Drunken Drivers Could Face 1st-Degree Murder Charges

The N.C. House is considering a bill that would allow district attorneys to bring first-degree murder charges -- which could result in the death penalty -- against habitual drunken drivers who kill while driving under the influence.

The bill, which has received mixed reviews in Raleigh, defines habitual as three prior drunken-driving convictions.

Rep. Michael Decker, R-Forsyth, who introduced the bill Monday, said he thinks the legislation is needed. "This is a bill that's time has come," he said. "Society is fed up with people who create a menace on the highway."

Decker said he sees no difference between killing someone while driving drunk and shooting them with a gun.

But Rep. Verla Insko, D-Orange, said she does not think there is the same intent involved in killing someone while intoxicated and committing a crime, such as premeditated murder or rape, that could result in the death penalty.

"I don't think anybody who's drinking and gets in the car intends to have an accident," she said. "It's not even their intention to have a fender bender."

She said this question concerning intent will be a hotly debated topic.

Forsyth County District Attorney Tom Keith said he lobbied for this bill after a 1996 case when a repeat drunken driver killed two Wake Forest University students. The driver was convicted of first-degree murder, but the decision was reversed by the N.C. Superior Court.

"We had become frustrated that all the law would allow was second-degree murder," he said.

Keith said the negligence involved in driving drunk is enough to establish the intent required for first-degree murder crimes. "This is a way to have the legislature express the intent that (killings while under the influence) are murder cases."

Keith said the current punishments for drunken driving assume that the offender will stop after the first conviction and the punishment should be toughened. "There has to be a realization that a car is a deadly weapon," Keith said. "I can take my shoe off and beat you with it and kill you, and a judge would have no problem calling that a deadly weapon."

Keith also said he doesn't feel the bill will have any trouble passing. "I would have liked to make the statute a lot tougher, but we feel it's as watered down as it could be to get it started."

But UNC law Professor Richard Rosen said the bill is a bad idea. "It's good politics but lousy law."

The State & National Editor can be reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.