The Iowa County Attorneys Association will push the 2001 Iowa Legislature to lower the legal blood alcohol limit for drunk driving to .08. Black Hawk County Attorney Tom Ferguson is the organization’s out-going president. He says he’s had situations where people were involved in deadly accidents with a blood alcohol level of .08.Ferguson says the Association will also push for more space for the State Medical Examiner and Crime Lab. He says the current site is so cramped that there’s a backlog of cases, and it takes longer than it should to get results back to lawyers.Sentencing reform is also on the organization’s wish list. Ferguson says the current “mandatory minimum” sentences are clogging the prison system in a way the legislature may not have intended.Ferguson says if there were more community-based correction facilities around the state, the judge could use alternative sentencing for less violent criminals. Ferguson says these priorities go along with the recommendations released in October on how to reduce child abuse cases in Iowa.
