Firms Cash in on DWI Defense

Drunk driving is dumb, dangerous, and widely denounced.

It’s also big business.

“When you get into the DWI world,” said Jason Wales, a Fayetteville attorney, “there is a fee and expense around every corner.”

Attorneys like Wales, a partner at Everett & Wales, get a big slice of that economic pie. Wales said he charges clients between $750 and $1,500 to represent them in DWI cases, depending on the location and circumstances of the arrest.

Doug Norwood, of Rogers, charges between $800 and $1,500. He estimated he’s represented 7,000 clients facing DWI charges in his 20-plus years of practice.

It’s not just attorneys, though, who reap financial reward when someone is arrested for DWI. Among those poised to profit are individuals like bail bondsmen and guidance counselors, as well as entities such as insurance companies and city governments.

“There’s a lot of people involved in the criminal justice business, and a lot of people are making money at it,” Norwood said.

That doesn’t mean those involved don’t recognize the seriousness of the offense. According to the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration, an average of more than 15,000 people died in alcohol-related crashes each year from 2004 to 2008.

“You don’t see Doug driving around very much at 11 o’clock at night,” Norwood said, “because I guarantee you there’s somebody hammered coming in the other direction.”

But alcohol-related crashes carry a hefty economic price tag, too, one that can’t be ignored. According to a 2000 NHTSA report – the last time it conducted such a study – alcohol-related crashes in the United States cost the public an estimated $114.3 billion, including $51.1 billion in monetary costs and another $63.2 billion in quality-of-life losses.

“There are a lot of drunk folks out on the road,” said Fayetteville City Prosecutor Casey Jones.

Anatomy of an Arrest

Unlike many crimes, attorneys and authorities agreed, driving drunk typically is not a premeditated crime.

“They’re people you’d have over to your house for dinner, normal people,” Wales said of the majority of offenders he’s represented.

“It’s the crime of the common man,” echoed Norwood.

Norwood said many people simply don’t realize it only takes a few drinks to put them over the legal limit of 0.08 percent in terms of blood-alcohol content. He also said most of his clients arrested for DWI register between 0.08 and 0.13 when tested.

“The reason is those are the people that don’t have the real sense that they may be intoxicated,” Norwood said. “That’s when the alcohol makes them feel pretty good, but they don’t have the sense that they’re doing anything wrong, so they’re in what I call the danger zone of perception.”

On that much, Norwood and Jones agreed.

“The insidious thing about alcohol … is when you have two drinks and you think you’re OK to drive, then [a friend] shows up and you have that third drink,” Jones said. “That’s the problem, because after the third drink you’re not going to have that internal debate about having the fourth drink.”

It typically is those fourth and fifth drinks, Jones and Norwood agreed, that result in some type of moving violation that gets a police officer’s attention.

“We’re not talking about the guy driving ditch to ditch,” Norwood said. “Most people get stopped for a minor traffic offense.”

Even so, Jones was quick to point out the law is the law, regardless of the violation that triggers the stop.

“What got the largest domestic terrorist executed? It was Timothy McVeigh getting pulled over for an expired tag,”

Jones said, referencing the man who bombed a federal building in Oklahoma City.

Once a stop is made, drunk-driving clues often pile up in a hurry.

“He’s already seen the driver violate the law in some manner … which is an indication of intoxication,” Wales said of a law enforcement agent making a theoretical stop. “So before he ever even speaks to you, he has a clue that this driver might be intoxicated.”

Other indicators, such as the smell of alcohol, slurred speech or bloodshot eyes, can accelerate the process.

“Pretty quickly he’s going to get around to the question of, ‘Have you been drinking tonight?'” Wales said.

If a driver then fails a number of sobriety tests, he or she likely will be asked to take a portable breath test.

“Typically, that’s it,” Wales continued. “You’re under arrest for DWI.”

Costly Crime

Assuming a more accurate breath test at the local police station confirms the result of the one given at the scene of the stop, the costs of a DWI start to stack up in a hurry. For starters, offenders typically face a bond of about $1,000 to $1,500.

In Arkansas, a first offense carries a minimum of 24 hours in jail, $300 in court costs, and a $150 fine. The fine can be as much as $1,000, and second and third offenses carry jail terms of seven and 90 days, respectively.

In some cities, those fines generate a significant amount of revenue. While City of Bentonville attorney Camille Thompson said 175 DWI cases in 2009 were “not a money-maker for Bentonville when measured against the man-hours involved in detection, arrest and prosecution,” Jones said 2,262 DWI cases were prosecuted in Fayetteville last year.

“It’s a money business in that your fines are going to be pretty big, plus you’re also going to find a lot of hidden costs,” Jones said. “You take a huge financial hit with a DWI.”

The damage is felt almost immediately, because in Arkansas, a DWI arrest results in a sixth-month suspension of an offender’s driver’s license. Depending on the level of intoxication, an offender might be issued a work permit-style license that allows for minimal travel.

Otherwise, the alternative is to get an ignition interlock device. The mechanism is installed to a vehicle’s dashboard and essentially serves as an on-board breath-tester.

A handful of companies were contacted regarding prices for such devices, and the results show an expense that could become burdensome, if not prohibitive.

Installation fees ranged from $45 to $100, while monthly charges ranged from $60 to $75. The majority of the companies contacted also charge a removal fee, which ranged from $20 to $45.

Using such a device for six months, in other words, could come with a price tag of about $600. Offenders also must pay to attend an alcohol awareness class.

Perhaps the biggest hit, though, comes in the form of auto insurance. David Enlow, an agent with Farm Bureau in Fayetteville, said most companies won’t issue a new policy to anyone that’s been convicted of DWI within the last three years. Furthermore, current policyholders convicted of DWI can be dropped.

Companies that don’t drop clients subject them to significantly higher rates, others said. Those that are dropped have little choice but to seek insurance from companies that cater to what the industry considers high-risk drivers.

“There are a lot of outfits out there that do that,” Enlow said, “but they’re going to hammer you on rates.

“[DWI] throws a wrench in everything. It really complicates everything and makes it more expensive.”

The Stigma Sticks

While a DWI affects a person’s driving record for three years, it affects their criminal record for five years. And because conviction rates typically are higher than 95 percent, people suspected of seemingly more serious crimes have a better chance of avoiding punishment than someone caught driving drunk.

“You take a murder case, for example,” Wales said. “You give the prosecutor an iffy murder case, and he can deal with that by reducing the charge to negligent homicide, which is damn near nothing. You give the prosecutor a really bad murder case, he can dismiss the thing and quit.

“On a DWI charge – once a person is arrested for DWI – the prosecutor has no discretion to reduce the charge or dismiss it.”

That logic is accepted on both sides of the courtroom aisle.

“I always chew on everyone of these people, and I don’t care who they are,” Norwood said of his DWI defendants. “I say, ‘Look, if the Russians were to come over here and attack us and kill 11,000 people, we would be in a full-scale war.

“Yet Americans kill each other at an alarming rate.'”

“The reason we don’t want drunks driving cars is because their physical abilities are impaired and they’re in this big piece of metal that goes really fast and can run over people and hurt others,” Jones added. “There’s another thing that’s impaired, too, and that’s their judgment.”

And while it can’t be compared with the cost of human suffering and/or loss of life, there’s no doubt drunk driving affects lots of bottom lines, too.