Controversial DUI Law Upheld by Utah Supreme Court

The Utah Supreme Court has reversed a ruling by the Utah Court of Appeals, which last year found that a law making it a second-degree felony to cause death or serious injury while driving with a measurable amount of drugs in one’s system was unconstitutional.

The January 2016 ruling by the Court of Appeals faulted the state’s measurable amount law — which does not require proof of impairment — because the punishment is harsher than for the third-degree felony crimes of DUI with serious injury, and automobile homicide, where drivers are deemed to be incapacitated.

“ ... there does not appear to be any rational basis for punishing individuals who have ‘any measurable amount’ of controlled substance in their bodies more harshly than individuals who have an incapacitating amount of the substance in their bodies,” according to the appeals court decision.“