Tweeting ends work furlough for fatal drunk driving accident.
Posted By Gold & Witham on Dec 1, 2009 3:07pm PST
According to a report in the Los Angeles Times today, "Pulp Fiction" Screenwriter Roger Avary will probably serve the rest of his sentence behind bars as a result of tweeting while subject to a work furlough program. Avery was given a one year jail sentence following a conviction for Gross Vehicular Manslaughter in Ventura. The incident involved a fatal road traffic accident in January 2008. Until last week, Avary was given the option of serving the jail sentence by work furlough which allowed him to work during the day.
However, the Times had earlier reported on tweets sent out by Avery about conditions in the program. A Ventura Sheriff's department spokesman indicated that Avery had been transferred to jail due to "security concerns", but that the tweets had played a part in the decision.
In Ventura, inmates who have a job, no prior convictions for a violent offense and are facing at least thirty days in jail, are often considered for work furlough. Inmates in the program live in military style barracks and are allowed to leave for work each day, reporting back at nights and at weekends. Los Angeles and Orange County Sheriff's departments do not run similar programs, although electronic home confinement or home arrest is still sometimes an option in these jurisdictions as an alternative to long jail sentences for DUI convictions.
At a time when penalties for DUI are increasing all the time, the original sentence given to Avery was lenient. He was given an additional break by being allowed to enter into the work furlough program. One senior deputy district attorney in Ventura commented on this to the Times and stated "The court gave him a break by sentencing him to 365 days in county jail and five years probation. Work furlough gave him an additional break. It is interesting that Mr. Avery could not do what was requred of him to stay out of trouble and stay out of county jail".