Smoked pot two days ago and had a major car accident today? In Illinois you can be charged with felony aggravated DUI even if the cause of accident had nothing to do with actual drug-related impairment.
The Illinois Supreme Court ruled that prosecutors can use positive drug-screening results to upgrade charges against motorists without having to prove an actual state of impairment. The Chicago Tribune reports on the case of a person with trace amounts of methamphetamine in his blood convicted on felony charges after crashing his truck, killing two others. The decision allowed prosecutors to proceed with felony charges without requiring evidence that drug use contributed to the accident. “The crime is the bad driving, so proof of impairment isn’t needed, ” the court ruled. A case potentially affecting many more involves another man who took “one or two” hits of pot the night prior to being involved in a fatal collision. He now faces a three to 14 years prison sentence under upgraded charges.
The new law can be applied to serious but nonfatal accidents, and also in cases of inadvertent use of expired prescription drugs.
