s jail stay.
So nary an eyebrow raised when actress/singer Lindsay Lohan got charged with her second DUI in just two months (May 27 and July 24), prompting the former Disney princess to enter yet another drinking rehab facility, this time in Utah.
Even though young adulthood can be the most rebellious period in a person’s life, when it comes to this rule-breaking stage for Hollywood’s elite teens and young adults, their actions can have a far greater impact on their adoring fans and how they deal with the news. Some say Lohan’s status of being a sweet, innocent role model has been flushed down the toilet along with her sobriety.
“Lindsay Lohan thinks that since she is famous, she can do whatever she wants and get away with it,” said Rachel Allensworth, 17, a rising senior at Hickory High School in Chesapeake.
“She is portraying this idea that it’s OK to do drugs and drink and drive, be punished for a few days and then just go out and do it again,” said Shelby Green, 15, a rising sophomore at Nansemond River High in Suffolk.
When you’re in the public eye, said Mike Goodove, coordinator of the Southside Mothers Against Drunk Driving, it’s important to be a model for fans. “She’s sending a bad message to those that look up to her.
“Anyone that drinks and drives and says after one chance (she) ‘learned her lesson,’ but doesn’t, sets an awful example,” Goodove said.
Lohan’s in her third stint in rehab, and people are paying attention to what happens next.
“She’s setting an example of what not to do, what can happen if you drink and drive – it could have been a lot worse,” said Ridgley Ingersoll of Virginia Beach, mother of two boys, 11 and 17.
“If someone told me that they looked up to her, I’d ask them about their personal goals and standards. She’s irresponsible,” said Dustin Goodwin, 16, a Hickory rising sophomore.
Kayla Robinson, 17, a rising senior at Granby High in Norfolk , added: “I’d look at someone funny if they considered her a role model. It doesn’t make any sense to invest ideas in her because she’s in rehab.”
Chelsea Rapanick, a rising senior at Hickory High School in Chesapeake, ccirapanick@yahoo.com
Copyright (c) 2007 The Virginian-Pilot
Record Number: 17481441
In: Archive 2007 · Tagged with: Goodove, Lindsey Lohan, MADD, Mothers Against Drunk Driving
Man pleads guilty to manslaughter in fatal crash
Virginian-Pilot, The (Norfolk, VA)
NORFOLK – As Shane Williams prepared to leave the party, several people tried to stop him from driving.
Shaun Lawhorn asked for Williams’ keys. Lawhorn’s wife, Kate, the designated driver that evening, offered Williams a ride. Several people tried to give Williams their cards for Safe Ride , a Navy program that pays for cab fare.
They made the efforts because Williams had been drinking at a series of gatherings since 11 a.m., and had consumed beer, mixed drinks, gin and shots of Jagermeister. He refused their offers and left in his white Ford pickup about 11 p.m. on Feb. 24.
Just after midnight, Williams crashed head-on into a car driven by Anthony Dominic Wilson on Interstate 264. Williams was driving the wrong way, headed east in the west bound lanes. Williams told police and paramedics that he’d had two or three drinks.
Wilson, 26, died on the highway. When paramedics told Williams, he started crying.
“Oh God, help me please,” he said.
“Please forgive me. I don’t know what’s going on. Please forgive me, Lord.”
In Norfolk Circuit Court on Thursday, Williams, 30, pleaded guilty to aggravated involuntary manslaughter for Wilson’s death. Wilson’s parents cried quietly in the courtroom.
Prosecutor Ron Batliner wrote the account of Williams’ activities before the wreck based on interviews with people at the parties, witnesses at the roadside, and on investigations by State Police, Norfolk Police, and the Navy Criminal Investigative Service. Williams was in the Navy at the time of the crash.
Several people saw Williams driving the wrong way on I-264 before the crash. One woman called 911. Another swerved out of Williams’ way, only to see the collision in his rear-view mirror. Williams told people who had stopped to help that he had come from the HOV ramp.
The ramp was 200 yards away from the wreck, which happened near Newtown Road. Witnesses and State Police said the gates were down.
Batliner did not present evidence of Williams’ blood-alcohol concentration.
But Michael Goodove, an attorney representing Wilson’s family, said it was more than twice the legal limit considered evidence of intoxication.
