The DUI case against Mötley Crüe singer Vince Neil will be heading to trial next year.
Neil was arrested this June in Las Vegas on misdemeanor charges of speeding and DUI. Neil’s attorney entered a plea of not guilty to both charges in Las Vegas Justice Court, part of the Clark County court system. According to the arresting officer, Neil was driving a 2008 Lamborghini and moving at 60 miles per hour in a 45-mile-per-hour zone. Upon pulling Neil over, the officer observed that the singer was exhibiting slurred speech and claims to have smelled alcohol on the celebrity’s breath. Neil was asked to comply with field sobriety tests and a breathalyzer, all of which he failed. He was immediately arrested and taken to Clark County jail, where he was booked on suspicion of DUI.
The case is scheduled to go to trial as of January 6th of next year. At issue will be more than the failed breathalyzer test, however. Neil has a previous and serious driving record to contend with already. In 1985, he pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter in another DUI case. The accident in this event caused the injury of two occupants in the other vehicle, as well as the death of the drummer for Hanoi Rocks, Nicholas Dingley. In that case, Neil served a short jail sentence, completed 200 hours of community service and paid $2.5 million dollars in restitution to the injured parties.
There is a long history of celebrities having unusual treatment in DUI and vehicular accidents. However, the law is very clear that a DUI is a serious crime. When anyone is involved in an accident in which they have impaired their judgment with alcohol, an accident that kills somebody in particular, hopefully society will look very disapprovingly on further crimes from the individual in question. Whether this will prove the case here remains to be seen.
