Probation Revoked for DUI ‘poster child’

SILVER CITY – Anthony Sierra, 36, dubbed a “poster child for DUI” by District Court Judge J.C. Robinson because he has racked up 11 driving-under-the-influence offenses, had his probation revoked at a hearing Thursday and will spend nine months in the county detention center or a state jail facility.

The hearing, which originally had been planned for April, was bumped up because a postponed trial freed up the court schedule. It was a culmination of Sierra’s latest run-in with the law on Feb. 11. In that incident he was pulled over for allegedly speeding, which in itself was a violation of his probation, but he also reportedly told the officer who pulled him over that he had consumed a 40-ounce bottle of Hurricane beer earlier that day. Documents show that Sierra was given a field sobriety test, which he passed. But consuming any alcohol would be a violation of his probation.

“You were lucky enough to pass the field sobriety test or that would have been 12 offenses,” Robinson told Sierra at Thursday’s hearing.

Where Sierra would be serving his nine-month sentence would be at the discretion of the state Department of Corrections and the county detention center. Sierra will be eligible for “good time” credit, which allows inmates to be released early in exchange for good behavior.

When Robinson learned that Sierra had two children, ages 12 and 13, he asked Sierra, “Imagine if you got a call and you learned that your kids had been killed by a drunk driver.”

“That would be horrible,” Sierra said, adding that his children are now living with his parents. “They are in a good environment.”

Sierra told the judge that he had started drinking when he was 14.

After he graduated from high school, “I started taking the wrong path,” he said.

“The consequences are too much,” Sierra said. “I need to stop now. I make no excuses for my behavior.”

Sierra said that recently he had been attending classes and was doing well until his recent run-in with the law.

“I slipped back,” he said.

Robinson told Sierra that for “18 years you haven’t been responsible for yourself, your children, you’ve been disrespectful to your parents. You make the decisions – only you can change your life,” the judge said.

Sierra said he wants to return to school after he gets out of jail and study chemical dependency. While he said he knew the subject matter was ironic, Robinson told him, “You have a lot of experience with that. You should get a Ph.D. just for signing up.”

“I’ve heard all the stories,” Robinson said of those who have gotten into trouble because of alcohol and drug use. “I’ve heard all of the wailing and the gnashing of teeth, all about how they say they are going to change. But how many actually change? Why don’t you become a member of that group of the very few who actually do.”

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Salinas police nab drivers, stolen car in St. Patrick’s Day DUI checkpoint

A St. Patrick’s Day DUI checkpoint was conducted Wednesday night along South Main Street in Salinas.

During the checkpoint 1,234 vehicles passed through and approximately 700 vehicles were contacted by officers, according to the Salinas Police Department.

There were nine unlicensed drivers citations and two suspended license citations, police said.

There were also three warrant arrests, one drug arrest, one D.U.I. arrest and one possession of a stolen vehicle arrest, police said.

The stolen vehicle arrest occurred when Ruben Malabox, 51, a parolee, drove through the checkpoint and when contacted, had no driver’s license, police said.

A records check showed the vehicle had been stolen out of San Francisco, police said.

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Missing Silverdale Woman Had a DUI and Protection Order in Her Past

Authorities say a shoe that washed up on a Puget Sound beach over the weekend probably belonged to the Silverdale woman who appears to have abandoned a van on the beach and disappeared with her 8-year-old son.

Lt. Chris Mealy of the Thurston County Sheriff’s office says other items that washed up on the beach also appear to be connected with 29-year-old Shantina “Kat” Smiley of Silverdale and her son Azriel Carver disappeared.

Mealy says the positive identification of the items does not change the direction of their investigation. Thurston County has a boat in the water scouring the shoreline for clues. Investigators also are examining Smiley’s bank records and court and public records and talking to people.

Shantina “Kat” Smiley, 29, had a brush with the law in 2005, when she was charged with hit-and-run and DUI in Cowlitz County.

Around the same time, she took out a protection order against a Cowlitz County man with whom she had a “very abusive relationship,” law enforcement said.

But despite the incidents in her past, her life in Kitsap County — where she moved to be with a man she met on MySpace —had much positive momentum, family members and acquaintances said. She had established a career and a family of which she was proud.

“Everything seemed normal,” said Chelsie Woodard, a stepsister to Smiley who lives in Castle Rock.

New clues emerged on Wednesday in the weekend disappearance of Smiley and her 8 year-old-son, Azriel Carver.

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Md. judge faces trial on drunk driving charges

A Washington County Circuit Court judge is scheduled for trial in Hagerstown on drunken driving charges.

