A 19-year-old Morgan Hill man who was arrested on suspicion of
driving under the influence three times in a two-week period, was
arraigned in a San Martin courtroom Tuesday morning and sent to
Santa Clara County Jail after a judge ordered bail set at
$100,000.
A 19-year-old Morgan Hill man who was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence three times in a two-week period, was arraigned in a San Martin courtroom Tuesday morning and sent to Santa Clara County Jail after a judge ordered bail set at $100,000.
Morgan Hill police sought a warrant for Anthony Maher, 19, after he was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence between Dec. 16 and Dec. 27. He was arrested Dec. 16 at 1:37 a.m. on Hale Avenue at Wright Avenue with a reported blood alcohol level of .09 and Dec. 23 at 12:56 a.m. on Condit Road with a level of .20. When he was arrested Dec. 27 at 9:27 p.m. on East Dunne Avenue, his blood alcohol level registered at .23, nearly three times the adult legal limit, which is .08.
According to the terms of the arraignment, if he makes bail, Maher will be sent to a residential treatment program.
Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Mark Hood said Tuesday that the treatment program was made a condition of bail in the hopes that it will help Maher with his alcohol problem.
*”This is an opportunity for him to clean up his life while he serves the appropriate punishment,” Hood said. “He’ll have to make the efforts himself, but we’re giving him the opportunity.”
Maher’s case has garnered a lot of community comment, with many expressing outrage that the law would not keep Maher off the streets. Hood said Tuesday that once a person has a DUI conviction, a second DUI would have stiffer penalties, and a third DUI would bring still stiffer punishment such as larger fines and loss of license for a longer period of time, but Maher has not yet been convicted.
A person may be arrested several times in a short period of time for DUI but be released after each arrest because there is no felony charge unless the DUI results in an injury to another person. For a person arrested for DUI to go to jail, there must be a previous DUI conviction. Mothers Against Drunk Driving and others are advocating a change in the law so that a person who has been arrested so many times in a short amount of time, but not yet convicted, would not be released.
*”It’s hard to punish someone for an arrest, but once there is a conviction, that’s another matter,” Hood said.
As Superior Court Judge Hector E. Ramon remanded Maher into custody Tuesday morning, he told the court the reason he granted the request by the District Attorney’s office was because he considers Maher a danger to other drivers on the road.
Morgan Hill police Cmdr. David Swing said the residential treatment program may be beneficial for Maher.
“He does need something to straighten out his life, some sort of intervention to find out some of the things he’s dealing with,” Swing said Tuesday. “He needs to come to the realization that, one, he’s not invincible, and two, that this kind of destructive behavior will have ramifications, if not now, then certainly down the road if he doesn’t get help, and three, that he needs to stop drinking.”
Maher was one of 92 people arrested by Morgan Hill police officers during the recent Avoid the 13 anti drinking and driving crackdown.
