(KMOV) – The St. Clair County Prosecutor’s office is changing the way it handles Driving Under the Influence cases after an assistant prosecutor failed to follow protocol.
State’s Attorney, Bob Haida, said he is making changes after learning an assistant prosecutor was violating office policy by routinely plea bargaining DUI cases.
Suspects who failed a breath test were supposed to have their driver’s license suspended, but were allowed to plead guilty, pay a fine and keep their license.
Haida listed the latest changes in a letter to the Belleville News Democrat after the newspaper reported the plea bargaining in a story in mid-February. After reviewing hundreds of prosecutions, Haida said he is now reassigning personnel, opening up lines of communication with police and putting more experienced prosecutors on DUI cases.
Haida said the assistant prosecutor who was plea bargaining cases resigned on February 16th.
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