Sixty-eight-year-old William Kennedy Boone III was due in district court Wednesday morning for allegedly driving under the influence when his sport-utilty vehicle sideswiped a car on a city street, causing minor injuries to the driver.

Hagerstown police say Boone blew a blood-alcohol level of 0.18 percent, more than twice the legal limit of 0.08 percent. He has expressed remorse for his actions.

Boone was appointed to a 15-year term in 1997 after stints as an assistant Maryland attorney general, assistant state’s attorney and nearly 25 years in private practice.

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Nevada DMV seizes licenses from 3 DUI drivers, extends revocation for 5 others

The Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles on Tuesday revoked the licenses of three people convicted of killing or injuring someone while driving drunk after a Reno Gazette-Journal investigation found that they had been allowed to drive too soon.

The DMV also extended the amount of time that five other drunken driving offenders will be without driver’s licenses so that their revocation period complies with the law, DMV spokesman Tom Jacobs said.

Cecelia Pearson, who was 14 when Merri Noel Aldis drove drunk and smashed into a car carrying Pearson and two friends, praised the agency’s decision to take licenses from Aldis, Marissa Herold and Scott Sherman.

Pearson, now 18 and in college in Ohio, suffered a fractured pelvis, collapsed lung and broken wrist in the Sept. 4, 2005, crash on Double R Boulevard. She said she continued to have flashbacks and was afraid to be on the road long after the accident.

“It’s like with anything, like with children, when you give them a punishment, unless you follow it all the way through, it won’t be a lesson learned,” she said. “Maybe this time, it will help her understand the seriousness of it.”

Messages left for Aldis, 47, were not immediately returned.

The Gazette-Journal investigation found that at least nine of the 113 people convicted of DUI causing death or substantial bodily harm since 2000 had a license despite a 1997 law prohibiting them from driving for three years after being released from prison.

Some were revoked for only 90 days and others for one year.

The DMV blamed some of the mix-ups on the courts, saying that they had not received notice of the convictions. In other cases, the DMV said the Department of Corrections and the Division of Parole and Probation had not updated the offender’s status.

Following the Gazette-Journal story on Jan. 17, the DMV sought advice from the Nevada attorney general on whether to revoke licenses in the cases where mistakes were made, Jacobs said.

The agency was told to take the licenses, he said.

The DMV had taken similar action in 2005, when Stop DUI, a victim’s advocacy group in Las Vegas, found that a drunken driving offender there had been issued a license only four days after being released from prison.

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Darby takes lead with $500 penalty for refusing DUI breath test in MT

After Darby adopted a measure to penalize people for refusing to submit to alcohol or drug testing, Win Smith had a question.

What does it say about the state of DUI laws in Montana that tiny Darby has to take the lead?

“Why is it the Legislature can’t figure out how to pass that law?” asked Smith, a Ravalli County resident and Rotary Club member.

Darby’s ordinance, adopted this winter, demands a $500 penalty of anyone convicted of drunken driving who refuses at the time of apprehension to take a breath alcohol test. The penalty is applied on top of any other DUI-related fines or penalties.

The measure was enacted in response to the growing number of drunken drivers – especially repeat drunken drivers – who refuse to submit to on-the-scene breath tests in the hope that, lacking test results, they’ll be less likely to wind up with a DUI conviction.

The number of refusals to take the tests has gone up by 25 percent in the past four years, say local court officials.

***

The Montana House of Representatives Law and Justice Interim Committee this year looked at a bill similar to the measure Darby adopted. A draft of the bill failed to make it out of the committee.

However, the committee approved 11 other bills for wider debate. Those include one to prevent youths convicted of alcohol or drug crimes from getting driver’s licenses until they’re 18, and one that would allow game wardens to issue citations to youths under 21 for illegal possession of drugs or alcohol.

Win and other county officials spoke about the DUI laws at a county DUI Task Force meeting.

Ravalli County Attorney George Corn said that while there are concerns about a law like Darby’s surviving a challenge, he thinks it’s legal.

“I’m researching it right now,” he said, “and I think it would pass constitutional muster in Montana.”

Rep. Ron Stoker, R-Darby, said passing a law at the state level isn’t something that happens overnight, but that legislators are conscious of the debate.

“Darby’s law will be challenged,” he said, “and the Legislature will be watching.”

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Green Bay Packer Spencer Havner arrested for DUI in Nevada County

Green Bay Packer Spencer Havner’s fall in a motorcycle accident has resulted in more than just physical injuries.

The former Nevada Union High School football star is also facing DUI charges after the California Highway Patrol was called to the hospital where he was being treated after a crash Saturday.

Officer Heather Blancarte of the Grass Valley Highway Patrol reported that an officer met with Havner at Nevada City’s Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital after learning he had been brought in after a motorcycle collision Saturday.

