Ken Runion of Guilderland

Cool new website up for those interested in Guilderland. The infamous Ken Runion is now discussed in detail in a website about him. Quality stuff.

Traffic Court - New Milestones

Our traffic court site has cleared some new hurdles. We not only surpassed 100,000 visits in 31 days. We've hit 130K visits, and over 114,000 unique visitors. We also cleared 300,000 pageviews. These numbers are one day short of a peak -- going a day forward we'll lose a Sunday and pick up a Wednesday - an extra 5K visits and 12K pageviews.



Oh, and we're doing well on Alexa too:



So according to Alexa, the site is now one of the top 100,000 websites in the world (but just barely), and one of the top 25,000 in the US. Making progress ...

Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics

Albany DWI "Blanket Patrol"

Big news in Albany - this past weekend had a "blanket patrol" per Capital News 9.

Nice bit from the story - 944 traffic stops and 21 "drunk driving" arrests. If I've got this right, they interrupted the lives of about 1100 people (figuring 1.2 people per car) to make 21 arrests.

Also seems like 21 DWI arrests on a weekend for 11 municipalities is less than normal, not more. Maybe they should just focus on routine traffic enforcement.

NY DWI: Why low BAC cases should be fought

I got a call the other day from a prospective DWI client. His BAC was 0.16. It's already difficult in Albany to negotiate a reduction with a BAC that high. But it's worse than that. He had a previous DUI offense 3 years earlier and his lawyer pled him to a DWAI. That causes a big problem - he is ineligible for a conditional license. This guy won't be driving for at least a year.

On the prior offense his BAC was 0.08. I wrote recently about perspectives on DWI defense. My position remains that low BAC cases should always be fought. This case is a great example of why.

Paris Hilton had a BAC of 0.08, and they didn't fight the case. She apparently got a reduced charge - called "alcohol-related reckless driving". From what I can tell this is known as "wet reckless". Dry reckless does not involve alcohol. She got 3 years probation, and that led to her stint in jail.

You would think Paris Hilton could afford a quality DUI lawyer to fight her case. With a BAC that low, the chances of winning are strong. See People v. Beltran for an example.

In New York State, if your BAC is 0.08, in my opinion it makes no sense to plead guilty to a DWAI without thoroughly testing the prosecution's case at least through a suppression hearing. As the recent phone call and Paris Hilton's experience suggest, pleading to a reduced DUI charge can have very serious consequences.

Drug policy blog

Just a pointer to a great: drug policy reform blog. I've been involved with ReconsiDer for many years and am a big fan.