Defendant has one DUI. Defendant gets a second DUI. Defendant then gets a third DUI.
Defendant then gets busted again for DUI. Alongside driving with a suspended sentence.
You know what's coming, right? A lengthy prison sentence. We take these things seriously. At least the fourth time.
Nope. Defendant simply gets probation.
This (surprising) sentence isn't even at issue in the appeal. It's instead whether she's entitled to have the charges dismissed (and probation terminated) after completing drug court. The California Attorney General successfully persuades the Court of Appeal that that's not permissible here. At least until they are given the statutory two-day notice of such a motion. Notice that wasn't given here.
So now the state will get notice. And, almost certainly, the result will be the same. Charges dismissed.
I've seen a lot of multiple-DUI cases in my time. I don't recall seeing any in which the consequences were as light as those here.
Maybe things are different in Glenn County. Because I have a keen sense that a four-time DUI loser isn't going to get probation virtually anywhere else in California.
