Witches were once universally feared and therefore despised. Witches were prosecuted and punished with maniacal zeal by earnest, well-meaning people who believed in good faith that they were acting in the best interests of society. Of course, those poor, wretched, doomed and condemned souls were not witches at all! But, the fact that one was not really a witch was very little solace once the wicked finger of accusation was pointed.

When it came to "getting" a witch, legislative, law enforcement and prosecutorial forces took on a heightened sense of righteousness, their fervor rising with religious zeal. When pursuing witches, the prejudice ran deep, and was widely held. People hated witches.

Laws governing the detection of witches, and their arrest, trial, prosecution and punishment, were all based on a universal premise: the accused must be guilty! In the name of this great mission of right, it was acceptable to do what would otherwise have been great wrong. It was permissible to short-cut due process, to limit the witch's presentation of evidence, to restrict examination of the accuser's evidence, straight-jacket discretion, and to make exception to otherwise revered, inviolable constitutional and procedural protections. After all: they were pursuing witches!

Make no mistake. If you are charged with DUI, you are the subject of today's witch hunt. Just like those accused of being witches, you are in serious legal trouble whether you are guilty or not!