Wilson was an only child, and the father of a 5-year-old boy, Goodove said.
nReach Michelle Washington at (757) 446-2287 or michelle. washington@pilotonline.com.
Memo:
next
Shane Williams faces a maximum of 20 years in the traffic death of Anthony Dominic Wilson. Williams’ sentencing is scheduled for January. He remains free on bond until then.
Copyright (c) 2006 The Virginian-Pilot
Record Number: 13616275
In: Archive 2006 · Tagged with: Automobile Crash, Drunk Driving, Fatal Crash, Goodove, MADD, Norfolk Lawyer
Mother of Va. Beach Man Killed In Crash Sues Driver
Virginian-Pilot, The (Norfolk, VA)
BY JOHN HOPKINS
CHESAPEAKE – The mother of a 31-year-old Virginia Beach man killed in a July 16 single-car crash in Chesapeake is suing the driver of the vehicle for being reckless and intoxicated.
Candace Wright filed the lawsuit recently in Chesapeake Circuit Court against Michael D. Conover, a 34-year-old Virginia Beach man who pleaded guilty earlier this year to involuntary manslaughter. Conover was sentenced to a year behind bars for the crash on Interstate 64 that killed Jonathan Dale McGlue.
McGlue was one of two passengers in a 1999 Isuzu Rodeo that Conover was driving when he lost control on westbound I-64 at the Greenbrier Parkway interchange. The vehicle flipped several times.
The lawsuit seeks $5 million in compensatory damages and $3 million in punitive damages. Wright, through her attorney Michael Goodove, filed the suit on behalf of the estate of her son.
The lawsuit accuses Conover of operating the vehicle in a reckless, negligent manner at excessive speeds. It also said Conover was under the influence of intoxicants.
McGlue was ejected from the sport utility vehicle . He died at Chesapeake General Hospital, police said. A front-seat passenger, who was the owner of the SUV, also was injured.
Conover had a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.24 – three times the legal limit for driving – prosecutors said during his criminal prosecution.
nReach John Hopkins at (757) 222-5221 or john.hopkins @pilotonline.com.
Memo:
the incident
Michael D. Conover, 34, of Virginia Beach was sentenced to a year in prison for the crash on Interstate 64 that killed Jonathan Dale McGlue, 31. A front-seat passenger in the sport utility vehicle McGlue was riding in was injured.
the lawsuit
McGlue’s mother, Candace Wright, filed a lawsuit against Conover seeking $5 million in compensatory damages and $3 million in punitive damages.
Copyright (c) 2006 The Virginian-Pilot
Record Number: 12375890
In: Archive 2006 · Tagged with: Automobile Crash, bac, car crash, Drunk Driving, Fatal Crash, MADD, manslaughter, Mothers Against Drunk Driving
Some question lawyer’s melding of cause, career
THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
BY JON FRANK
NORFOLK – Almost 15 years ago, Michael L. Goodove was a law school student when his legal career and life were altered forever.
On a February morning in 1990, Goodove’s younger brother, Jeffrey, was riding in a car that was hit by another vehicle on a narrow, hilly road in Charlottesville.
Jeffrey, a University of Virginia student, was killed instantly.
The driver of the other car was drunk.
Goodove received the tragic news at George Mason University from his mother via telephone.
“I got the call nobody wants to get,” Goodove recalled in a recent interview. “I had never experienced death until my brother was killed. It was the first funeral I ever went to.”
That combination – drunken driving and tragedy – profoundly changed Goodove’s personal life. His family, especially his parents, were never the same.
“It is extremely unnatural to bury a child,” said Goodove, who is now married with three children . “That is something no one should ever have to go through.”
The experience of loss also came to define much of Goodove’s professional life, providing both controversy and a cause – as well as a source of commerce – to his vocation as a lawyer .
In the years since his brother’s death, Goodove has become a lawyer who represents people injured by drunken drivers and a prominent spokesman for Mothers Against Drunk Driving. He has been the group’s leader for the past 12 years.
In that capacity, Goodove has helped many families navigate the legal system after loved ones were injured or killed by DUI offenders.
“I consider what he does to be a real public service,” said Kaye Walsh, whose daughter, Robin Gustafson, was killed by a drunken driver in Virginia Beach in 1997. “He pulled us through the whole process.”
