After National Taiwan University Hospital doctor Tseng Yu-tzu was fatally injured in a drunk-driving accident last year, impetus was given to an amendment of the law to stipulate harsher punishment for drunk driving. Nevertheless, public prosecutors are questioning the verdicts of a Taipei District Court judge, who gave the lightest possible sentencing of two months to 37 first-time offenders among 64 drunk-driving cases tried between July last year and April this year, regardless of whether the accidents were fatal. Letting these offenders off so easily shows a total disregard for the principle aim of the amended legislation — penalizing drunk driving more heavily.
The court’s verdict shows that just after 1am on March 13 this year a man surnamed Yu was pulled over by the police on suspicions of driving a scooter while intoxicated. The breathalyzer test showed a blood alcohol concentration of 0.32mg per liter. The Taipei District Prosecutors Office charged him with offenses against public safety. The judge presiding over the case took into consideration that the man admitted guilt, and gave Yu a suspended sentence of two years on condition that he pay the Public Treasury NT$30,000.
Prosecutors felt that the sentence was too light, and after reviewing the judge’s verdicts in drunk-driving cases, it was discovered that of the 64 drunk-driving cases tried by the judge between July 1 last year and April 30 this year, 37 of them were first offenses with breathalyzer results between 0.26mg and 1.04mg per liter. The lightest possible sentence of two months was handed down in all 37 cases, and as many as 35 of those offenders were given suspended sentences.
Photo: Tsai Wen-cheng, Liberty Times
照片：自由時報記者蔡文正
The court on July 14 said that whether suspended sentencing is granted for drunk-driving first offenders is contingent on the specific conditions of the individual case. The lightest possible sentence is never given without knowing the facts of a case first, the court said, adding that it respects the prosecutor’s decision to file an appeal against the judge’s verdicts.
(Liberty Times, Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat)
台大醫師曾御慈，去年遭酒駕犯撞飛殞命，促使酒駕刑度加重修法，然而，台北地院某法官卻遭檢察官質疑，從去年七月至今年四月間，審理六十四件酒駕案，其中三十七件初犯無論有無肇事，全被判最低刑度兩個月，無異於輕縱，根本漠視酒駕修法重懲目的。
台北地院判決指出，今年三月十三日凌晨一點多，一名游姓男子酒駕騎車遭員警攔查，酒測值每公升達零點三二毫克，被台北地檢署依公共危險罪嫌起訴，法官考量游男坦承犯行，宣告緩刑兩年，條件是支付公庫三萬元。
Photo: Lin Hsin-han, Liberty Times
照片：自由時報記者林欣漢
檢方質疑刑度太輕，調閱承審法官歷次審理酒駕案判決，發現從去年七月一日至今年四月三十日止，該名法官共審理六十四件酒駕案，其中三十七人為初犯，酒測值從每公升零點二六至一點零四毫克，全數獲判最低刑度兩個月，多達三十五人宣告緩刑。
台北地院七月十四日表示，對於酒駕初犯之科刑，均依其情節決定是否宣告緩刑，並沒有不問情節一律宣告最低刑度，對於檢察官不服判決提起上訴，表示尊重。
（自由時報記者錢利忠、張文川）
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