In seconds, your life can be altered by the bad decision to drink and drive, and you can find yourself in a hospital bed or jail sell facing criminal charges as a defendant Colorado’s criminal justice system. What’s worse, the bad decision can result in the loss of someone else’s life. Too often a choice to drink and drive ends with the death of an innocent motorist, cyclist or pedestrian and charges of vehicular homicide for the intoxicated driver.
When this happens, the survivors lives are forever changed. This past June, a 24-year-old woman was driving after consuming alcohol. She struck a bicyclist with her car and then left the scene of the accident. The bicyclist died as a result of his injuries. The woman was convicted of vehicular homicide and sentence to 12 years in prison.
Charges of vehicular homicide carry with them stiff penalties in the state of Colorado. When facing such charges, it is impertaive the accused has the representation of an experienced defense attorney to develop the best possible defense to these charges. Teh attorney should review all of the evidence and how it was collected. The question of how officers determined that the driver was legally impaired will need to be scrutinized. Sometimes, evidence supporting the officers’ conclusion that the driver in question was actually operating the vehcile at the time of the accident will need to be looked at.
All of us make bad decisions from time to time. However, when the decision is made to drink and drive, it can quickly have devastating consequences for not just the driver, but those injured or killed by the driver and their family, friends, and loved ones. When such a decision leads to charges of vehicular homicide, the best decision the accused driver can make for himsself or herself is to hire an experienced criminal defense attorney.
Source: kdvr.com, “Drunk driver gets 12 years for fatal hit-and-run of Boulder bicyclist“, David Mitchell, May 30, 2017