Half of county's OUI offenders get convicted

COUNTY — An analysis of court records shows that Operating While Under the Influence (OUI) convictions vary widely across the state – in Oxford County, 52 percent of OUI offenses end in convictions, according to the Maine Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC).  

A map from AOC indicates that from 2002 to 2011, there were 2,919 OUI offenses in Oxford County – 1,523 of them resulted in a conviction.  

According to AOC, the average conviction rate per county ranges from a low of 37 percent in York County to a high of 83 percent in Hancock and Penobscot counties. Cumberland County has the second lowest conviction rate – 47 percent. 

According to published reports, defense attorneys, prosecutors and law enforcement officers have cited district attorneys' policies, case volumes and the resources of the judiciary in a certain location as reasons behind the wide variation of convictions. 

Pleading down

Assistant District Attorney Joseph O'Connor of Oxford County says he does not have a policy against pleading down an OUI offense to a lower-level OUI or driving to endanger, unlike some DAs.

"We do it on a case by case basis," he said. 

He said cases often get screened out if they involve a Blood Alcohol Content below the legal intoxication limit of .08 percent. 

In a case 10 years ago, said O'Connor,  he spoke with a lawyer in Augusta dealing with a driver who had a BAC just above the legal limit. 

According to O'Connor, the driver had a clean driving record and was initially pulled over for a headlight that had gone out. "It had nothing to do with the operation," he said. 

O'Connor said in that case, the driver was charged with driving to endanger for his headlight and the OUI was dismissed. 

"This district attorney, who has since retired, had a policy that he would not charge anybody who had a .09 or lower, even though the limit is .08 or higher," said O'Connor. 

"When he did charge [drivers], he wouldn't reduce [charges]," O'Connor explained, "but they didn't charge a lot of people that we [in Oxford County] would charge." 

According to O'Connor, a driver who is pulled over in Oxford County with a BAC of .08 percent or more will more than likely be charged with OUI –  though with good cause, the charge can be reduced. 

"We are fairly liberal in charging, but on the other hand, we are fairly liberal in reducing charges," he said, "particularly if someone has no record –  that's a big factor." 

Margin of error

Even if someone's Breathalyzer test shows .08 or .09, O'Connor said that because of the Breathalyzer test's margin of error, it may not be possible to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that someone is over the legal limit. 

According to published reports, in other counties like Hancock and Washington, many .08 or .09 cases do go to trial and there is a policy against dropping OUIs to non-OUI offenses. 

Other crimes

Another factor, says O'Connor, is that it is sometimes difficult to balance OUI offenses with other crimes. 

"The number of cases we have, particularly in Superior Court, has gone through the roof," he said, "everything from gross sexual assault to having ... an unregistered car to attempted murder, to rape, to shoplifting a bottle of coffee brandy at Hannaford." 

He said most likely when a first offense OUI with a low BAC test is pitted against a gross sexual assault or child abuse case, the OUI offense will most likely go on the back burner. 

In some cases, said O'Connor, an OUI offense can be deferred, which basically means the driver is on bail, he said. This is called a "deferred disposition." 

"Usually it's for a year; they [the offender] often have to pay a substantial amount of money and often have to go to drug or alcohol counseling," O' Connor explained. "It's much like being on probation." 

O'Connor said if the offender complies with the conditions, which is often the case in Oxford County, the charge can be dropped. "It can be a very effective tool," he said.