Over the Limit

The Illinois Administrator has filed disciplinary charges alleging that an attorney was convicted of offenses arising out of the following incident:

On June 28, 2008 and into the early morning hours of June 29, 2008, Respondent consumed approximately eighteen beers and seven hard liquor alcoholic beverages during his attendance at a baseball game and later at an establishment called In Laws located in Lake County, Illinois. After consuming the alcoholic beverages, Respondent left In Laws at approximately 1:30 A.M. on June 29, 2008 and, with a passenger, began driving his motor vehicle. Shortly thereafter, Respondent was involved in a motor vehicle accident, at the intersection of Route 21 and Grand Avenue in Gurnee, after the vehicle he was driving turned left in front of oncoming traffic and collided with an oncoming vehicle.

The driver of the other vehicle that Respondent collided with, as well as the two passengers in that vehicle, suffered injuries, including a broken shoulder, a skull fracture, a fractured foot requiring multiple surgeries and an emergency C-section.

On June 29, 2008, after his transport to Vista Medical Center in Waukegan, Respondent was arrested and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, felony DUI with great bodily harm, failure to reduce speed and failure to yield turning left. At the time of his arrest, Respondent submitted to chemical testing to determine his blood-alcohol concentration, resulting in a reading of .28, which is more than three times the legal limit of .08.

Illinois was in the forefront of the movement to treat alcoholism as a mitigating factor in bar discipline where the attorney establishes causation and substantial rehabilitation. Should such proof be treated as mitigation under these circumstances? (Mike Frisch)