Call it lack of maturity or a flawed character, but this man has no place on a Championship team.  This may be Victor Zambrano's window of opportunity.  It's not always one gets a second chance in life. As we become older, we tend to get smarter. Doc, Josh, AJ and Victor and Tomo all know what it's like to triumph over adversity. Gus is about to be tested.

If he is convicted of this offence he will become criminally inadmissable to Canada according to the Immigration and Refugee protection Act.

Yeah as an Immigration officer I refuse on average 3 people a day for having a DUI conviction within the past 10 years. This at a rather small port. Does the general public have any idea how many people out there have been convicted of driving under the influence, I think not.  Gus's actions don't affect my view of him as a baseball player, I'm still going to love his ugly bald head and goggles, it just reinforces how special the class act athlete's are....Frank Thomas, Chris Bosh, Vernon Well, Roy Halladay....come to mind. Gus is now in the majority group of athletes, a group that includes those who drink irresponsibly , cheat on their wives and use drugs.  

This wasn't a "youth" who made an innocent mistake, this was an adult man who made the choice to risk the lives of others.  The intoxilizer doesn't lie, and I have no doubt that Chacin will be found guilty of impaired driving and/or "over 80".  Until you view first hand the awful carnage of a fatal motor vehicle collision and have to notify the family members of one of the deceased parties, I don't think you can truely appreciate how horrible the consequences of impaired driving can be.  Unless of course you have lost a loved one as a result of drunk driving. 

Chacin has no excuse. 

no doubts he will be found guilty

Very little exposure to the whole legal process ....I'm assuming.   Cause far more than the breathlyzer goes into the final verdict. I'd bet about 50% of people who are charge with a DUI agree to a plea bargain and plead guilty to a reckless driving charge. Bottom line is you can't assume someone is actually guilty or  not guilty by the decision a judge makes.

How about we let him who is without sin cast the first stone.  As far as I am concerned the Athlete's commiting adultry are far more dispicable, as they ruin families pretty much at a 100% rate, where as a drunk driver ruins lives at a much less percentage

    If it's definitely true that Chacin would be barred from entering Canada if he is convicted of DUI, then he'll obviously have to be traded or dumped.   The Jays clearly couldn't have a player on the roster if he is ineligible for all of their home games.   What are the precedents for this?   Are there any Blue Jay or Expo players in the past who were convicted of DUI, and what happened to them?  What about other major-league teams: do they suspend or demote players after DUI incidents?  I'd assume that the Jays will folllow precedents in this case.  Chacin is not a superstar and won't be exempted from precedent. 

     Legal experts out there?  Is it true that a DUI conviction will always prevent a person from entering Canada?   And experts on the history of the Jays and Expos:  are there any precedents?

Jose Canseco had the same issue in terms of getting into Canada due to previous arrests (domestic violence and bar fights I believe).  I don't know the details as to how, but the Jays were able to get special permission so that he could play for the team in 1998.

Anyone remember the details as to why Canseco got the exception? 

    Okay, some quick research has produced this nugget of information from the 1990s in connection with Canseco and his various criminal charges:  Canadian law requires anyone convicted of an offense that could lead to a 10-year prison sentence if committed in Canada be granted special permission to be in the country.   (Plea bargains, by the way, don't count.  Only convictions.)

     Canseco was able to cross the border into Canada without problems, despite a plea bargain on a gun-possession charge.  

      I fail to see how Chacin would be barred from entering Canada, even if he is convicted of DUI, unless he is facing a 10-year prison sentence.

     And even then, even if Chacin is barred from Canada because of a DUI conviction, the Jays can still apply for a "ministerial permit" to allow him to enter Canada.  Each of those permits is good for four months.

     So I think  in the Chacin case, we're probably looking at moral issues and public-relations issues, rather than legal issues. 

    In 1998, the federal government gave "ministerial permits" to Canseco and to Gary Trent of the Toronto Raptors, to allow them to play in Toronto.    This was in connection with Canseco's spousal assault charge (he had pleaded no contest to misdemeanor battery for hitting his wife during an argument) and Trent 's probation violation (he was jailed for five days for violating probation for getting into a fight). 

