South Carolina Criminal Attorney Blog

The 57 year old mayor of Brownsville, Pat Ahumada was arrested yesterday in the early morning hours for Driving Under the Influence after the police saw driving a car erratically.

The mayor was released on a $3,500 Personal Recognizance bond. When offered, her refused the breath test.

When asked about the arrest by the newspaper, he said that he has regrets, but didn't admit to anything.

This is not his first time down this road. He was arrested in 1987 for a Driving Under the Influence charge in which he ended up pleading guilty on and received six months probation. Nor is it his first time as a defendant. Stemming from a city check ending up in his personal checking account, he went to trial just this past March and was acquitted. He was also tried on other accounts related to the account, in which he was also found not-guilty.

A man in San Rafael who has eight prior DUI convictions was convicted of second - degree murder last Thursday for kiilling a child in who was in a crosswalk while riding his motorcycle drunk. It took the jury less than four hours to reach a verdict. No doubt his prior DUI arrest and conviction history played an important role in the verdict.
Despite years of fines, over fourteen total years on probation, many revoked licenses, various treatment programs and numerous trips to jail, none of those experiences was enough to prevent him from racing through a stop sign that night when he took the life of a child who was walking across the road.

Here in Myrtle Beach and the rest of Horry County, not to mention the entire State of South Carolina, have more than our share of Felony DUI cases. Its not quite murder, but its pretty bad. A felony driving under the influence is when someone satisfies all of the standard elements of a DUI case, but also causes either substantial bodily injury or death. The sentence for substantial bodily injury is up to 15 years and up to 25 for causing a death.