Thread: MI: Alien's DUI sentencing questioned

Alien's DUI sentencing questioned

Friday, October 5, 2007

By Steven When police stopped Luis Gonzalez-Mireles for drunken driving Dec. 18, his blood-alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit.

His arrest and conviction were unremarkable, but his sentence and resulting appeal were rare for Jackson County.

A team of lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union on Thursday asked a Circuit Court judge to, essentially, invalidate his 93-day jail sentence. Defense attorneys contend District Judge Joseph Filip unfairly penalized the 21-year-old Ann Arbor man as an ``undocumented'' alien.

Assistant Prosecutor Jerrold Schrotenboer said judges have latitude in sentencing based on past criminal acts, and thumbing one's nose at immigration laws for seven years is an illegal act.

Circuit Judge Chad Schmucker said he would rule on the appeal in three or four weeks. If his comments Thursday are any indication, Schmucker seemed to indicate the three-month sentence was out of whack for the misdemeanor.

``I have never seen where a first-time offender got the maximum,'' Schmucker said. ``Nobody gets any time for first-time offenses, do they?''

Both prosecutors and the probation department recommended no jail time at sentencing May 17. But Filip, citing years of living as an illegal alien, sentenced Gonzalez-Mireles to 93 days on his guilty plea.

Michael Steinberg, an ACLU attorney, said Filip showed a bias against illegal aliens, sentencing Gonzalez-Mireles on a potential federal violation rather than on the drunken-driving misdemeanor.

He asked Schmucker to remand the case back to District Court for a proportionate re-sentencing.

``It must go before another judge,'' Steinberg said.

Schrotenboer said that if Schmucker decides the penalty was too harsh, he should send it back to Filip with an order to make the sentence fit the crime. Judges should trust that other judges will follow court orders, Schrotenboer said.

On June 19, acting on a motion, Schmucker issued a bond allowing Gonzalez-Mireles out of jail. Some type of action against the defendant at the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service is pending, officials said.


http://www.mlive.com/news/citpat/index. ... xml&coll=3

If they send it back, I hope the judge makes it 2 months and 29 days!

Maybe they can have part of a fence up so he won't flippin come back in again once he is deported. Right now we are deporting some but they come back in. I would call that Pork Barrel Spending.

All those who intend to drive while intoxicated should rush to Minnesota. That is a bargain. Here is Alabama's dui law.

Section 32-5A-191
Driving while under influence of alcohol, controlled substances, etc.

(a) A person shall not drive or be in actual physical control of any vehicle while:

(1) There is 0.08 percent or more by weight of alcohol in his or her blood;

(2) Under the influence of alcohol;

e) Upon first conviction, a person violating this section shall be punished by imprisonment in the county or municipal jail for not more than one year, or by fine of not less than six hundred dollars ($600) nor more than two thousand one hundred dollars ($2,100), or by both a fine and imprisonment. In addition, on a first conviction, the Director of Public Safety shall suspend the driving privilege or driver's license of the person convicted for a period of 90 days.
http://www.legislature.state.al.us/Code ... coatoc.htm