Drunk Driving and Double Jeopardy »

August 6, 2009

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Whenever a police officer arrest a person for DUI, he takes away his driver’s license and he give him a notice of "administrative suspension". He also gives him a citation to appear in court in order to face criminal drunk driving charges.

Usually these are  two very different procedures:

1. the administrative suspension that is held for driving with blood-alcohol of .08%, in most states this is administered by its department of motor vehicles, and
2. the criminal prosecution for the two separate offenses of driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) and driving with .08%, and this takes place in the courts.

Explaining this in other words, even though the person who is convicted drove only once, but he is being prosecuted for two different crimes: DUI and driving with a .08% BAC. The possibility is that he can even be convicted of both offenses (although he can only be punished for one). How is that possible?

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