Advocacy & Safety - Dui ?

Beacon News Staff
ST. CHARLES -- A Batavia man was sentenced to eight years in prison after admitting to a fifth drunken driving conviction Tuesday.

John Ambrose, 51, 1200 block of East Fabyan Parkway, pleaded guilty to aggravated drunken driving and misdemeanor revoked license, the Kane County state’s attorney’s office said.

At 12:30 a.m. Sept. 14, 2008, Ambrose was driving 65 miles per hour in a construction zone of Interstate 88, where the speed limit is 45 mph, prosecutors said. Ambrose was pulled over just east of the Orchard Road exit.

Ambrose was unable to produce a valid license because it had been revoked for a prior DUI, police said. The officer noticed a strong odor of alcohol, blood shot eyes and slurred speech, so he asked Ambrose if he had been drinking, prosecutors said. Ambrose admitted he was drunk and a blood-alcohol test later confirmed he was more than four times the legal limit, police said.

Prosecutors said his blood alcohol level was .282. The legal limit to drive is .08.

According to prosecutors, Ambrose had four prior convictions for drunken driving:

On Feb. 24, 1991, Ambrose was charged with drunken driving in DuPage County, and subsequently given court supervision.

On Oct 18, 1992, Ambrose was charged with drunken driving in Cook County and subsequently given court supervision.

On Aug. 4, 1995, Ambrose was charged with drunken driving in Cook County.

On Sept. 21, 1995, Ambrose was charged with drunken driving in Cook County and his license was revoked.

Ambrose must serve at least 50 percent of the sentence. He was given credit for 142 days served in the Kane County Jail.

Assistant State’s Attorney Adam Katz prosecuted the case.


From the Aurora Beacon News

Driving on .282? This guy is probably safer in jail. He nearly died from the level of intoxication alone.

Did I miss the bicycle content somewhere...?

Did I miss the bicycle content somewhere...?

Yeah, this guy was allowed out on roads that cyclists use... twice the court "supervised" this person.

Just keep in mind that other fools like him are out there.

While I am happy that they are taking his repeated offences seriously and getting him off the road.
I disagree with the 8year prison term. Obviously the guy has an alcohol problem, would not counselling and some sort of drug treatment be a more effecient use of resources to deal with him?

While I am happy that they are taking his repeated offences seriously and getting him off the road.
I disagree with the 8year prison term. Obviously the guy has an alcohol problem, would not counselling and some sort of drug treatment be a more effecient use of resources to deal with him?

Are you kidding me? That is the EXACT attitude that leads to over 40,000 of us getting killed every year on the roads.

I think if you drink and drive than an attempted murder charge is appropriate and an 8 years sentence for THE FIRST OFFENSE and a permanent lose of their DL is the least they can do. I'd let my taxes be raised by 2,000 per year if they could do this.

Driving is not a "right."

Are you kidding me? That is the EXACT attitude that leads to over 40,000 of us getting killed every year on the roads.

I think if you drink and drive than an attempted murder charge is appropriate and an 8 years sentence for THE FIRST OFFENSE and a permanent lose of their DL is the least they can do. I'd let my taxes be raised by 2,000 per year if they could do this.

Driving is not a "right."

I'm against prison in General in favor of counseling and rehabilitation. Yes this includes the murder example. I'm not being soft because of some misguided belief that driving is a right; I agree it is not.

I'm against prison in General in favor of counseling and rehabilitation. Yes this includes the murder example. I'm not being soft because of some misguided belief that driving is a right; I agree it is not.

This argument is an old one.

Some think that DUI offenders and child molesters can be rehabilitated. I'm a lock them up and throw away the key type.

Who knows who is right.

I think eight years without a drink will probably rehabilitate him.

On Feb. 24, 1991, Ambrose was charged with drunken driving in DuPage County, and subsequently given court supervision.

On Oct 18, 1992, Ambrose was charged with drunken driving in Cook County and subsequently given court supervision.
I'm against prison in General in favor of counseling and rehabilitation. Yes this includes the murder example. I'm not being soft because of some misguided belief that driving is a right; I agree it is not.They tried your way twice. How many times does it take banging your head against a wall, with no results, before you are willing to try the other methods.

Give them ONE chance at counseling and rehabilitation. After that, lock them up before they kill someone.

I think eight years without a drink will probably rehabilitate him.Odds are, he will take some fruit or fruit juice from lunch and ferment that in his cell.
http://www.homebrew.net/ferment/

They tried your way twice. How many times does it take banging your head against a wall, with no results, before you are willing to try the other methods.

Give them ONE chance at counseling and rehabilitation. After that, lock them up before they kill someone.

