A newly-pardoned drunk driver who slammed into a teenager’s car, killing her one week after he received clemency from Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, is back in jail.

Harry Bostick got the pardon while he was serving time on his third drunk driving conviction. Friends urged Barbour to pardon Bostick,  a former IRS investigator, writing the governor that Bostick was truly repentant and would never drink again. Even a federal prosecutor argued for his release, according to news reports.  At this point it seems that only personal injury lawyers can get relief for victims.

The horrifying accident puts the spotlight on a controversy that plagues the courts and victims of drunk drivers: Can drunk drivers be cured or will it take technology to finally stop the slaughter? Statistics from Mothers Against Drunk Driving show how extensive the problem is. According to MADD:

• An average drunk driver has driven drunk 80 times before first arrest.
• Every minute one person is injured in an alcohol-related crash.
• 50 to 75 percent of drunk drivers keep driving with a suspended license

So just how likely is it that a drunk driver will re-offend? Should society say “Once a drunk, always a drunk?”

The Internet is full of articles pro and con on the subject in which scientists, automotive engineers, lawyers and judges discuss the issue. Medical sources call alcoholism “curable” but only if the alcoholic admits that he or she has an “incurable” disease. In that sense, curable relates to life-long abstinence. While some news reports claim that a pill can help alcoholics control heavy drinking, the fact remains that this “curable” disease in actually “incurable” unless the alcoholic never takes another drink.

If an alcoholic cannot control a drinking problem, and consistently gets behind the wheel “buzzed” or outright drunk, an Ignition Interlock will prevent the car from starting. At least 13 states have mandatory ignition interlock laws. The latest interlock devices are said to be tamper proof. Although drivers may try to cheat — having others breathe into the device so the car will start — inventors say other tests that occur automatically during the drive will stop the car if the driver is under the influence.

Drunk driving is a crime in all 50 states. But repeated sentences are doing little to control the problem if MADD’s statistics are correct. Not until someone is killed by a drunk driver does the gavel finally fall in court, resulting in a sentence for manslaughter, or even a life sentence in some cases.

Until the question is settled across the board one way or the other — life sentences for first offenders or ignition interlocks installed on every car they drive for the rest of their lives — personal injury lawyers, representing innocent victims, will remain a crucial part of the equation.

No one else in any system  - criminal law, medical treatment or technological innovations — can come close to helping innocent victims receive tangible justice – like a personal injury lawyer who can egt the monetary settlements they rightly deserve for their pain, doctor and hospital bills, funeral expenses, lost wages and emotional suffering.

Share on Facebook