A judicial haven for accused drunk drivers

A judicial haven for accused drunk drivers

Plymouth County’s courts may be the most lenient in OUI trials. Judges hear most cases without a jury and acquit just about everyone, leaving police and victims appalled.

This article is unbelievable! It can be found in Sunday's Boston Globe , 11/6/11. The percentage of people found innocent of DUI in Mass. when judges hear drunken driving cases in bench trials, without a jury, they are overwhelmingly inclined to find defendants not guilty. I know it is a long article, but some of the specific examples will knock your socks off!

http://articles.boston.com/2011-11-06/news/30367254_1_verdicts-judges-bench-trialshttp://articles.boston.com/2011-11-06/news/30367254_1_verdic
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Hah. I wish we had something like that in Germany.

Then again, we have unlimited-speed-limit zones on our Autobahn. Wins over anything else traffic-related.

 

Society as we know it, is ending.

 

Seems obvious the judges have a price. I once paid $2000 to the county commissioner in GA to "take care" of a ticket ( 145mph in 55 zone ). The rest of the time, I just hired a lawyer to fight it. I have had more speeding tickets ( hayabusa, gsxr-1000, etc. ) than most, and have a clean record. It stands to reason there is a bit more corruption than one might think.

 

Obviously Plymouth County is not starving for revenue. Guilty verdicts here in VA usually carry a big fine with them.
The absence of juries leads me to believe that somebody's getting paid very well, though.

 

last time i checked, that 1st part was called bribery.

 

I would think bribery has to be involved in the MA cases too. You can't tell me they are all overly lenient in OUI cases.

 

The article has a narrow focus. No talk of bribery or the cost of keeping someone locked up.