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State Senator Chuck Graham (D-Columbia), who was arrested for drunk driving, can drive from his home in Columbia to the Capitol now. A judge in Columbia has reinstated Graham’s driving privileges.
Graham was picked up for drunk driving in October and refused to take a breathalyzer test. Suspension of the driver’s license is automatic in such cases. Graham’s lawyer says the suspension has been "set aside."
Governor Matt Blunt (R-MO) has announced a plan designed to better protect Missourians from drunk drivers. He’s asking the General Assembly to approve legislation that would require a repeat offender to modify his or her vehicle to add an ignition interlock device before driving privileges could be restored.
Under current law, courts are required to mandate ignition interlock devices, which disable the vehicles of those who are drunk or drinking, on the second or subsequent offense. But Blunt says poor compliance in the judicial system has led to more than 80 percent of repeat drunk driving offenders getting back behind the wheel without any preconditions.
The Governor’s proposal would strengthen existing law by making ignition lock devices a necessary requirement before the Department of Revenue could issue a repeat drunk driving offender a new license.
A central Missouri prosecutor says he doubts he will seek life imprisonment for a man convicted of being a persistent offender, but he says he could.
Henry County Prosecutor Richard Shields says a jury convicted 44-year-old Joseph Townsend of Deepwater of a Class B driving while intoxicated. Since Townsend has been found to be a prior and persistent felon, state law allows the charge to be bumped up to a Class A felony, which carries a prison sentence ranging from 10 years to life.
Shields says the legislature has moved to make repeat drunk drivers subject to harsh prison time. He says that under the prior statute a person with two or more drunk driving convictions could only be charged with a Class D felony, which carries a maximum prison sentence of four years. Shields says there are a few multiple offenders driving Missouri streets, some with as many as 20 DWI convictions. He says some of worst offenders have lost their driver’s licenses, but still continue to drive.
Shields says it’s important for the public to understand that the legislature has gotten serious about cracking down on drunk drivers and prosecutors will follow through. He says he hasn’t decided on a sentence recommendation in the Townsend case, though he likely will opt for a sentence closer to ten years than life in prison.
A drunk driver who caused a head-on crash on Interstate 70 in Columbia has been sentenced to three years in prison.
An apology to a woman who was severely injured in the other car has fallen on deaf ears. Ben Miller had had six beers before he started driving that night. The woman in the other car says she has had five surgeries on one of her legs because of the crash and is still on crutches more than a year after the incident. She says Miller never tried to conntact her or apologize to her until he got into the courtroom for sentencing.
A new law will go into effect this year that closes a loophole a state lawmaker exploited to avoid a drunken driving conviction.
A law approved in 1982 required the use of a non-alcoholic antiseptic swab before blood could be drawn to determine a suspect’s blood alcohol content. Prosecutors dismissed a drunk driving charge against Representative Charles Portwood (R-Ballwin) in 2006, because a hospital nurse used the wrong kind of swab during the blood test after an accident in Manchester in 2004. Portwood’s blood test indicated his blood alcohol content was more than twice the legal limit, but Portwood argued that the alcohol on the swab distorted the results. Portwood settled his case by pleading guilty to a charge of leaving the scene of an accident, a misdemeanor.
Governor Blunt has signed the bill into law saying numerous studies have shown that alcohol wipes have no impact on blood samples. The State Highway Patrol and the Missouri Prosecuting Attorneys Association pushed for the change.
