It did not take long for a Missouri state representative charged with driving while intoxicated to be able to legally drive again.
Cole County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Lloyd Sodergren stayed the action to revoke Salva's license, pending the results of a 1:30 p.m. April 6 hearing.
Salva's first hearing in his drunk driving case is scheduled for 10 a.m. March 27 in Cole County Circuit Court.
According to court records, Salva was arrested Wednesday by the Cole County Sheriff's Department. News accounts indicate he was returning from an event at the capitol when he was stopped.
You cannot be this naive. Everytime something like this happens you seem to be shocked.
ReplyDeletePeople in power get breaks others don't get.
Actually, you are both naive if you think this action is somehow out of the ordinary. I am an attorney and I can tell you that these stay orders happen anytime anyone challenges an administrative suspension. Everybody has the right challenge an administrative suspension in state court and have the suspension stayed pending the outcome of the appeal (if that wasn’t the case then the appeal would be meaningless because the suspension would end prior to the appeal even being heard).
ReplyDeleteNow, if you want to talk about different standards of treatment I would suggest looking into how the Newton County PA’s office is handling a case where a Neosho Police Officer supplied alcohol to an underage girl who then died in an accident
(see http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/16347653.htm). After two months of “investigation” the Newton County PA’s office suddenly discovered that they had a conflict of interest and turned the matter over to the State AG’s office, where the matter has sat gathering dust ever since. As of yet, not only has the officer not been charged with anything, his name hasn’t even been officially released to the public.
Now on the other hand, in the case of Christina Freeman (which Randy championed extensively here) the decision to arrest 17 year-old Cory Simmons took less then 15 minutes. In fairness, Simmons was caught at the scene, so I can see where the decision to arrest would take less time then in the officer’s case. However, I do not see why Newton County would think that there was enough evidence to fire this officer within days of the incident but yet not enough to equal probable cause to make an arrest for at least a misdemeanor charge of suppling alcohol to a minor (if not felony manslaughter).