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Defense bar critiques suggestion for deferred adjudication on DWIs

Now that the defense bar has had a chance to review state Rep. Todd Smith's HB 189 - a MADD-endorsed bill that would allow deferred adjudication for first-time offenders (see earlier Grits coverage here) - several prominent attorneys are expressing serious reservations.Mark Bennett at Defending People doesn't like the idea. He's argued in the past that Harris County's DIVERT program (which some have criticized as de facto deferred adjudication) makes little sense for defendants given that roughly 95% of Harris County DWI defendants who don't plead guilty have their cases dismissed or prevail at trial.At The Defense Rests, Paul Kennedy at first thought the legislation seemed promising,. Yesterday, though, he looked more closely at the bill and declared he couldn't support it in its current form, but that "that a sea change may be taking place and that at some point in the near future a more amenable bill may be submitted...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on December 29, 2010 (boomark / email).