Gov. Martinez seeks tougher penalties for DWI
SANTA FE, N.M. — Stiffer penalties for people convicted of drunken driving and making it easier for police to testify at DWI hearings are among a package of proposals Gov. Susana Martinez unveiled to combat New Mexico’s longstanding drunken driving problem.
“We’ve got to make sure there is some significant punishment,” Martinez said at a news conference Tuesday. “DWI is a problem and New Mexico has weak laws.”
Martinez has repeatedly called for stricter punishments for drunken drivers in New Mexico, which has a significantly higher rate of drunken-driving deaths per capita than the nation as a whole.
The state also sees many DWI cases dropped at the court level due to various reasons, including police officers having to appear in person at the hearings. In Albuquerque in 2014 for example, 1,920 of 3,853 DWI cases, or about 50 percent, were dismissed, according to an annual DWI report.
Read more: https://www.abqjournal.com/920216/gov-seeks-tougher-penalties-for-dwi.html
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