Basketball player J.J. Redick pleaded guilty to a drunk driving charge he received last June while on the Duke campus in Durham, North Carolina. The former Duke star, and first round draft pick of the NBA Orlando Magic, received a one year probation and had his driver’s license suspended for 60 days for the DWI offense. He also was required to pay $410 in court costs and fees and he must serve 24 hours of community service.

The North Carolina District Court allowed Redick to do his community service in Central Florida, near his new team’s facilities.

Redick was to appear in court on October 24 but he and his North Carolina DWI defense attorney entered a plea in order to put the issue behind him. "I’m just glad this is over," Redick said, "I made a mistake. I apologized, and I’ve learned a valuable lesson from this."

Redick must complete his community service for the DWI within the next 90 days.

Drivers in central Florida’s Orange City, as in most towns and cities across America, could expect the occasional DUI sobriety checkpoint on any given major road. But it was a little surprising for residential neighbors to find police sitting at the end of their driveways.

Orange City sets up ‘low manpower’ checkpoints to catch drunk drivers on side streets instead of busy thoroughfares. The feeling is that drunk drivers use residential streets in an attempt to avoid detection and the police wanted to send a message while making such drunk drivers wonder where law enforcement may be.

"When people go out drinking, for the most part, they don’t like going down the main streets where there might be more police," Orange City police traffic Sgt. Greg Melvin said. "So they hit the side streets and back streets to their next place or home."

Each DUI sobriety checkpoint  is typically set up for two hours and is staffed by four officers. To date, there have been no DUI arrests and tickets have only been issued for minor violations. There have been 24 DUI arrests made in Orange City on main highways during the past year.

The Orange City law enforcement effort has received national recognition. In addition to being included in the curriculum at the Institute for Police Technology and Management, Sgt. Melvin demonstrated the low manpower DUI sobriety checkpoint concept at a national convention of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. MADD approves of taking the effort to reduce drunk driving to residential neighborhoods and it hopes other cities adopt use of the tactic.

Last August the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration unveiled a new anti-drunk driving slogan: ‘Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest.’ The national organization Mothers Against Drunk Driving is now taking offense to the new campaign.

It was noted in an earlier blog on this site that the slogan was coined after input from the American Beverage Institute, an organization promoting the responsible serving of alcohol to adults. The intent of the new NHTSA campaign was to show the need for knowing one’s limits and obligations before getting behind the wheel while acknowledging responsible social drinking is acceptable. It is legal to drive in all 50 states with a blood-alcohol content below .08.

MADD feels the slogan implies it is ok to drink and drive, as long as one does not exceed the legal BAC limit. The organization feels drivers can and are impaired at lower BAC levels. That attitude has been reflected in numerous police enforcement efforts across the country. A woman was arrested in the Washington, D.C. area even after a breath test result was only .03, well below the legal limit. The arresting officer cited a zero tolerance policy whenever alcohol is detected. DWI defense lawyer Shawn Brown of San Antonio, Texas has noted an increase in clients arrested for DWI with a blood-alcohol content less than .08. "Should a police officer stop you, for whatever reason, and determine the presence of alcohol, the likelihood that you will be arrested is very high," he says. He went on to say that this can and does occur even when there are no signs of impairment, which is why DWI defense attorneys often advocate refusal of breath, blood and field sobriety tests. When alcohol is detected, even passing such tests does not mean a driver will be released.

The state of Texas, along with Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Iowa and Oregon, has decided to add its own slogan to the new NHTSA message. The stricter ‘Drink. Drive. Go to Jail’ slogan has been used in Texas for more than 7 years and it still figures prominently in advertising and public relations efforts.

Pete Eagan, a MADD representative, says drivers "should not be lulled into thinking it’s ok to drive right up to the limit of .08 blood alcohol content, the standard for presuming a driver is drunk."

Hillsboro, Missouri – Both candidates for the Jefferson County Prosecutor’s office have arrest records for drunk driving. In the true spirit of cut-throat campaigning, Republican candidate Jeffrey Coleman has implied his Democratic opponent Forrest Wegge must have exerted influence because the latter received a better deal after his DWI arrest.

Mount Pleasant, South Carolina – Mt. Pleasant councilman Bobby Utsey was arrested for DWI and aggravated assault. Utsey told officers a vehicle cut him off in traffic. He confronted the female driver at a traffic light and punched her in the face. When she got out of the car to defend herself, Utsey hit her again. He then got back in his vehicle and drove off. Police stopped him shortly after and they say he failed several field sobriety tests.

Salt Lake City, Utah – A Salt Lake City criminal prosecutor is facing his own District Attorney’s office after being arrested for DWI. Jon David Shuman was stopped at a publicly announced sobriety checkpoint. Besides glassy red eyes and an odor of alcohol, Shuman came under suspicion while moving ‘really slow’ when retrieving requested driver’s license and registration. During the ensuing DWI arrest both Shuman and his wife verbally assaulted the police though their comments were blacked out of the formal police report.

Albuquerque, New Mexico – Patrick Padilla, the Bernalillo County Treasurer, was stopped for suspicion of DWI. He caught the attention of police by tailgating a semi-truck on Interstate 40 that was traveling at the speed limit. He was subsequently charged with misdemeanor DWI.

Joe Cullen, the Detroit Lions assistant coach for the defensive line, was arrested twice in just eight days. On August 24 he was charged with indecent and obscene conduct for being nude while driving his 2006 Ford Explorer. There is no explanation as to why Cullen was nude though the Detroit Lions’ organization has stated alcohol was involved. The ticket issued by the Dearborn, Michigan police states Cullen was "driving on public street without any clothes on. (NUDE)."

On September 1 Cullen was arrested again in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn for suspicion of DUI. He was stopped shortly before midnight after a Lions exhibition game. His blood alcohol readings were .12. The legal threshold for drunk driving in Michigan is .08.

