DuPage County is located in Wheaton, Illinois, a Chicago suburb known for being tough on Driving Under the Influence (DUI) offenders. Many politicians from that area have used this attitude to climb the political and judicial ladder.
According to news reports, on August 28, 2011, the defendant in this case was initially stopped for improper lane usage (weaving). 625 ILCS 5/11-709 Weaving is the most common reason that police provide for initiating an investigative stop.
Appeals courts for Wheaton DUI cases had initially held that police may initiate a stop of a driving who is weaving within his own lane, even though that is not illegal. People v. Manders, 317 Ill. App. 3d 337 (2d Dist. 2000) This case was later overruled in People v. Greco, 336 Ill. App 3d 253 (2d Dist. 2003)
The defendant was a first time DUI offender who was charged with a Class-A misdemeanor. A Class-A misdemeanor is punishable by a fine of up to $2,500.00 and/or incarceration in the county jail for up to 364 days. 730 ILCS 5/5-4.5-5.5
Because this was his first DUI charge, the accused was eligible to request court supervision and in fact received it. This brings with it several consequences.
The first is that when one is sentenced to court supervision, the judge cannot order jail time. However, a DUI supervision can never be expunged from your record. 730 ILCS 5/5-6-3.1(f).
Any offender sentenced to court supervision must complete a drug and alcohol evaluation and comply with any treatment recommendations of the evaluator. The number of treatment hours will depend upon our risk level.
If this is your first DUI disposition and you took a breath test and registered under .15 and you have no abuse or dependency symptoms, you will be required to complete a 10-hour Drive Risk Education (DRE) course. If you either did not take a test or registered a BAC level of between .15 and .19, and you have no abuse or dependency symptoms, you must complete the DRE course and 12 hours of early intervention.
If you have any abuse or dependency symptoms or you registered .20 or greater on the breath test, you must complete DRE and 20 hours of alcohol counseling.
If you are found to have 3 or more dependency symptoms, you must complete 75 hours of alcohol counseling, regardless of your BAC level and regardless of whether you took the test. 92 Illinois Administrative Code 1001.440
Finally, if you are receive court supervision and successfully complete it, because your case is then dismissed, a conviction is never entered on your record. As a result, the Secretary of State does not revoke your driver’s license.