Goodove also has lobbied the General Assembly tirelessly to stiffen penalties for people convicted of DUI. Virginia now has some of the toughest drunken-driving laws in the country.
Through the years, Goodove became the face of Mothers Against Drunk Driving in South Hampton Roads, an implausible development because Goodove clearly is not a mother.
But his regular appearances in court and on television have made Goodove’s good looks and quiet confidence well-known among those interested in or personally touched by drunken driving.
A recent television advertisement by his Norfolk law firm – Rabinowitz, Swartz, Taliaferro, Swartz & Goodove – focuses on Goodove’s personal story of tragedy.
The blending of commerce with crusade makes some in the legal community uncomfortable. They say Goodove uses his advocacy role, in part, to get business for his law firm.
But some lawyers support Goodove’s ability to turn a passionate personal interest into something that helps him in his professional life.
“I don’t see any conflict,” said Michael I. Ashe, a Virginia Beach lawyer and avid cyclist with a long history of representing fellow cyclists in personal-injury cases.
The advertisement, Ashe said, is only “stating that you are a lawyer who happens to know this particular field backward and forward.”
Other lawyers say Goodove’s level of commitment to the organization makes conflict allegations ridiculous.
“If he had to pay money to be involved with MADD, he would do it,” said Norfolk lawyer Larry Cardon. “He has a passion for this.”
To Goodove, the criticism is unfounded.
For one thing, he said, he always provides drunken-driving victims a list of other lawyers who could represent them in any legal proceeding. Those who choose him are a very small part of his legal practice, he said.
“Never once did I have any financial motivation for getting involved in it,” Goodove said. “I felt that I had a tool that would really help these victims that no one else had.”
It wasn’t always that way.
Early on, Goodove was as carefree and selfish as most recent college graduates. He wanted a glitzy career on Wall Street, not a job where grieving was an integral part of every working day.
He attended law school at the urging of his parents. Law would provide a profession he could always fall back on, they said.
His legal training had hardly begun when his brother was killed. It was a tremendous shock. “He was not just my brother; he was my best friend,” Goodove said.
The family gathered at home in South Hampton Roads to bury Jeffrey, hoping to bring the person who had killed him to justice. Soon, however, the reality of Virginia’s lax drunken-driving laws became depressingly apparent.
They found the police had botched the evidence collection. The drunken driver had been allowed to dispose of the beer in his car before he was questioned by authorities. That led prosecutors in Charlottesville not to pursue criminal charges.
The Goodove family persevered. Eventually, they had to be satisfied with a wrongful-death lawsuit. Criminal charges were never filed.
At that point, Goodove recalled, he began to “detach” from the situation to escape the tragic memories haunting the rest of his family. Returning to George Mason University, he plunged back into his law studies.
But he was troubled by the way he and his family had been treated by authorities. He thought the system was out of whack. He thought it cared little for bringing DUI offenders to justice and nothing for victims.
Soul searching followed, along with an internship in the Fairfax County prosecutor’s office.
“I discovered that I was good in court and liked wearing the white hat and being the good guy,” Goodove said.
When he returned to his hometown of Virginia Beach, he decided to devote his career to helping victims. He went to work for a personal injury law firm and contacted the state chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving .
After starting a local chapter , attending conferences and talking to others, he concluded that drunken driving was a societal problem, deeply imbedded in the culture, cutting across economic strata.
The key problem was that most drunken drivers were walking away from even fatal accidents with rarely more than a slap on the wrist .
“The problem we faced was not so much the convictions but the punishment,” Goodove said.
Goodove’s goal was to build an organization with staying power that would help reshape attitudes over the long term.
That presence has allowed Mothers Against Drunk Driving to keep the image of victims before the media and public. Eventually, it has swung public opinion toward stiffer penalties, especially for repeat offenders.
Another victory was the acceptance of victim-impact statements after convictions. Under the old system, DUI offenders would walk away with probation, without the victims’ families being able to say how the injury or death had affected them.
Once victim-impact statements became part of the law, penalties became harsher. “They can be very powerful,” Goodove said.
Goodove strived to become a bridge between victims and prosecutors, leading the uninitiated through the maze like legal process that had so frustrated his own family.
