Harsh Arizona DUI Laws Face Legal Challenges
A legal battle is brewing in Arizona over the state's new and harsher DUI laws. Four DUI offenders are challenging the Arizona DUI laws on the grounds that they are vague and ambiguous and therefore unconstitutional. A report by the Arizona Republic indicates that some Arizona state legislators are not simply brushing off these constitutional challenges to the new Arizona DUI laws and are very concerned that a judge could strike them down. Others may be happy to simply take the chance that the judge may override broken Arizona DUI laws that no one really has the time to fix right now.
Arizona resident Barbara B. McCloone was arrested by Phoenix police for suspicion of Arizona DUI on January 30 after having a single-car accident. After her arrest she took two breath tests and it was determined that she had a blood alcohol content of approximately three times the legal limit of .08 percent and was charged with extreme Arizona DUI, leaving the scene of the accident and speeding.
Because of new Arizona DUI laws, although McCloone is a first-time offender, she would be required to have an ignition interlock device installed on her vehicle to test her breath for alcohol each time she wishes to drive. Because her blood alcohol content was above .20 percent, she falls into the new "super extreme Arizona DUI" category and would also have to spend a minimum of 45 days in jail if convicted.
McCloone is one of the Arizona DUI offenders challenging the new DUI laws. If a judge finds that the harsher Arizona DUI laws are unconstitutional, lawmakers are concerned that the requirement of mandatory ignition interlock devices for first-time DUI offenders could be eliminated.
One of the arguments made by Lawrence I. Kazan, McCloone's Arizona DUI lawyer, is that the new harsh Arizona DUI laws are vague in that they do not specify at what point a person's blood alcohol content must exceed .20 percent to fall into the super extreme DUI category. In one part of the statute, it is specified that a person must not have a blood alcohol content of .15 percent or more within two hours of operating a motor vehicle, but for the .20 super extreme DUI specification, a time frame is not specified. This lack of specific details within the language of the new Arizona DUI laws makes them unclear and therefore the application of the new Arizona DUI laws can be considered arbitrary and discriminatory, according to Kazan. He has filed a lawsuit to challenge the new DUI laws in Arizona in Phoenix Municipal Court.
Arizona lawmakers have had an opportunity to clear up any ambiguity in the new DUI laws with an omnibus DUI bill that House Speaker Jim Weiers sponsored. However, Governor Janet Napolitano vetoed the bill because of a provision that would shorten the length of time that first-time Arizona DUI offenders would be required to have the ignition interlock devices installed on their vehicles. Similar legislation was also introduced by Senator Jim Waring earlier this year.
In order to revive Weiers' bill and fix the problems that lawmakers are obviously aware of with the new Arizona DUI laws, Weiers would have to push for a two-thirds vote in both chambers of Arizona's legislature to override the governor's veto. This may not happen, as lawmakers are currently too focused on 2009 budget negotiations to worry too much about the constitutionality of Arizona DUI laws that they have already passed.