Woman, 3-days sober, pleads guilty to deadly marijuana DUI

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23536

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An Aurora woman who was reaching for her sunglasses when she set off a chain reaction crash that killed a St. Charles couple riding a motorcycle pleaded guilty Friday to aggravated DUI.

Alia Bernard, 27, admitted having marijuana in her system on May 29, 2009, when she rear-ended a stopped car on Illinois Route 47 in Kane County between Sugar Grove and Elburn.

The car Bernard struck hit another car waiting to make a left turn as a line of motorcyclists came by in the oncoming lane. The force of the collision pushed the lead car into the path of motorcyclists Wade and Denise Thomas, of St. Charles, who struck the car and were killed, authorities said.

Although tests showed Bernard had marijuana in her system, she hadn't used the drug in the three or four days before the crash and wasn't impaired, said her lawyer, Bruce Brandwein.

First Assistant State's Attorney Jody Gleason said Bernard could receive anywhere from six to 28 years in prison, or probation.

full http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-dui-plea-20111210,0,1522152.story
 
^ Exactly. I think it is ridiculous that if you fail a drug test for weed, then it is the same thing as being high in the eyes of the law. Hopefully she won't do time. It is one thing if she was high during the accident but it would be strange to believe Marijuana had anything to do with this.
 
Even without the weed she should get a few years in prison. Careless driving is nothing to be scoffed at. And rear ending a car (thats stopped at lights) with enough force to move it over that far is not something you just carelessly do.

I'm allowed to get pissy after being run into by some twat too busy texting to realise oh da lights iz on redz lolololzz.

& Just wanna make it clear, it's bullshit about getting extra time for weed, it should be a standard manslaughter sentence.
 
Newbierock said:
I'm allowed to get pissy after being run into by some twat too busy texting to realise oh da lights iz on redz lolololzz.
Click to expand...

same thing happened to me. I got rear-ended by a texter at a light with so much force that I was knocked out and, when I regained consciousness, I had pushed the car ahead of me 20 meters. Cop gave me the ticket even though I was stopped at a light! Anyway my point for writing this vignette is that I was on methadone (MMT) at the time and if there had been a fatality, my ass would be typing this from prison, even though I was clearly innocent. These per-se DUI laws need to be replaced by sensible laws based on actual impairment, and the laws shouldn't go into effect until they make sense and are fair.

btw why is texting while driving not pursued as zealously as drugged driving? Florida, for instance, has trouble even banning it. http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/12/11/2542286/legislators-try-to-ban-texting.html Republicans continue to block texting bans, and the only law that can even get considered is a very wimpy one that gives a $30 ticket to texters--only if they've also committed another infraction.
 
but to me it didn matter if she was smokin or not the issue was she took her eyes off of the road for a substantial amount of time when reaching for or trying to find her sunglasses which might also imply that the sun might have been in her eyes..just another instance of tryin to demonize weed
 
I think she deserves jail time for causing for the deaths. I am see no way however the marijuana smoked days before could be the cause. I would be concerned about the case law precedent that the finding of guilt for a DUI due to marijuana smoked 3 days previous will have for future defendants in that jurisdiction.
 
Uhh she should fire her lawyer. Isnt the whole reason the jury system exists so that common sense has some chance of prevailing in cases like this. This whole thing sets a horrible precedent.
 
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