In this blog, we often note that Mississippi’s DUI laws can be harsh, and can lead to severe penalties. The harshest laws and most severe penalties are for those found responsible for a drunk driving accident that led to the death of another person.
In February, a woman was sentenced to 23 years in prison after she pleaded guilty to a charge of aggravated DUI involving a Madison County crash that caused the death of a schoolteacher. According to news reports, the woman was driving the wrong way on I-55 when she struck another vehicle head-on. The schoolteacher, who was driving the other car, was pronounced dead at the scene.
What is aggravated DUI?
Generally, the term “homicide” applies to any situation in which one person causes the death of another, but some homicides are considered more serious than others.
Mississippi law provides multiple ways to charge a person accused of homicide. These include manslaughter, which covers many types of unintentional homicide. Typically, to convict a defendant of manslaughter, prosecutors had to show the defendant had “culpable negligence,” meaning that they had to prove that the person acted negligently. At one time, this was how prosecutors charged people who were believed responsible for a drunk driving accident that caused the death of another person. In some cases, prosecutors were able to win a manslaughter conviction by showing that a defendant acted negligently when they got behind the wheel while intoxicated. However, this kind of evidence wasn’t always enough to prove negligence.
In 1983, state lawmakers passed a new law providing for a charge called aggravated DUI, which could cover situations in which a drunk driver caused death or serious injury to another person. Under this law, prosecutors do not have to prove negligence. This makes it easier for prosecutors to win a conviction with an aggravated DUI charge, as opposed to a manslaughter charge. For this reason, prosecutors are more likely to choose to charge a defendant with aggravated DUI rather than manslaughter.
Moreover, penalties for aggravated DUI have increased over the years. In 1983, aggravated DUI was considered a lesser charge than manslaughter, and those convicted would face up to five years in prison. Today, that maximum sentence is now the minimum. A person convicted of killing another in aggravated DUI now faces a mandatory minimum of five years in prison.
By contrast, there is no mandatory minimum sentence for manslaughter. This means aggravated DUI can, arguably, be a more serious charge than manslaughter.