(Click on the image for Scott MacFarlane's News4 report)
- Drivers charged for DUI were less likely to receive jail sentences in Prince George’s County than in neighboring counties, according to an investigation by the News-4 I-Team.
- Of the 75 DUI arrests on the highway [MD 210], approximately half of which have been closed by the Prince George’s County court system, only one case resulted in a defendant serving jail time, according to the court records reviewed. The other cases resulted mainly in fines.
- Victims of drunken driving cases said Prince George’s County leaders must find a way to stiffen penalties.
- Across the county line in Charles County, along the same roadway, Route 210, drivers received stiffer sentences. The I-Team’s review of Maryland State Police arrest records and court case files found about half of the closed DUI cases resulted in jail time for the drivers.
- But the Mejias, facing the heartbreaking mark of two years since their children died, said the I-Team’s findings show a need for change and that many of the drunken drivers who are stopped before causing a crash should also face jail time.
- “If there is no lesson [being] taught, when is the change going to happen? It’s not going to happen, ” Juanita Mejia said.