Initially, Goodove faced opposition. Some judges thought Mothers Against Drunk Driving wanted to abolish alcohol use and that Goodove was a teetotaler who did not want to be around drinkers.
Neither was true.
Goodove drinks occasionally but makes certain he always has alternative transportation. And Mothers Against Drunk Driving has no intention of trying to stop people from drinking, only drinking and driving.
Today, when contacted by a DUI victim, Goodove meets the family and counsels them about what to expect. He provides them with support and advice and helps them prepare victim-impact statements at the appropriate time.
As the number of DUI accidents increases, so do the organization’s membership and donor rolls.
“Unfortunately, it sometimes takes a tragic event to make it close to your heart,” Goodove said.
Victims who survive have a simple choice, Goodove said: “You can vent angrily and let that dominate you, or you can use the pain in a cathartic manner to do some good.”
* Reach Jon Frank at 222-5122 or jon.frank@pilotonline.com.
{CAPTION} Michael L. Goodove’s brother was killed by a drunken driver 15 years ago. Goodove, right, a lawyer who also heads the local chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, has championed his cause and worked for tougher laws in Virginia.
Mort Fryman The Virginian-Pilot
Copyright (c) 2005 The Virginian-Pilot
Record Number: 7828775
In: Archive 2005 · Tagged with: D.U.I., Drunk Driver, Drunk Driving Victims, Goodove, MADD, Michael Goodove, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Norfolk Lawyer
PROPOSALS WOULD CLOSE DRUNKEN-DRIVING LOOPHOLES
LT. GOV. KAINE SEEKS LONGER SENTENCES, TOUGHER PENALTIES FOR REFUSING TESTS
Author: MICHELLE WASHINGTON THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine said Monday that he will push for tougher penalties against repeat drunken drivers, joining legislators and others who have called for changes in the wake of recent fatal crashes.
Kaine made the announcement on the steps of the courthouse where repeat drunken driver Roy Lee Everett was sentenced Friday to 14 years in prison for killing a high-school honor student in May.
Both of Kaine’s proposals would target third-time drunken drivers.
If they have two DUI convictions, are stopped again and refuse to take a blood or breath test, they would face one year in jail. The current penalty for refusing to be tested is a one-year driver’s license suspension. The mandatory jail sentence for third-time drunken drivers would increase from 10 days to one year.
Repeat drunken drivers know the system, Kaine said, and know what penalties they are likely to face if picked up again. Neither 10 days in jail nor the loss of a driver’s license is much deterrent, he said, and drunken drivers can sometimes avoid a third DUI conviction simply by refusing to take the test.
“Usually if you’re driving drunk you don’t mind driving on a suspended license,” Kaine said. If passed by the General Assembly, the new penalties would be “a powerful disincentive,” Kaine said.
Kaine said Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney John R. Doyle III pointed out weaknesses in the criminal system that repeat offenders exploit. Neither man mentioned Roy Lee Everett by name, but his case highlighted some of the loopholes.
Everett had surrendered his driving privileges after previous DUI convictions, so he had nothing to lose by refusing to take a blood or breath test. That refusal denied prosecutors evidence of his intoxication that might have led to a murder charge. Everett pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and other charges.
While Everett’s case might be emblematic of problems, Kaine and Doyle said, he was not the sole impetus for the changes.
“There is a hard core of repeat offenders, people who aren’t afraid of a suspended license,” Kaine said.
Kaine said he will introduce the legislation to the General Assembly in January. If passed, it likely would take effect in July.
Lawyer Jeffrey Stredler represents the family of Landon Chambers, the 16-year-old boy killed by Roy Lee Everett. The family has long hoped something good could come of Landon’s death, he said.
“It sounds like they’re moving in the right direction toward making the roads safer for everybody,” Stredler said.
Leaders of area Mothers Against Drunk Driving chapters said the measures will close loopholes that let repeat offenders beat the system.
“It’s been a long time in coming,” said Michael Goodove, president of the Southside chapter of MADD, which includes Norfolk. “You’ve seen a shifting of penalties for DUI but no shifting for hard-core repeat offenders who know the system very well.”
Dick Jackson, president of the Peninsula chapter of MADD, said the new laws should have an effect on drunken driving in the long run.
“If we had had this a few years ago, maybe Mr. Everett wouldn’t be sitting there,” with a 14-year prison term, Jackson said.
