Stop building new prisons in Oklahoma

[nathanm]

Motor skills aren't near as impaired under the influence of pot, so not as easy to tell on a FST.

Sure, they're not likely to be literally stumbling, but there are effects on motor skills, nystagmus, among other observable physiological effects.

Declaring that anyone who has smoked a joint in the last month or so is guilty of DUI and subject to manslaughter charges should someone be killed in a crash is just stupid.

[Conan71]

Sure, they're not likely to be literally stumbling, but there are effects on motor skills, nystagmus, among other observable physiological effects.

Declaring that anyone who has smoked a joint in the last month or so is guilty of DUI and subject to manslaughter charges should someone be killed in a crash is just stupid.

Nystagmus is no guarantee of anything, that's even somewhat common in people who don't drink or do drugs.

Let this be a lesson then to anyone who might smoke pot, then.  Again, you are leaping to an assumption he might not have smoked pot in the last few weeks.  He WAS in possession, after all.  He did take a blind plea.  Things we don't know from the investigation are whether or not there was still a joint burning in the ash tray, or bong water splattered all over his Hummer on impact.

If he really wasn't loaded when the accident happened, he would have gone to trial.  There's got to be more evidence than just what you and I have heard.  I know I sure as hell wouldn't have pled out if all they had was some THC in my blood from a party a few weeks before.  The kid was driving a Hummer, I'm guessing his parents could have gotten him an attorney to fight it.

Ooops, just checked his OSCN file.  He was represented by Allen Smallwood.  It's rare that Smallwood ever admits he's been licked, although there's an interesting precedence for his clients for such a blind plea: Tausha Borland.  She was the drunk driver who killed the two cyclists and ran over one of my friends out by the bait shop a few miles west of where this crash happened.  I'm just saying, based on reputation, if Smallwood told him to plea rather than face trial, there had to have been more than a blood test working against him.

Wouldn't you fight tooth and nail if it was occasional pot use and you know you weren't under the influence?  Most people have a pretty strong survival instinct, especially when it comes to wanting to avoid imprisonment.

[nathanm]

If he really wasn't loaded when the accident happened, he would have gone to trial.  There's got to be more evidence than just what you and I have heard.  I know I sure as hell wouldn't have pled out if all they had was some THC in my blood from a party a few weeks before.  The kid was driving a Hummer, I'm guessing his parents could have gotten him an attorney to fight it.
...
Wouldn't you fight tooth and nail if it was occasional pot use and you know you weren't under the influence?  Most people have a pretty strong survival instinct, especially when it comes to wanting to avoid imprisonment.

Sure, I'd fight, but I'd also know I'd lose unless I could somehow prove I hadn't been smoking pot recently (and how the hell am I going to do that unless I was in view of a surveillance camera the entire day?). Under Oklahoma law, it's not on the prosecution to prove that you were impaired, but on you to prove that you weren't.

[AquaMan]

Motor skills aren't near as impaired under the influence of pot, so not as easy to tell on a FST.  Generally someone won't have trouble balancing on one foot, walking a straight line, reciting the alphabet, etc. unless they just finished off a whole joint of some really potent one hit wonder.  However, it can affect judgement, make a person easily distracted, and give a false sense of increased mental acuity.

Just like talking on a cell phone while driving.

[Conan71]

Just like talking on a cell phone while driving.

Indeed.  Or texting or playing Farmville, or Facebooking. 

Nathan, you got me curious, as the way you are thinking of a marijuana test as being a go/no-go rather than a test of concentrations like a BAC test.  I'd never really given it serious thought.  That made me do some digging.  According to NORML, they say a urine test will indicate use for weeks, a blood test is much "better gauge for current impairment".

"BLOOD TESTS: In some situations, including accidents and roadside sobriety checks, blood tests may be used. Blood tests are a much better gauge of current impairment than urine tests because they detect the actual presence of THC in the system; however, they can be sensitive to other metabolites as well. Blood tests generally register positive for just a few hours after smoking, though heavy chronic smokers may be positive for a couple of days. Less sensitive are saliva tests, which register positive for about 2-4 hours after smoking. If you have used marijuana in the last few days but are not currently under the influence, you should insist on a blood (or saliva) test instead of a urine test if at all possible, since you are more likely to turn up clean. On the other hand, if you have smoked recently, you may do better to take a urine test, since this will at least leave open the question as to whether you were under the influence. Also, urine doesn't turn positive until several minutes after smoking."

http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=4934

[heironymouspasparagus]

Another reason not to use marijuana in this state - if he had just been sloppy drunk at a .15 or .2, he would be walking around a free man today!

[DanoDan]

Interesting how some years back a former Oklahoma congressman from Stillwater rammed his car into the back of a car waiting to make a left turn on a highway.  The impact drove the car into the path of an incoming car, killing two people and leaving children orphaned.  Yet, the former congressman didn't have to spend a day in prison.  I think rumor had it that he had been talking on his cell phone.

[heironymouspasparagus]

And drunk.

[Conan71]

And drunk.

Watkins was NOT drunk at the time.

[Gaspar]

Watkins was NOT drunk at the time.

If he was, and a dead girl was discovered in his car at the bottom of a river, he could be a Senator from Oklahoma.

[YoungTulsan]

Absolutely agree, and you anti-Obama posters should have the same stance of projecting the costs of housing a prisoner for every prison cell built in Oklahoma.  Every cell constructed is future government spending, if not actual indebtedness.

[Gaspar]

90% of what we send people to prison for is ludicrous (not the rapper, but perhaps in some cases).

[patric]

Motor skills aren't near as impaired under the influence of pot, so not as easy to tell on a FST.  Generally someone won't have trouble balancing on one foot, walking a straight line, reciting the alphabet, etc. unless they just finished off a whole joint of some really potent one hit wonder.  However, it can affect judgement, make a person easily distracted, and give a false sense of increased mental acuity.

An interesting point about Field Sobriety Tests is that LEO fraternities advice their officers never to submit to one themselves.   The reason being the "test" is subjective and designed to produce only one outcome.  I have heard this personally from more than one officer, and the advice seems to be adhered to:

A police officer who was arrested on a drunken-driving complaint has a record of alcohol-related arrests and was in a traffic accident in July, a published report shows.
Sirpless smelled of alcohol, was unsteady on his feet and refused to take a field sobriety test, police reported. http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=070913_1_A18_spanc78751

Officer Danny Bean told investigators that he drank two beers before heading home in his department- issued squad car, Palmer said. He reportedly knocked over a power pole and crashed into a security gate as he left the (police) facility at 6066 E. 66th St. North. The department's Internal Affairs Unit found that Bean was not given a field sobriety test and that his blood-alcohol level was never measured.
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20090425_11_A11_Drinki368092

[heironymouspasparagus]

Watkins was NOT drunk at the time.

What was his excuse then?  He just "missed" that car parked in front of him with the brake lights lit and the turn signal on??

Maybe he was just texting....

[Conan71]

What was his excuse then?  He just "missed" that car parked in front of him with the brake lights lit and the turn signal on??

Maybe he was just texting....

Either that or dialing a number.  It's scary how many crashes are being caused by inattentive driving related to cell phone use.

In addition, if you are involved in a fatality crash in Oklahoma, you get a blood test, doesn't matter who you are and whether you survived or are killed in the crash.  It's the law.