In 2003 Cullen was reprimanded for slapping an Indiana football player on the helmet in an attempt to get him ‘fired up’. In the spring of 2005 Cullen was fired from the football program at the University of Mississippi after an alcohol related arrest at a local restaurant. He was employed by the University of Illinois before being recruited by the Detroit Lions. The Athletic Director at Ole Miss said that he was never contacted by the Detroit Lions for a character reference.

The 38 year-old Cullen apologized to fans and the Detroit Lion’s organization, and he has reportedly requested help in seeking treatment. He is scheduled to appear in court next week on both the driving nude and DUI charges.

Randy Bailey, of St. Paul, Minnesota, really wanted a hamburger. The only problem is that he had been sentenced to house arrest for a DWI conviction. If he ventured more than 150 feet from his home, his court imposed ankle bracelet would alert authorities.

Bailey figured out that the electronic device had a time lag of four minutes before it would trigger an alarm. The nearest Burger King was nearly a half mile away. He thought he might be able to race to the restaurant in his car, order a burger and get back to within 150 feet of his house before an alarm went off.

His manners and anxious behavior did him in though. According to the assistant manager of the restaurant, Bailey was very agitated when he ordered "an f—ing cheeseburger and f—ing fries." When she asked him to watch his language he continued swearing, which prompted her to cancel the order and refuse Bailey service. He responded by getting out of his car and kicking in the drive thru window. He then raced back home before the ankle alarm went off.

Burger King employees got his license plate number though and police were alerted. When the St. Paul police officers arrived at Bailey’s home he cited the ankle bracelet as evidence that he could not have left his property and been at the restaurant. In addition to the benefit of eye-witnesses at the scene of the crime, the police determined that the ankle devices are not that sensitive and that there is a gap before an alarm goes off.

Still, some expressed bewilderment about the timing of the mile long burger run and concern over the fact that the ankle alarm did not go off. Police retraced the steps between Bailey’s home and the Burger King, obeying all traffic laws, and found the round trip could be driven in less than four minutes. Bailey was charged with felony

criminal destruction of property.

Ruling on a challenge from a DUI defendant who thought her retrial of a criminal conviction took an unreasonable amount of time, the Ohio Supreme Court recently said that prosecutors dealing with such cases are not bound to a specific time-frame.

The issue stems from a case involving Theresa Hull who was charged with DUI and driving with prohibited blood-alcohol content in late 2001 . She tried and failed to get the results of her breath test suppressed and she was convicted on the prohibited blood-alcohol charge. She appealed the denial to suppress her breath test evidence and an Appeals Court overturned the conviction and requested a new trial.

Hull was found guilty again in the second trial and that decision was upheld by an Appellate Court. Hull’s Ohio DUI defense attorney cited the Ohio Revised Code in an appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court. The Code says that those charged with first- or second-degree misdemeanors are to be brought to trial within 90 days of the arrest or service of summons. Hull’s Ohio DUI defense attorney said that time frame should have started when the retrial was ordered.

It took 149 days to reschedule Hull’s case.

The High Court wrote unanimously that, whereas the statutes of the speedy-trial system do specify a time frame for bringing a person to trial, they do not apply to "criminal convictions that have been overturned on appeal."

The Court further found that the time limits for criminal convictions outlined in the Ohio Constitution and the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution take precedence over the speedy trial statutes, as the statutes do not specifically address remanded cases.

Supreme Court Justice O’Donnell said that had the Ohio State Legislature wanted the "statutorily imposed speedy-trial time limitations to apply to convictions reversed and remanded on a plea of no-contest, it could have easily provided for that circumstance." The court went on to say that the Legislature could amend the statutes and

clarify time constraints for retrial if it so wished.

There are nearly 2000 people in Tucson, Arizona who have been charged with DUI and not shown up for their trial. So last July the Tucson police department gave offenders a chance to turn themselves in, with the understanding that they would not go to jail for the DUI charge.

Not many took advantage of the offer and the police recently hit the streets with DUI arrest warrants. The sweep targeted 50 fugitives who had failed to appear at their DUI court hearings.

One offender had been charged with DUI a year ago and he told arresting officers that he had no intention of showing up in court. That attitude may now lead to more severe penalties.

Tucson Police Department Sgt. Dave Leotaud said, "What makes it dangerous…is they are known DUI offenders…they are known 37 times more likely to go out on the road and cause a fatality."

The effort to locate and arrest those who have failed to appear at their DUI hearings will continue for the next three months, and it is part of a statewide anti-drunk driving campaign called "Pass the Keys". That program combines DUI education and law enforcement activities.

Bayonne, New Jersey – Rosie Morales, 29, was tossed from a bar for being drunk. She responded by tossing a rock at a bar window. Alerted by the bartender, Morales was stopped nearby in her vehicle and charged with DWI.

Wellersburg, Pennsylvania – When accused of drunk driving, Albert Monroe Boyce, Jr. told police that his four year old son was at the wheel when his sport utility vehicle struck a tree. He said his son just turned the steering wheel too much causing the vehicle to swerve. Boyce faces drunk driving charges as well as reckless endangerment.

Brentwood, New York – Two brothers from Long Island, in separate cars after drinking at separate parties, crashed into each other around 4 in the morning. Michael Murphy, 21, ran a stop sign and struck the passenger side door of the car driven by David Murphy, 22. Both were charged with DWI.

Munhall, Pennsylvania – A state representative was charged with DWI after attending a church event. Kenneth Ruffing, D-Allegheny was seen striking a parked car as he left the St. Teresa church fair. Police found Ruffing nearby brushing off his bumper. During field sobriety tests Ruffing told officers, "you guys got me."