On Monday, the Madera County District Attorney's Office announced it had received a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety to prosecute DUI cases.
The money will be used to hire a special prosecutor dedicated to going after more serious alcohol and drug impaired drivers. In the past several years the DA's office has seen an increase in the number of impaired driving cases. Felony alcohol or drug intoxicated driving cases jumped from 23 in 2008 to 70 in 2011.
Michael Keitz said, "A lot of the drug DUI's are marijuana related and people think they can go out and smoke a joint and take a couple hits and they're not going to be impaired and that's not the case."
The DA says he hopes the program brings more justice to families of victim's killed in DUI related cases.
In the video, Action News reporter Carlos Saucedo has complete coverage on the story.