Reach Michelle Washington at michelle.washington(AT)pilotonline.com or at 446-2287.
Caption:
Photo
GENEVIEVE ROSS/THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine, right, and Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney John
R. Doyle III discuss proposed changes to the DUI law Monday on the
steps of Norfolk Circuit Court.
Copyright (c) 2003 The Virginian-Pilot
Record Number: 0310140079
In: Archive 2003 · Tagged with: bac, Drunken Driving, DRUNKEN-DRIVING LOOPHOLES, DUI, DWI, Goodove, Jail Sentance, MADD, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Norfolk Lawyer, Refuse Blood Alcohol Tests, Virginia
JUDGE GIVES MAN 10 YEARS IN DRUNKEN-DRIVING DEATH
Virginian-Pilot, The (Norfolk, VA)
Author: JON FRANK THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
A 50-year-old man who was driving drunk in November when he killed the father of two children was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison.
Steven V. Arcese has been in custody since the Nov. 3 accident that killed 26-year-old David C. Fisher.
The accident occurred near London Bridge and Dam Neck roads, where Arcese’s Audi station wagon crashed head-on with Fisher’s Chevrolet Cavalier. Fisher’s two children were passengers in the car but were not seriously injured.
In April, Arcese pleaded guilty to second-offense driving under the influence and aggravated involuntary manslaughter. He faced up to 21 years in prison.
In court Tuesday, Arcese told Fisher’s family: “In no way, on that horrible night in November, did I intend to cause that accident. I am sorry, I am sorry, I am sorry.”
Circuit Judge Thomas S. Shadrick began to cry as he expressed sympathy to Fisher’s family shortly before issuing the sentence.
Shadrick gave Arcese the maximum 21 years but suspended all but 10.
Arcese will be on supervised probation after his release, with another 11 years in prison possible if he misbehaves during that time, Shadrick said.
Shadrick said harsher sentences likely are ahead for repeat offenders who drink and drive and hurt others. But, Shadrick said, until the law changes, he is obligated to stay close to state-mandated guidelines.
The maximum sentence recommended for Arcese by state guidelines was about 9.5 years in prison, Shadrick said.
The judge said he exceeded the guidelines a little to “make a statement, because the guidelines are a little low.”
Jim Fisher, the victim’s father, who has become an advocate for stiffer drunken-driving sentences, said he was satisfied with the time Arcese will serve in prison.
“This is a start,” Fisher said. “It is higher than the guidelines and that is all we were hoping for.”
Fisher said he hopes the decision to keep Arcese locked up without bond until sentencing will set the standard for others charged with second-offense DUI and higher.
The public outcry against drunken drivers has intensified in recent months after a rash of fatal DUI accidents.
In Norfolk recently, police say a repeat DUI offender killed a Lake Taylor High School student after a magistrate allowed him out of jail on a $1,000 bond on a previous DUI charge.
After the sentencing, Moody E. “Sonny” Stallings, one of two attorneys who represented Arcese, said he was “prepared for a little worse” because attitudes against drunken drivers are changing rapidly.
Much of the change stems from public reaction to the Arcese case and other recent fatal DUI crashes.
“The community is talking about this case,” Stallings said, especially at the Oceanfront, where Arcese is a well-known resident.
People are starting to realize when they are out drinking, they should “get a cab, call a friend or walk, because this kind of tragedy will be repeated again,” Stallings said.
Michael L. Goodove, a Norfolk lawyer and president of the local chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said he would have preferred a longer sentence for Arcese.
“I think more time would have sent a stronger message to the community,” Goodove said. “and kept an habitual offender off the roads.”
Reach Jon Frank at 222-5122 or jon.frank(AT)pilotonline.com
Caption:
Color Photo
Steven V. Arcese, 50, faced 21 years, but the judge suspended all
but 10.
Photo
David C. Fisher, 26, was killed in a drunken-driving accident Nov.
3. in Virginia Beach.
Copyright (c) 2003 The Virginian-Pilot
Record Number: 0307020146
In: Archive 2003 · Tagged with: Automobile Crash, Drunk Driving, Drunk Driving Victims, Drunken Driving, DUI, DWI, Goodove, Jail Sentance, MADD, Michael Goodove, Mothers Against Drunk Driving