Originally Posted by
Upgraded!
The author makes it sound as though the DA decided to prosecute this as a violation in an effort to screw him out of a jury trial, rather than to ensure this guys doesn't end up with a misdemeanor conviction on his record (or something in the middle).
But that certainly has happened in other cases for similar reasons when it's been impossible to get a conviction due to jury nullification. A violation is similar to a traffic ticket: you don't get a jury trial there either.