Dui News

Homicide charge for killing unborn child
Man in DUI crash accused of breaking law protecting 'viable fetus'

A South Florida man involved in a DUI-related crash last summer is now charged with vehicular homicide in the death of a woman's unborn child.

William Altier, 24, of Boca Raton is reportedly the first person in Palm Beach County to face a new state law making it a criminal offense to kill a "viable fetus" – that is to say, a child who can survive outside the womb – in a reckless driving crash.

Arrest records state Altier had a blood-alcohol level of .10, surpassing the legal intoxication threshold of .08, as he drove his Porsche 911 through city streets the night of Aug. 13.

Witness Theresa Utterback told police Altier was "cutting people off with no safe distance," as he was speeding and changing lanes in rainy conditions. "He really scared me in his driving."

Altier's car smashed into a Nissan driven by 23-year-old Marie Fabiano, who was nearly eight months pregnant at the time. Fabiano's mother, Teresa, was killed in the crash, and Marie was rushed to a local hospital where some eight hours later she gave birth to a stillborn child named Valente Rose.

Reports indicate Valente died from "placental abruption due to maternal trauma sustained as a direct result of the collision."

Altier now faces two counts of vehicular homicide – one for Teresa Fabiano, and the other for the unborn girl.

Florida revamped its vehicular-homicide law in 1998 after four years of lobbying by Marci Solway, whose unborn granddaughter was killed along with her daughter and grandson just days before the baby's expected birth date.

"I'm very happy to see the law is in place," Solway told the Palm Beach Post. "I'm sorry to see it ever needed to be used."

The Post says the same law was used at least once before in Sunshine State, as a Tampa jury convicted a 17-year-old on two counts of vehicular homicide for a crash that killed a woman and her unborn son she had carried for 37 weeks.

The original version of the bill came under fire from abortion activists who objected to language which had included babies old enough to move in the womb. They feared it would make the state more interested in unborn children during the same period when abortions are legal.

A compromise made the law applicable only to children able to live outside the womb, which is often during the third trimester when most abortions are illegal.

State Rep. Susan Bucher, D-Royal Palm Beach, was among those who fought for the law's passage when she was an aide to a lawmaker in 1998.

She told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, "We knew when the law passed that it might not serve a lot of purpose – that it might not be very common – but that when these very egregious things happen, there is a law."

Ohio Requires DUI 'Scarlet Letter' Licenses
A new state law in Ohio requires judges to brand convicted drunk drivers with special “scarlet letter” license plates — with red numbers on a yellow background so other motorists will know exactly what they’ve done.

Though the crimson-numbered plates have been a sentencing option for the past 37 years, Ohio Municipal Judge John Adkins was one of the few to use it as punishment for DUI before the state law mandate went into effect.

Adkins said the “scarlet letter” licenses get people’s attention and as a result have reduced DUI incidents in his county during a time of rising alcohol-related driving deaths nationwide.

About 400 drivers have been issued one of the licenses since January, and Ohio is the only state with such a far-reaching DUI license plate law.

And of course, not everyone likes the red-and-yellow plates. Those who get slapped with them say they’re humiliating — not only to them but to others in their families who get hit with the drunk-driving stigma when they take the car out for a spin.

The ordinance applies only to those convicted of DUI who are on the roads with a court-imposed restricted driving license.

Virginia Bar, Patron Sued Over Fatal Crash

Three lawsuits have been filed in a Virginia court against the intoxicated man who initiated a deadly car crash and a bar that served him that night. Enrique Lopez was thrown out of a Virginia Beach bar on the night of May 11, 2001 and proceeded to drive into a car carrying three women, one of them an expectant mother. Lopez and all three women were killed. The lawsuit alleges that the bar is partially responsible because they threw out the drunken Lopez instead of calling the police and turning him over to them.

National DUI News

"Federal government gives states until October 1, 2003 to lower BAL" Federal DUI bills lowering the legal blood alcohol limit from 0.10% to 0.08% is working its way through the General Assembly. The House and Senate have passed the bill but with different versions and must go to a conference committee.

The federal government has given states until October 1, 2003 to lower their limits to 0.08% or will begin withholding millions in highway construction money. To date, 35 states have lowered the DUI limit. DUI attorneys are pushing changes in the DUI bill that would force law enforcement to follow arrest and alcohol testing procedures.