For example, a police officer might die or move out of the region before a case comes to trial, leaving the county attorney with nobody to testify, Lear said. That had been a big problem with DUI cases,'' said Lear, a Lexington lawyer. The Herald-Leader studied dozens of individual DUI cases from Paducah to Pikeville. A variety of problems were indicated by court records, tapes of court hearings and interviews with judges, prosecutors, defense lawyers, police, defendants, crash victims and activists. Some cases fail because of sloppy arrests or police officers who skip court hearings.
Prosecutors occasionally feel sorry for defendants and reduce the charges.
Or prosecutors sweep aside many cases through plea deals, insisting they don't have the resources or community support necessary to win convictions. Overseeing the system are harried judges eager to avoid trials and keep their dockets flowing. Even when people are convicted of DUI, the courts sometimes hand down punishments lighter than the law requires. Drunken drivers are spared mandatory jail time and fines. More frequently, those who refuse to take the blood-alcohol concentration test aren't punished for their refusal, even though the law requires it.