I applaud the Judge for her decision. I find it funny that Mr. VanDyke's father was upset at his conviction saying that he never had a chance.

However, with 7 convictions for DUI I would say that he has had multiple chances. It's too bad that he has to be in jail now but those are choices he made.

And if I read the article right, his driving while impaired caused someone their life. Mr. VanDyke is a prime candidate for a DUI registry. I certainly would like to know who he is for my family's safety.

He'll be "popular" in Prison...........

And he'll probably LOSE those new teeth there, so......

I was on the jury. No one on the jury knew about the prior convictions. We suspected that he might have been in this situation before because he knew to "plead the fifth" when asked to take the sobriety tests. We didn't know you COULD refuse a sobriety test. But that was irrelevant. We felt that there was enough evidence from the officers, and other witnesses that he had consumed enough alcohol to be a public safety hazard. We also felt that since he was the only person that knew how much alcohol he drank that day, that he was the best judge of whether he was too drunk to drive and he passed his own judgment by refusing the sobriety tests.

When I found out about his record after the trial I was infuriated that the jury was not allowed to know this information because we very easily could have passed the wrong verdict. At the beginning of deliberations, I think the majority thought was that the case was not strong enough, but after careful consideration of all evidence and two hours of discussion the consensus changed to guilty.

My husband drank a lot & I can tell you they can't help themselves. If he has had 7 DUI's and taken a persons life he shouldn't be on the streets at all, ever!