A repeat offender in Kaohsiung got a 20-year prison sentence after driving on three drugs, killing a motorcyclist, and running away — a harsh outcome that shows Taiwan's citizen-judge courts taking drug-driving seriously.

• The driver took heroin, meth, and etomidate, then drove into oncoming traffic and hit a motorcyclist in Luzhu.
• He abandoned his car and fled on foot instead of calling for help; the rider was found in a field hours later and died of his injuries.
• Police tracked him down the same night using the abandoned car and street cameras, seizing drugs and paraphernalia.
• The citizen-judge panel refused any leniency because he had drug-driven before and never settled with or apologized to the family.

Outlook: Expect prosecutors to keep pushing for long sentences in drug-driving deaths now that citizen judges have set this benchmark.