A newly developed legislation that was deemed to change the drunken-driving law in Arkansas recently failed in the House Committee clearing on Tuesday. This happened after the legislation acquired support from the public defenders but received strong opposition from the Mothers Against Drunk Driving. This created a split amongst the state prosecutors.
On Tuesday, the House Judiciary Committee had scheduled special order for consideration of House Bill 1294. This usually signals towards a sharp diversification in the opinions. This bill, introduced by the state representatives Jana Cella Rosa and R-Rogers was aimed at providing prosecutor discretion for dismissing or reduction of the drunken-driving charges.
Arkansas is a stand-alone state in the entire country which requires an individual charged with DWI to be driven to trial under all circumstances, as confirmed by the National Conference of State Legislatures. Now, this law has no exception when a prosecutor cannot find any probable cause.
Both public defenders and officials at law enforcement have testified on Tuesday that this law has actually led to cases where the prosecutor has been forced to drive a case all the way to its trial, only to ultimately refuse from presenting any particular evidence expecting the judge to dismiss any charges.