No they didn't try, those AA meetings are useless bullcrap. Ever actually known someone in them? Didn't think so.
I mean Real counseling and rehab, not this ****ing rubber stamp stuff we do to try and wash our hands of social responsibility over these people.

"Court supervision" is a joke. Generally it is actually just another punitive measure, and those involved with such "rehab" programs treat them as such, rather than any kind of actual rehabilitation. The best they are is educational.

DUI laws are a joke. I'd rather see negligent driving in general punished at the same levels, than specifically target drunks. Kill another road user? Go to jail, whether you're drunk or sober, none of this "I was sober, they swerved/stepped in front of me" defense BS...

No they didn't try, those AA meetings are useless bullcrap. Ever actually known someone in them? Didn't think so.
I mean Real counseling and rehab, not this ****ing rubber stamp stuff we do to try and wash our hands of social responsibility over these people.

AA really does work - But, the person has to want the help.

I have several friends who are alcoholics, and have been sober for many, many, many years. One over 25 years.

This guy, obviously never reached bottom, and was continuing to try to kill others, for many years.

I sure don't want to meet them when I'm on my bike!

In Oregon or Washington, his fine would be doubled for committing the violation in a road work area.

While I am happy that they are taking his repeated offences seriously and getting him off the road.
I disagree with the 8year prison term. Obviously the guy has an alcohol problem, would not counselling and some sort of drug treatment be a more effecient use of resources to deal with him?

I could see a diversion program for a first offense, but not after 5 convictions. Common wisdom in the alcohol/drug rehab community is that while alcoholism is a disease, you can't let the person off for his actions. The person has to hit bottom, really suffer some consequences from his actions and then they MAY be ready to take steps to stop drinking/drugging.

At this point in the guys drinking career, giving him a free pass would not help him get sober.

Denial is very difficult to overcome. Most jails have alcohol rehab programs. Hopefully he's made the decision to stop and can take a stab at sobriety. He's got 8 years to work on it.

Ambrose admitted he was drunk and a blood-alcohol test later confirmed he was more than four times the legal limit, police said.

Prosecutors said his blood alcohol level was .282. The legal limit to drive is .08.



4 x .08 = .32

police = MATHS FAIL


re. the rehab vs. jail thing, I'm happy for him to get all the rehab, counseling, support, etc. he needs while in jail for a long time.

No they didn't try, those AA meetings are useless bullcrap. Ever actually known someone in them? Didn't think so.
I mean Real counseling and rehab, not this ****ing rubber stamp stuff we do to try and wash our hands of social responsibility over these people.I was not aware that I shoved a bottle of booze in their hands, got them drunk and then told them it was fine for them to drive.

Real social responsibility is Don't Drink and Drive.

Buy the way, Mr. assumes he knows everyone else
"Ever actually known someone in them? Didn't think so."
you would be wrong.

I was not aware that I shoved a bottle of booze in their hands, got them drunk and then told them it was fine for them to drive.


Well you did. I Saw you do it! you don't remember because you were drunk at the time.
Jeez.

No they didn't try, those AA meetings are useless bullcrap. Ever actually known someone in them? Didn't think so.
I mean Real counseling and rehab, not this ****ing rubber stamp stuff we do to try and wash our hands of social responsibility over these people.
I have several close friend who have completed AA and/or NA the results are about 60-40 AA/NA works IF the person is ready to really change. That being said, if the person does not want to change, they will not. Was it not Albert Einstien who said insanity could be defined as doing the same thing and expecting different results? So while the programs work if the person does not want to change they won't. Quit trying. Move on before someone gets killed. Of all the mistakes I made in my misspent youth, drinking and driving was not one of them.

4 x .08 = .32

police = MATHS FAILTo be fair to the FAIL POLICE (http://failblog.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/fail-owned-police-car-door-spelling-fail.jpg), it's entirely possible that the blood test gave a result of 0.282, but that it wasn't taken for several hours after his arrest, and if you consider that his liver could remove x amount of alcohol per hour that his BAC must have been over 0.32 at the time of arrest ...

It wouldn't be the first time a reporter omitted some minor details.

Either way, sounds like he's somebody I'd rather not have driving, and I'm glad the police got him, even if they got the math wrong.

No they didn't try, those AA meetings are useless bullcrap. Ever actually known someone in them? Didn't think so.
I mean Real counseling and rehab, not this ****ing rubber stamp stuff we do to try and wash our hands of social responsibility over these people.

All "real counseling and rehab" does is push people into AA. But at the cost of thousands of dollars. AA is free, and it does work if he's willing to work it. If he doesn't want to stop drinking, nothing will work until he is. Period.

I'm a recovering alcoholic and I'm all in favor of locking him up. He doesn't get to eschew responsibility for his actions just because he has an alcohol problem, and I think you'd be hard pressed to find too many in AA who don't agree.

FYI.