DWI case dismissals drop

Posted at: 05/19/2009 10:35 PM | Updated at: 05/20/2009 7:15 AM
By: Joe Vigil, Eyewitness News 4; Matthew Kappus, KOB.com

Fewer accused drunk drivers are getting their cases dropped at Metro Court

Despite efforts at Metro Court to cut down on the number of DWI case dismissals, an investigation by Eyewitness News 4 shows they are still sky-high.

Numbers we got Tuesday indicate there have been some improvements, but they are not good enough for some.

If you rolled the dice on a DWI case getting dismissed at Metro Court from 2003 to 2006, your chances were about one in three, according to the DWI Resource Center. But dismissals have dropped steadily over the past few years from a high of more than 40 percent in 2004 to 30 percent in 2008.

Linda Atkinson of the DWI Resource Center says the numbers are better, but still not good enough.

"I'd like to say this is looking really good, I'm not impressed. It means that we are still at risk,” she said.

The 2008 dismissals represent nearly 1,900 tossed cases.

Metro Court spokesperson Janet Blair says the DWI Resource Center simply lumps figures together without explaining them to make the court look bad.

Blair says what you won’t hear from the group is that many cases tossed out of Metro Court are re-filed in District Court as felonies.

Dismissal reasons include when officers or witnesses who don’t show up, but also included are cases that had to be tossed because the defendant was incompetent or had died.

Atkinson says Metro Court could provide a breakdown of dismissals, but officials choose not to.

"We ask on a regular basis. We stopped asking when they decided they couldn't have that information,” she said.

Blair said she will try to provide figures that give a more accurate picture. Once we get them, we will pass them along.

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