Woods may qualify for DUI leniency
Golfer could be eligible for first-time offenders’ program that requires community service, classes.
Tiger Woods could resolve his DUI trouble through a local program for first-time offenders that would allow him to escape permanent criminal charges by instead taking classes, community service and probation.
The Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office will today mark the four-year anniversary of the launch of a first-time DUI offender diversion program, one of the first programs of its kind in the state. Although details continue to emerge from Woods’ early Monday DUI arrest, local attorneys who have ushered dozens of clients through the program believe Woods’ case meets the requirements.
“Chances are that he’ll be eligible,” defense attorney Brian Gabriel, who has had several cli- ents participate in the program, said Tuesday. “From what we know so far, his case isn’t unlike others who have finished it.”
Under the terms of the program, offenders agree to serve 12 months on probation and complete a number of other tasks. In exchange, prosecutors drop the DUI charge, allow offenders to plead to a misdemeanor reckless driving charge and ask a judge to withhold a finding of guilt, which allows offenders to later have the records of the incident sealed.
Participants in the program must have no prior felony prison record and no current felony or drug charges against them. They also must not have had any children or animals in the car with them at the time of their arrest, and they must have a valid driver license.
The program is available only to offenders who have had no prior DUI cases. Woods had a highly publicized 2009 incident in which he crashed into a tree while on Ambien after a confrontation with his then-wife, Elin, but he only received a citation for careless driving and never faced any criminal charges.
According to arrest reports from Monday, Jupiter police found Woods, 41, asleep at the wheel of a 2015 black Mercedes-Benz stopped in the right lane of Military Trail, south of Indian Creek