Beneficiaries in Crime Cases

It is shocking to read “Driver Wins Case Against Newport in Blood-Test Suit” (Oct. 9). Why should someone who was convicted of a crime, driving under the influence of alcohol, benefit from his crime? So far he has received a share of $10,000 from a hospital, and now a jury has ordered payments of $15,500 from a police chief and police officer. Crime is certainly paying him very well indeed.

The defendant testified that he had refused to take a chemical test for driving under the influence and the blood had been taken from him without his consent. He further testified that the only force used against him was the officer pressing on his shoulders to hold him in his chair. The man committed a crime that kills 160 individuals in Orange County every year and injures and maims another 6,000. The police officer and his department chose to secure a sample of blood for evidence so that the defendant could not escape accountability. They were right: With the blood sample he was convicted. Without it--no matter how intoxicated he may have been--conviction would not have been as certain.

In Orange County there are many drunk-driving victims-families who are facing medical bills of more than $200,000 as a result of their crash. Many times the person responsible for the crash is judgment-proof because he has no assets. The Crime Victims Compensation Fund in California is facing a critical shortfall of funds because courts are not making sure convicted criminals pay their court-ordered contributions. What a bizarre system the community tolerates! Criminals learn to financially benefit from their crimes, while victims and victim services go begging for their very existence.

JANET CATER

Orange County chapter director,

Mothers Against Drunk Driving