Neese fights for impaired driving bill

The Lafayette Journal and Courier covers the bill and its purpose.

Dubbed the Jimmy DeBoy bill, the proposed legislation is named for a 9-year-old Lafayette boy who died after being hit by an impaired driver on July 2006 while riding his bike on South Ninth Street.

The driver, Cesar De La Rosa, pleaded guilty to driving with marijuana in his system and was sentenced to 14 years in prison. It was the maximum he could receive under a plea agreement to the Class B felony, which was the most serious offense prosecutors could charge under current law.

Senate Bill 90 passed 33-15, but was halted when the House Committee on Courts and Criminal Code failed to hear it. Alting is working with Neese to get the language written into House Bill 1052, which the Senate passed 46-1.

The bill would raise the penalty for repeat offenders who operate a vehicle while intoxicated causing death from a Class B felony to a Class A felony, which is the highest penalty class -- excepting murder -- and carries a sentencing range of 20 to 50 years in prison.

It also would increase punishment for impaired drivers causing serious bodily injury from a D felony to a B felony, which carries a sentencing range of up to 17 more years in prison.