Santa Fe Municipal Court DWI Cases 3/96-3/97

Santa Fe Municipal Court DWI Cases 3/96-3/97 Santa Fe Municipal Court Monitoring

Foreword

This analysis of DWI cases in the Santa Fe Municipal Court was prepared by the Santa Fe MADD Community Action Team, as part of our Santa Fe Municipal Court Monitoring webpage series. The report analyzes information in the Court's public reports, provided at MADD's request by Santa Fe City Government. Court information was drawn from Court report "PGM220". Any data errors in the source information are the Court's.

ANALYSIS OF DWI CASES -- 3/12/96-3/4/97

Santa Fe Municipal Court

The following report is based on an analysis of the Santa Fe Municipal Court DWI Conviction Report: Dispositions from 3/12/96-3/4/97, which was generated by the City MIS Department at MADD's request from dispositions entered by municipal court staff on DWI cases adjudicated by Judge Fran Gallegos. The analysis reveals:

Only 37 out of 912 cases involved a jail sentence.

A conviction rate of 49.7%. (The state average for 1995 was 85%)

Only 54% of the aggravated DWI cases (BAC ł .16 or refused the breath/blood test) resulted in a conviction.

Only 8.6% of offenders convicted of aggravated DWI were sentenced to jail (aggravated DWI carries a mandatory jail sentence).

There were 52 cases in which offenders had 3 or more DWIs. Twenty-seven percent (14) were dismissed.

Thirty-six offenders were convicted of a third or above offense, which carries a mandatory jail sentence. Only 6 (17%) were sentenced to jail, and in each case, the sentence was below the mandatory minimum.

ANALYSIS

Result 1: Less than 50% (N=453) of 912 DWI cases resulted in convictions. Forty-two percent (N=366) of these cases were dismissed. These include 24% that were dismissed with "no conditions" and 18% "with conditions."

Table 1: DWI Convictions vs. Dismissals

Number of Cases	Convicted (Guilty)		Dismissed				Other
	Number	Percent	With Conds.		No conds.		Number	Percent
			No.	%	No.	%
912	453	49.7%	162	18%	220	24%	77	8%

Result 2: One of the most serious DWI offenses is Aggravated DWI, which means the offender had a BAC ł .16 or refused the breath/blood test. There were 456 cases involving an aggravated DWI. Of these, only 54% (245) resulted in a conviction.

Table 2: Aggravated DWIs

Disposition	BAC ł .16	Refused Test	Total	% of Total
Convictions	185	60	245	54%
Dismissed/No Conditions	67	45	112	25%
Dismissed/With Conditions	34	26	60	13%
Other	29	10	39	8%
Total	315	141	456	100%

Result 3: Jail is mandated by both state and city law for all offenders convicted of a multiple and/or aggravated DWI offense. Of 453 convictions, 326 involved an aggravated DWI and/or a multiple offense. However, only 8.6% (28) of those 326 offenders were actually sentenced to jail.

Table 3. Cases Requiring Jail Sentences

Convictions (Jail Required by Law)	Number of Cases	Jail Sentence Imposed
Convictions (Jail Required by Law)	Number of Cases	# of Cases	% of Total Required
BAC ł .16 (all cases)	185	18	9.7%
Refused Test (all cases)	60	3	5%
Multiple Offender < .16	81	7	8.6%
Total Cases/Jail Required	326	28	8.6%

Result 4: There were 52 cases in which the offender had 3 or more DWIs. Twenty-seven percent (14) were dismissed.

Table 4. Dismissed DWI cases-- Third offense and above

Offense	BAC	Disposition
3rd	.07	Dismissed
3rd	.13	Dismissed
3rd Aggravated	Refused	Dismissed
3rd Aggravated	Refused	Dismissed
3rd Aggravated	Refused	Dismissed
3rd Aggravated	Refused	Dismissed
3rd Aggravated	.21	Dismissed
3rd Aggravated	.23	Dismissed
4th	NRA	Acquitted
4th Aggravated	Refused	Dismissed
11th	NRA	Dismissed
11th	NRA	Dismissed
11th	.08	Dismissed
11th	.14	Dismissed

Result 5. There were 36 cases in which the offender was convicted of three or more DWIs. Although jail is mandated for all multiple offenders, less than 17% (6) were sentenced to jail. In each case, the jail sentence was less than that mandated by law.

Table 5. Dispositions of Third and Above DWI Offenders

Offense/BAC	Disposition	Minimum Jail Required			Jail Imposed
Offense/BAC	Disposition	Offense	Agg.	Total	Jail Imposed
3rd/NRA	Guilty	30 days	Unknown	30 days	0
3rd/NRA	Guilty	30 days	Unknown	30 days	0
3rd/NRA	Guilty	30 days	Unknown	30 days	0
3rd/.NRA	Guilty	30 days	Unknown	30 days	0
3rd/.14	Guilty	30 days	NA	30 days	0
3rd/.16	Guilty	30 days	60 days	90 days	0
3rd/.16	Guilty	30 days	60 days	90 days	0
3rd/.17	Guilty	30 days	60 days	90 days	0
3rd/.17	Guilty	30 days	60 days	90 days	0
3rd/.17	Guilty	30 days	60 days	90 days	30 days
3rd/.18	Guilty	30 days	60 days	90 days	0
3rd/.18	Guilty	30 days	60 days	90 days	0
3rd/.20	Guilty	30 days	60 days	90 days	0
3rd/.21	Guilty	30 days	60 days	90 days	0
3rd/.21	Guilty	30 days	60 days	90 days	0
3rd/.22	Guilty	30 days	60 days	90 days	6 days
3rd/.25	Guilty	30 days	60 days	90 days	2 days
3rd/.25	Guilty	30 days	60 days	90 days	0
3rd/.28	Guilty	30 days	60 days	90 days	0
3rd/.33	Guilty	30 days	60 days	90 days	15 days
3rd/refused	Guilty	30 days	60 days	90 days	0
3rd/refused	Guilty	30 days	60 days	90 days	0
3rd/refused	Guilty	30 days	60 days	90 days	0
3rd/refused	Guilty	30 days	60 days	90 days	0
3rd/refused	Guilty	30 days	60 days	90 days	0
4th/NRA	Guilty	6 months	NA	6 months	0
4th/.16	Guilty	6 months	NA	6 months	0
4th/refused	Guilty	6 months	NA	6 months	0
4th/refused	Guilty	6 months	NA	6 months	0
5th/refused	Guilty	6 months	NA	6 months	0
5th/refused	Guilty	6 months	NA	6 months	0
5th/refused	Guilty	6 months	NA	6 months	0
8th/NRA	Guilty	6 months	NA	6 months	0
11th/.14	Guilty	6 months	NA	6 months	30 days
11th/.20	Guilty	6 months	NA	6 months	7 days
21/refused	Guilty	6 months	NA	6 months	0

For Further information

Last updated 6/29/1997