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Senate raises drunken driving penalties (UPDATE)

By: Eric Heisig//March 18, 2014//

Senate raises drunken driving penalties (UPDATE)

By: Eric Heisig//March 18, 2014//

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Drunken drivers who are convicted of a seventh, eighth or ninth drunken driving offense must spend at least three years in prison under a bill that passed the state Senate on Tuesday.

The bill, which passed the Assembly in May, passed on a voice vote. It is now awaiting Gov. Scott Walker’s signature.

The bill also would require a 10th-time offender spend at least four years in prison. That was the intention of a bill passed in 2009, but a court last year ruled that the law actually gives judges discretion on whether to impose any prison sentence.

The proposed legislation also would require judges to sentence a drunken driver who injures somebody to at least 30 days in jail.

Two amendments – including one that would require first-time offenders to appear in court – were put forth by Sen. Tim Carpenter, D-Milwaukee, and promptly shot down.

Carpenter said requiring somebody to show up in court shows the offender the seriousness of drunken driving.

“If we don’t allow them or require them to show up in court,” he said, “then we’ve missed a golden opportunity.”

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