KELO reports that Assistant Attorney General Doug Barnett pled guilty this morning to driving under the influence. Barnett admits he was out drinking and driving at two in the afternoon one Sunday in May in Yankton County. Whew: two p.m. seems a little early to tie one on, let alone tie on enough to blow 0.08.
Judge Tami Bern gave Barnett a $350 fine, five days in jail (all suspended), 30 days hoofing it with no driver's license, and 60 days in his boss's 24-7 sobriety program.
Barnett is also spending thirty days without a paycheck: the Attorney General's office suspended him for 30 days after his May 20 arrest. Barnett now also faces the possibility of being branded with professional misconduct. The South Dakota State Bar defines professional misconduct for its members in Rule 8.4(b), which adds committing "a criminal act that reflects adversely on the lawyer's honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer in other respects" to the list of big lawyer no-nos.
Boozing at 2 p.m., then putting the public at risk with your swerving automobile... yeah, I think that would reflect adversely on a guy's trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer.
Update 13:32 CDT: An October 2010 work/life survey by the South Dakota Bar found that 17% of members responding admitted they "occasionally abuse alcohol or other drugs/chemicals." I don't have handy a similar survey question for the general population, but a 2010 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration survey found the rate of substance dependence or abuse among American college graduates to be 7.3%.
Update 14:14 CDT: Barnett will be out of the 24-7 program before A.G. Jackley's new ignition interlock devices are ready for statewide implementation in the fall.
How can Marty call himself a tough prosecuter if he is letting his staff off this easy?
Mike, the AG's office rarely, if ever, prosecutes DUI's. Those are in the hands of the local State's Attorney. It would shock me if they assumed jurisdiction here.
And a month on the bricks without pay is hardly a slap on the wrist. How many jobs would suspend you that long for a first DUI? It looks to me like Marty was plenty tough.
? Who drinks and drives with an open container at 2pm?
Mike - An alcoholic, that's who.
Alcoholism of lawyers may be an occupational hazard. From KELO, it sounded like his BAC was closer to 0.24 than to 0.08. He has a problem, and hopefully, this arrest can cause him to realize that so he gets into treatment or realizes he can never again drink any beverage containing alcohol.
Alcohol is one of our most dangerous drugs and is more of a gateway to illegal drugs than any of the actual illegal drugs apparently. Alcohol messes up your brain permanently and raise hell with your liver.
Were not a nearly totally irresponsible but very profitable industry pushing this drug with its 1000s of years of abuse, it would be much more stringently controlled.
Every can, or bottle of alcohol should have the seller's name and buyers name laser burned onto them. Purchasing alcohol should require an alcohol debit card rechargeable at county treasurers. Then if somebody like Barnett shows up with a serious alcohol problem, the state can actually enforce its law which prohibits sales to alcoholics.
License suspension of liquor establishments should be handled through SD Health instead of the Revenue Dept. The revenue department may suspend for failure to pay taxes, but apparently never for dumping intoxicated patrons out onto streets and highways or to go home and beat or abuse their families.
Holy Moly Douglas! How do you really feel about alcohol? And how do you feel about personal freedoms in general? Waay too much Big Brother in your post for my liking.
Let's not go overboard here. One DUI doesn't make Doug Barnett an alcoholic. A one-month suspension without pay doesn't make Marty Jackley weak on crime. Barnett paid a heavier price than most for DUI - being suspended from work 30 days and making the tv news. Hopefully he will be a humble and empathetic public servant after this chastening.
People who drink in the middle of the day to a BAC in the 0.24 area have an alcohol problem. This is especially the case if it is an officer in the Attorney General's office. KELO has this on their web page.
"Assistant South Dakota Attorney General Doug Barnett has pleaded guilty to DUI in Yankton County.
A Highway Patrol trooper picked up Barnett at the Lewis and Clark Welcome Center near Yankton on May 20 and found he had been drinking and had an open container in his vehicle. His blood test results showed that he had 0.22 Blood Alcohol Content, which is nearly three times the legal limit."
As for sensible regulation of a dangerous, destructive drug being kin to big brother, drinking alcohol is not an essential part of life. Cameras in people's bedrooms are another level of magnitude which may be big brother in government.
Requiring business to be responsible and not contribute to over 10,000 vehicle deaths per year is not big brother, it is sensible use of government.
What would government be doing if some gang of thugs intent on selling car windshields were shooting through drivers windshields and killing 10,000 people? Would it be big brotherish to stop that?
In any case, I did not suggest that Barnett be punished further..just that he do whatever he can to be responsible in the future. Alcohol wastes to many good brains as it is. One less would be a good thing. He and we should be very glad that he did not kill himself in a vehicle crash or kill somebody else while driving drunk.
All SD stores that peddle booze should all be locked shut one week after an alcohol-related crash fatality. Then they would have an economic incentive to do business responsibly.
Excellent response, Douglas. When folks used airplanes to kill 3000 Americans, we shut down all airlines in America for two days. Would shutting down all alcohol sellers for a couple days after their product contributes to a death be so different?
Doug's cynicism seems to have been lost on some readers: let's end all casino activity, livestock production, sugar production, food-oil seed production.
The hypocrisy of red states is stupefying.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PI8VXaQiWs
Douglas doesn't like alcohol, so everybody else's freedom should be regulated away by government. Substitute "gun" for "alcohol" in his rant above. Or tobacco. Or gambling. Or caffeine. Or junk food. Or motorcycles.
I thought that Democrats were tolerant of adults making their own decisions, but maybe that was then. These times call for government to control everybody, right Douglas? When I find something you like Douglas I will endeavor to make it as difficult as possible for you, because it's for me to decide - not you.
Jackley's office is apparently learning that alcohol is essential to selective enforcement as just another part of Republican South Dakota history.
One question remains: how much will it cost to defend the state against destroyed engines or families stranded between Plainview and Sturgis when it’s 100 degrees resulting in the deaths of passengers?
Restricting access to Alcohol never seems to have any effect other than producing more crime, but stricter laws and enforcement do have an effect. When you look at the penalty that the Assistant AG got, it is just a slap, it was only minimally painful , the worst part would be the 30 day work suspension , but one would think that a lawyer would have 30 days of reserve in his bank account. If he doesn't he has more problems than just alcohol. South Dakota is lax on drunk drivers. In other States penalties for first time offenders are tough especially one with a BAC of 0.22. They include mandatory counseling and community service, nine month license suspensions and two years on the ignition interlock system.
There are more tools that can be used by law enforcement that have been proven to work. South Dakota should try getting tough on those who break alcohol laws before they try restricting alcohol to law abiding citizens.
Mr. Barnett may need treatment (as may many others in his situation).
There is an excellent place in Loveland, Colorado: http://www.innerbalancehealthcenter.com/
"then. These times call for government to control everybody, right Douglas? When I find something you like Douglas I will endeavor to make it as difficult as possible for you, because it’s for me to decide – not you."
I really like pointing out self-interested and self-deluded idiocy and the near vomit-inducing hypocrisy that goes with it..
When Republicans gather it costs everybody:
http://news.sd.gov/newsitem.aspx?id=13120