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Thread: California Judge, Tough on Drunk Drivers, Suspected of DUI

  1. #1
    Jbb
    Judge tough on drunk drivers is suspected of DUI
    June 23, 2005
    A Sonoma County judge who handed down the stiffest possible sentence in two recent high-profile drunken driving cases will remain on the bench following her arrest for reportedly driving under the influence, officials said today.
    The investigation of the charge against Superior Court Judge Elaine Rushing, who was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving following a single-vehicle crash late Tuesday night, has been turned over to the state Attorney General because Rushing is a sitting judge well known among those in Sonoma County's relatively small criminal justice community, authorities said.
    A California Highway Patrol officer arrested Rushing, 57, at about 10:45 p.m. Tuesday after she reportedly ran off the road on Riebli Road in northern Santa Rosa, said Officer Christine Jacobs, CHP spokeswoman. No other vehicles were involved in the collision, and Rushing was not injured.
    The officer administered a blood-alcohol test, Jacobs said. She would not disclose the result, citing CHP policy. The officer arrested Rushing and took her to the CHP station in Santa Rosa, where she was issued a citation charging her with misdemeanor driving under the influence. She was held for several hours before being released to her husband's custody, Jacobs and Rushig's attorney, Harry Allen, said.
    "The judge has indicated that she wants this handled in the normal manner, and she will accept responsibility," Allen said.
    Jacobs said it is not unusual for authorities to cite and release, rather than jail, DUI suspects. In Rushing's case, authorities determined that jailing her might pose a threat to her safety because she has presided over many criminal trials, Jacobs said.
    "We determined that it would be better to make the arrest and deal with it at that level,"Jacobs said.
    Rushing was the first woman named to the Sonoma County bench when Gov. Pete Wilson appointed her in 1992. She was elected last year to a third six-year term. She has spent most of her career on the bench presiding over criminal cases, but in April was transferred to the civil division under a normal rotation, Allen said.
    Rushing presided last year over two of the Bay Area's highest-profile drunken-driving cases, both of which stemmed from accidents that killed bicyclists, and returned the longest sentences allowed by law.
    In September, Rushing sentenced 69-year-old attorney Harvey Hereford to eight years and eight months in prison for the death of Alan Liu, a 31-year-old triathlete from Cupertino, in an Easter Sunday accident that also paralyzed Liu's riding companion. Hereford, who had a blood-alcohol level of 0.29 -- more than three times the legal limit -- had pleaded guilty to felonies that including manslaughter and driving under the influence.
    In August, Rushing imposed a 14-year sentence on William Michael Albertson, 46, who was convicted of running down Daniel O'Reilly of Agua Caliente on April 19, 2004 as O'Reilly rode home on Mark West Springs Road. Prosecutors had charged Albertson with manslaughter and fleeing the scene of an accident.

  2. #2
    Wonderboy
    That just goes to show you.... everybody drives drunk. J/K. I hope she gets what she deserves.

  3. #3
    piper
    Well what goes around comes around.

  4. #4
    mike37
    there is no way she will get the same sentence you or I would get

  5. #5
    piper
    there is no way she will get the same sentence you or I would get
    Your right about that!

  6. #6
    Boatcop
    there is no way she will get the same sentence you or I would get
    DUI convictions have mandatory penalties. If found guilty, she would get the same sentence as anyone else under similar circumstances.

  7. #7
    termiteguy
    she needs to to jail for a longtime to show everybody that drunkdriving
    is no joking matter :cry:

  8. #8
    Dribble
    DUI convictions have mandatory penalties. If found guilty, she would get the same sentence as anyone else under similar circumstances.
    Which is two days in jail (community service) for a first offense. The Sheriff of Sacramento County got a DUI several years ago and did his two days.

  9. #9
    mike37
    DUI convictions have mandatory penalties. If found guilty, she would get the same sentence as anyone else under similar circumstances.
    it will never get that far

  10. #10
    wsuwrhr
    it will never get that far
    Case, what case?
    Membership has it's priveleges.
    Brian

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