Communities, families pay for DUIs
SCRAM bracelets are used to measure blood-alcohol levels. The bracelet is worn around the ankle and measures the levels through perspiration.
Probation officer Jeremy Crow demonstrates putting on a SCRAM device that measures blood-alcohol levels through sensors in the bracelet.
An undated photo of George R. Jucha Jr. Jucha loved nature and sought to protect animals and national parks.
George R. Jucha Jr. is seen at far right in this undated photograph.
Ronald Dudash will never forget the moment he learned his best friend was killed by an alleged drunken driver.
“George’s father called me. He never calls me,” said Dudash, a resident of northern Virginia. “I knew it was no good.”
George Raymond Jucha Jr., 50, of Moon Township, was killed June 7 in Robinson Township following a head-on crash along Route 22. The driver of the other vehicle, Daniel H. Fleet Jr., 25, of McDonald, was traveling the wrong way, allegedly intoxicated.
Jucha’s friends and family would quickly learn Fleet was arrested just a month earlier in Allegheny County in a separate DUI case. He is charged with having a blood-alcohol content higher than 0.16 percent in that May 1 case, court records show.
Dudash said his friend lost his life because Fleet “wanted one last fling.”
“He was supposed to appear before a judge the next day,” Dudash said of Fleet. “He was out having one more fling and killed somebody.”
Fleet has since been charged with homicide by motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, aggravated assault while DUI, homicide by motor vehicle, DUI and reckless endangerment in Jucha’s death. His attorney, David Shrager, said Fleet acknowledges “he has an alcohol problem and is remorseful.” Shrager said his client should be at a treatment facility and requested Fleet’s bond be reduced so he can leave jail and enter inpatient treatment.
For the past three years, Washington County Court has seen an average of 856 driving-under-the-influence cases. A small portion of those cases, 61, were second-time offenders, and an even smaller number, 42, were third-time offenders. Greene County has seen an average of 287 DUI cases, with 42 second-time offenders and 16 third-time offenders.
While Fleet was previously arrested for DUI, he had not yet been convicted, and therefore is not considered a reoffender. Tens of thousands of people are arrested for DUI in Pennsylvania every year, according to Stephen Ernie, executive director of the Pennsylvania DUI Association.
“There were 55,000 DUI arrests last year,” Ernie said. “The reality is that a drunk driver has done it a few times before being pulled over. We are arresting them at a record number, but we aren’t able to apprehend them all in time.”
Erine said there is “no foolproof way” to prevent people from reoffending because “there will always be individuals who take advantage of the system.” To further his point, Ernie provided examples of people being arrested twice in the same night, and others being arrested for several DUIs in a relatively short period of time.
Instead, Erine said the most effective way to deal with those accused of or those found guilty of driving under the influence is to provide treatment and heavy supervision. In many counties in Pennsylvania, including Allegheny and Westmoreland counties, this is being accomplished through pretrial services.
Pretrial services, according to Washington County First Assistant District Attorney Chad Schneider, is a program that assesses defendants prior to their disposition or prior to their release on bail to identify their needs and the safety of the community and address those needs and concerns. For example, the program could identify whether a defendant has a substance abuse problem and get him or her into treatment soon after an arrest, which is what Fleet’s attorney is seeking, rather than addressing the problem after the person has been found guilty.
Schneider said Washington County is discussing introducing the program, which has a host of benefits.
“It alleviates overpopulation at the jail. It identifies defendants in need of services quickly instead of waiting for the disposition of the case so they can start treatment earlier, and it protects the community,” he said.
Washington County President Judge Katherine Emery said the county hopes to implement the program in the fall. It should be fully operational at the start of 2016. Greene County does not offer pretrial services.
Schneider, who is assigned to the Fleet case, could not comment on the pending case.
Washington County District Attorney Gene Vittone said roughly a third of all cases in Washington County are DUI-related. Punishment is the same across the state and is based on a three-tier system tied to the driver’s blood-alcohol content and how many DUIs a person has within a 10-year period. The first tier is considered general impairment, with a BAC of 0.08 percent to 0.099 percent. The second tier is considered a high-rate DUI, with a BAC of 0.10 percent to 0.159 percent. The third tier is considered the highest rate of DUI, with a BAC of 0.16 percent and higher. Penalties vary depending on the facts of each case.
Currently, in Washington County, all prosecutors can do to keep a person accused of a crime off the streets is to revoke his bond.
“It’s the only real remedy for a criminal offense,” Vittone said.
Vittone said a first-time offender is generally eligible for the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program, which allows defendants to have their criminal records expunged if they successfully complete the program. A second offense can result in jail time, but more often than not, it results in house arrest and a SCRAM bracelet. The bracelet senses alcohol levels through the skin.
A crime-reporting network evaluation is completed in every DUI case prior to sentencing. Don Morris, Washington DUI coordinator at Southwestern Pennsylvania Human Services Care Center, 75 E. Maiden St., said the agency performs 900 evaluations yearly.
“Everything we do is controlled by (the state Department of Transportation),” he said. “PennDOT dictates what each person has to do.”
Morris said he “can’t make anyone do anything,” and that the Care Center’s responsibility is to “give them the best education we can.” The Care Center offers highway safety school.
In Greene County, CRN evaluations are completed by the county’s human services department, which also conducts alcohol assessments and alcohol highway safety school.
Ernie said the evaluation looks at drinking behaviors and identifies problem drinkers. A “great behavioral tool” is an interlock device, which administers a breathalyzer test before allowing a driver to start his vehicle.
In 2013, there were more than 380 alcohol-related deaths in the state. More recent figures were not available.
Alcohol-related crashes are most likely to occur in the hours between 8 p.m. and 4 a.m., according to the Pennsylvania DUI Association. Jucha died at the accident scene about 1 a.m.
Dudash said his friend was a part-time computer professor at the University of Pittsburgh, where he was consistently voted “one of the best professors in the country.”
“He was very well-liked,” Dudash said. “He could tell a great story and relate to the students. It was nonstop at the funeral home. The line was out the door.”
The pair met in 1983 at Slippery Rock University. While life sometimes got in the way, Dudash said they always remained close. He called the last few weeks “strange” and said he still expects Jucha to call.
“His loss is huge,” he said. “His death really hurt his parents. They really depended on him.”
Jucha’s mother, Antoinette, said her son helped run the family’s independent recycling company.
“I know he didn’t mean it,” Antoinette Jucha said of Fleet. “This young man didn’t do it intentionally, but I lost a son I can’t replace.”
Shrager, Fleet’s attorney, said “it is impossible to tell if someone will reoffend.”
“A first-time DUI is an extremely common occurrence,” he said. “It’s not as though there is some road map to let the courts know.”
Shrager did not believe his client had other DUI-related arrests or charges, and he hopes Fleet learns from “this tragedy.”
A bond hearing for Fleet is scheduled July 29. If a judge allows Fleet’s $100,000 bond to be reduced, he mostly likely will be free from jail.
“He needs to stay there. He needs to learn from this,” said Antoinette Jucha. “He owes the world a good man, because he took one.”