Missouri Criminal Lawyers Blog

Guest Author Marina Salsbury, not affiliated with the St Louis law firm of Sansone / Lauber . Marina Salsbury planned on becoming a teacher since high school, but found her way instead into online writing after college. She writes for Online College Classes and other sites about everything from education to exercise.

Each fall parents send their children off to college with a combination of pride and worry. Aside from meeting new people, registering for classes online, and getting to know a new place, parents know their children will probably have their first experiences with alcohol at college if they haven't already, it's not something they like to focus on. Unfortunately, DWIs and college students are a very real combination.

Approximately 900,000 people are arrested for DWI each year. Of these, close to 100,000 are college students. This means 11 percent of DWI arrests across the nation are college students and approximately 12 percent of these college students will be critically injured or killed.

Aside from traffic collisions, DWI charges can have serious ramifications for students, especially those under 21 years of age:

• Students under the age of 21 can face additional charges as well as DWI if they are caught driving intoxicated.
• When given a breathalyzer test, in many states those under 21 are considered intoxicated at much lower blood alcohol levels than those of legal drinking age.
• Students under the age of 21 can face stricter penalties and stiffer fines compared to those people over 21 when charged with DWI.
• Being charged with any crime, including DWI, may be in violation of a college's code of student conduct, and penalties from the school can range from probation to expulsion.
• Aside from DWIs, alcohol-related incidents on college campuses are on the rise. Statistics for college students between the ages of 18 and 24 indicate:
• Sex: 100,000 students have reported being too intoxicated to recall whether or not they had consented to sexual intercourse. 97,000 students reported being the victims of sexual assault or rape.
• Criminal Activity: intoxicated students are frequently involved in assaults, vandalism, criminal damage, or have been involved with campus security in some manner.
• Death: 1,825 students are killed in alcohol-related incidents (not including suicide).
• Dependence: 31 percent of students can be considered abusers of alcohol while 6 percent can be considered dependent.

Students on college campuses are often away from home for the first time in their lives. Meeting new friends, partying, and other college social activities often revolve around alcohol. While many young people experiment with alcohol without any short- or long-term ill effects, there are those who do face serious consequences. DWI charges are just one of the many things that can go wrong. Students who think they can drive safely after drinking not only endanger others' lives and their own, but often find themselves on a short track to academic probation or worse.

For parents, teaching children to be responsible about alcohol and its consumption will benefit them most. Be sure to sit down with your children before they leave for college and talk about alcohol, partying, and their possible ramifications, especially when it comes to driving. By having an open and honest conversation with your children you may very well lessen their risk of becoming an alcohol-related statistic and, more importantly, you may be saving their lives.

Casey Anthony who was found not guilty of the murder of her child, Caylee Anthony, now must pay the State of Florida $217,000.00 for lying to investigators. This case captivated the nation as Casey Anthony was caught lying repeatedly about the disappearance of her 2 year old daughter. Her decomposed body was found in a swamp 6 months after her disappearance. Due to the condition of the body the medical examiner could not determine an exact cause of death. After further investigation Casey Anthony was charged with murder and 4 counts of lying to investigators. The prosecutor in the case presented a theory that Casey Anthony drugged her child with chloroform and used duct tape to suffocate her. This was presented to the jury with forensic evidence of hair found in the trunk of her car and evidence on her computer of searching for chloroform over 80 times on the internet. Throughout the trial the prosecuting attorney presented evidence of Casey Anthony lying about her daughter's disappearance. The biggest lie by Casey Anthony was that she told investigators her babysitter kidnapped her child. Yet, law enforcement was able to prove there was never a babysitter. The Defense presented the theory that Caylee Anthony drowned in the family pool and that upon her death Casey Anthony pretended nothing was wrong. The Jury in the case found Casey Anthony not guilty of murder but guilty of 4 counts of lying to law enforcement.

The prosecuting attorney and law enforcement was seeking more than $500,000.00 in for law enforcement related costs. The Judge in the case ordered Casey Anthony to pay $217,000.00 to cover the cost of investigating the case. The Judge said the costs should cover only the missing persons investigation not the murder investigation. The bill is in the form of a civil judgment.

This is a perfect example of where a person can be held responsible for lying to the police. In this case the police spent an enormous amount of time investigating leads based on the lies of Casey Anthony.

Our St Louis DWI defense law firm handles hundreds of DWI cases every year. A good percentage of our clients are either factually innocent or the police acted inappropriately and the evidence was obtained unconstitutionally. We have even had cases where our client's breath results were below the legal limit of .08 BAC, yet the police charge them anyways. Below is an example of one case of an innocent man, wrongfully arrested, and the police paid for it!

Man arrested for DUI sued the city after his arrest and settled his lawsuit against Naperville for $10,000. Local CBS DUI News Story. He claimed that he was humiliated when the city released the the defendant reportedly admitted to drinking four to five beers at a Memorial Day fest, and failed a field-sobriety test, he blew a 0.0 on the Breathalyzer test administered at the time of arrest.

His lawsuit accused Naperville police of engaging in "a pattern of false DUI arrests", particularly during the time frame between Memorial Day and the Fourth of July. With local and state revenue down, the defendant charged police with trying to boost proceeds along with recognition to the city.

The man was ultimately released without charges filed on May 30. The reason for the lawsuit focuses on his treatment as a charged defendant, with his mug shot and fingerprints taken and his embarrassment when the information was reported and printed in the newspaper.

Illinois is only one of many states cracking down on everything from minor traffic offenses to DUI offenders, in the hopes of bringing in more revenue to their respective cities and counties. Whether or not this episode was part of a planned operation to falsely accuse residents of driving while intoxicated is up for debate. However, it may behoove the infamous state of Illinois to be better stewards of their legally gained tax monies rather than involve themselves with yet another indiscretion that magnifies the corrupt goings-on's of the state.