    There was some political criticism of the Immigration Minister for giving those special permits to Canseco and Trent, but I'm not sure whether there have been any legal changes since then, or whether the government has continued to give special permits to athletes who break the law.

  Ponson was given a three-day work permit to visit Toronto in 2005 when he was with the Orioles.  At that point, he was facing a drunk-driving charge in Florida, and he also allegedly punched a judge in Aruba.    (After entering Canada, he threw a five-hitter to beat Halladay and the Jays 7-1.)

jdog,

"Very little exposure to the whole legal process.....I'm assuming"

Actually I work in law enforcement and have experience in the justice system, though I assume not nearly as much as the lawyers on this site.  I can tell you that in Canada "impaired driving" and "over 80" are two separate offenses.  Often times the grounds to arrest for impaired do not exist, yet the odour of an alcoholic beverage on the breath and the subject's admission to having consumed alcohol provide the authority to administer a roadside screening device.  If a "F" (fail) is registered, the subject is taken to the police station to provide two samples of his/her breath into the intoxilizer (a new instrument which replaced the breathalizers), to measure the concentration of alcohol in the blood indirectly through a sample of deep lung air.

I can say from personal experience that it is much more difficult to convict someone for impaired driving, since it's subjective and based on what you perceived of your own senses.  However, the charge of "over 80" almost always sticks.  The intoxilizers are regularly calibrated and tested and other than on a technicality, it is hard to defend against.  You're right though, often times to avoid a trial the accused will plead down to a lesser included offense, or will plead guilty to "over 80" in exchange for the Crown dropping the "impaired driving" charge.

Having said all of that, I'll admit that I know next to nothing about the American justice system.  What I was saying was that the intoxilizer is a proven tool and from my experience if the instrument indicated that Chacin had a blood/alcholol concentration of 0.15, I'm confident that he did.  The odds of the roadside screening device test and two separate intoxilizer tests all registering in error are extremely slim.

Anyway, luckily nobody was hurt and hopefully Chacin will learn from his mistake.

As the posts here show DUI discussions bring out strong emotions.  

Fortunately, Gus didn't kill or maim anyone. Fortunately, he got caught. Hopefully, he's learned his lesson. 

He's very lucky he got off so cheap, so are the people he could have killed, so are the people that would have had to carry off the pieces and so are ALL the families on all sides who would have lived the rest of their lives suffering the loss of loved ones. 

A bit of advice Gus... never again, never again.

Timinder,

I am also in law enforcement and indirectly involved with the american system. To sum it up quickly lets just call it a crapshoot, each state has its own legislation and way of doing things. My only beef with your comment was the fact you were so doubt free, from what I have seen and dealt with nothing would guarentee a conviction. A lot of states will defer adjudication for a first time offender, where the offender completes a probationiary term without further trouble and then the case is reheard and a finding of not guilty is entered. There is a number of different dispositions a judge can lay down which are unheard of in canadian law. The fact his BAC tested so high leaves me with little doubt he was guilty of the offence , but as to whether he will be convicted, my grandmother's guess is as good as mine.  

Jdog,

You're right, what I should have said was that I had no doubt that he was guilty of the offense, not that he would be found guilty of the offense or convicted.  Mylegacy was also correct in that it's an emotionally charged subject for many people and so I'm going to let it go and get back to baseball.  Two weeks to go! 

Chacin will have to pay a couple thousand and he'll be clear for take off at Rogers Centre.

And a DUI in the States hasn't hurt the longterm fortunes of Premier Campbell of British Columbia.

I'm hoping Chacin can ultimately turn this into a positive, perhaps by admitting his mistake and speaking out against drunk driving.  Hopefully he might be able to use his status as a ballplayer to reach out to younger ball fans, whether it's in Canada or from his homeland.

I just knew these are the types of comments I'd see here on this topic.. so very typical...

Gus is a human being, human beings make errors in judgement, unlike many of you I guess.
In the real world, people drink and drive, it's not right but it happens millions of times everyday, if you havn't drove after drinking then you either don't drink (nothin wrong with that) or are a saint (congratulations).

I just knew this board would be all over Gus.

Don't make a mountain out of a mole hill.