Havner, best-known this past season for a game-tying touchdown catch in a losing playoff game against the Arizona Cardinals, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol. He was subsequently released from custody to the care of the hospital.

The Highway Patrol reported that Havner made an unsafe turning movement and lost control of his Kawasaki motorcycle on Woods Ravine Road, south of Indian Trail Road. The accident occurred at 2:45 a.m. Saturday, Blancarte said.

Havner was ejected from the motorcycle and suffered major injuries as a result of the collision, the report said. Havner, 27, wasn’t wearing a helmet at the time of the crash, Blancarte added. Born in Grass Valley and now living in Nevada City, Havner played tight end and linebacker for the Packers. Havner was a four-year starter at UCLA.

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Florida State Attorney’s Son Booked for DUI

Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney Bernie McCabe’s son was booked into a Hillsborough County Jail early Sunday morning on one (1) count of Driving Under the Influence (DUI) with Property Damage, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office as well as an online story by the St. Pete Times.

The suspect, 24, of Largo, ran a stop sign at Miley and Stanley roads, then went off the road and hit a fence at approximately 5:00 a.m. this morning, according to authorities. The crash caused about $1,000 in damage to the fence as well as $1,000 in damage to the Ford Taurus that he was driving.

Hillsborough County Deputies said McCabe was “unsteady on his feet,” “smelled of alcohol,”had “red, watery eyes” and “showed signs of impairment” when performing field sobriety tests (pretty much the standard cut-and-paste that we’d expect in any DUI report).   McCabe’s blood alcohol level was .168 percent, more than two (2) times the legal limit at which Florida law presumes a driver to be “impaired.”

McCabe, who works at Big Lots (probably the most interesting part of the entire story), was booked into the Hillsborough County Jail and released Sunday afternoon after posting the standard $500 DUI bail.

State Attorney Bernie McCabe, who has held that elected position since 1992, could not be reached for comment Sunday.

If you have been charged with drunk driving in Hillsborough County look no further than Tampa DUI attorney John Musca.

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Nebraska Changing DUI Law to Suit Feds

A drunk driving conviction today carries with it a suspension of driving privileges for a period of time.  However, in many states the person convicted of DUI is permitted to drive his vehicle to designated places if he installs an ignition interlock device (IID) in his car.  This exception is commonly designed to permit the person to go to work, school, alcohol programs and/or appointments with probation officers.

Nebraska is one of those states that recognizes the wisdom of this approach.  The punishment for DUI is harsh, but it shouldn’t ruin a person’s life by causing him to lose his job, drop out of school, or be unable to meet his court-ordered obligations to attend alcohol education programs or probation officer appointments.

The Nebraska DMV also felt that permitting citizens to drive to probation appointments was a logical part of the rehabilitative process.

Federal bureaucrats disagree.

According to a March 13 article in the Lincoln Journal-Star, the federal government has decided that the State of Nebraska should not permit its citizens to report to probation officers by using an IID.  And to emphasize their position, they have threatened the state with the loss of $7.15 million in federal funds if they don’t change this law.

Nebraska needs the money.  And so a bill (LB924) is now before the Nebraska Senate and has been given first-round approval.  The bill would remove visiting probation officers as a permissible destination for those required to have IIDs in their cars.  The bill is expected to become law on July 15th.

“This truly shows the disconnect with the feds,” said Sen. Deb Fischer, chairwoman of the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee. “Some bureaucrat has decided people don’t need to drive to probation appointments.”

About the author:  Lawrence Taylor is a San Diego DUI attorney and the author of the standard textbook in the field, Drunk Driving Defense, 6th edition.

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Plea Bargaining Forces Change in St. Clair County DUI Cases

The St. Clair County Prosecutor’s office is changing the way it handles Driving Under the Influence cases after an assistant prosecutor failed to follow protocol.

State’s Attorney, Bob Haida, said he is making changes after learning an assistant prosecutor was violating office policy by routinely plea bargaining DUI cases.

Suspects who failed a breath test were supposed to have their driver’s license suspended, but were allowed to plead guilty, pay a fine and keep their license.

Haida listed the latest changes in a letter to the Belleville News Democrat after the newspaper reported the plea bargaining in a story in mid-February. After reviewing hundreds of prosecutions, Haida said he is now reassigning personnel, opening up lines of communication with police and putting more experienced prosecutors on DUI cases.

Haida said the assistant prosecutor who was plea bargaining cases resigned on February 16th.

Uh Oh! Looks like the party is over for all you DUI suspects, but the truth be told many times a plea bargain is a bad idea. I think many people would be astounded at the results a knowledgeable DUI lawyer can achieve.

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