By Michael
An Ohio man was convicted of his twenty-first DUI recently, and with a dramatic statement a judge sentenced him to ten years in prison, representing the maximum term possible in the case.
Forty-five-year old Kevin J. Ante did not comment as the Butler County judge handed him the sentence in Common Pleas Court. According to authorities, they initially knew of 17 of Ante’s DUI offenses. Recently, however, they uncovered four more DUI convictions on his extensive record.
Even Ante’s lawyer, David S. Washington Jr., was surprised at this development. Whatever the final count, Washington agreed, it was far too many DUI convictions.
Ante was only recently released from prison on the same charges of drunk driving. He served a four year sentence, and was picked up for his latest DUI only 90 days after his release.
According to police, Ante even attempted to evade arrest when he was stopped on December 3, 2009. He got about a quarter mile away before they were able to pull him over. Police quickly smelled alcohol and realized that Ante was confused or unresponsive, according to WKRC in Cincinnati, and he was arrested for DUI.
The judge in this latest case, Judge Michael Sage, said that he had never seen such a case in 20 years as a judge and 30 years as a lawyer. Judge Sage made reference to the 2005 DUI that landed Ante the four year sentence.
“You served every day of that,” Sage said as he made his ruling. “I struggle with cases like this,” he continued, “because, in my mind, alcoholism is a disease.” Sage noted, however, that Ante did not use his previous time in prison to address his problems with alcohol.
In making his decision to enforce the maximum sentence, Sage said that he was protecting the public. “You are a ticking time bomb waiting to kill somebody,” he told Ante.
Ante’s 21 drunk driving convictions stem all the way back to his first one in 1982.
By Editor
Ohio judges violate DUI law
Under a 2004 Ohio law, drivers with multiple DUI convictions who still need to drive under provisional driver’s licenses are required to have special DUI license plates assigned to their vehicles.
The DUI law mandates that judges order the DUI license plates.
Approximately 33,000 drivers in Ohio have five or more DUI convictions, only 8,500 vehicles in the entire state had been issued the special DUI license plates as of the end of last year.
By Editor
ACLU Says Challenges to Ohio’s No Refusal Law Likely
Under the new Ohio DUI law, drivers who have had two or more DUI convictions can be forced by authorities to submit to a blood or urine test to determine their blood alcohol content.
Previously, the law had required that authorities obtain a search warrant from a judge to test a DUI suspect’s blood or urine in situations where no consent was given.
Civil liberties advocates are speaking out about the new DUI law in Ohio, saying that they believe it is unconstitutional.
Find out more about the debate on this new law.
Utah’s Fruitless New Liquor Law
Utah lawmakers have been at it again. The state already has some of the strangest and strictest liquor sales laws in the country, but apparently legislators still felt that there was some tinkering to be done.
Now Utah has become the first state to ban some fruity alcoholic drink sales.
Read the full article.
Party Bus Driver Playing Police or Parent?
And with this time of the year comes pumpkin carving, sweaters and Homecoming – a quasi-holiday for schools that runs from September to November.
Students can’t wait for festivities, which usually mean an early dismissal for a pep rally, parade, football game and dance.
Maybe you or some of your friends drank after the dance – or maybe even before the dance. You were all underage and alcohol is prohibited on school property, but that was a part of the Homecoming ritual – no big deal.
Except for some teenagers in Highland Park, IL, underage drinking became a big deal.
Read more about the controversey here.
By Guest Attorney
If you feel a need to get pulled over for DUI, do it Waverly, Ohio. The Cincinnati Post recently reported that Waverly Ohio police allow DUI defendants to make a $1,000 donation to the police department in exchange for a plea bargain allowing them keep their driver’s licenses.
The Post reports that more than one-third of DUI cases in Waverly were dismissed last year. Motorists, who typically face three or more days in jail and lengthy license suspensions were allowed to make the donation and plead to a lesser charge.
Some DUI suspects with four or five prior DUI convictions were allowed back on the road with no jail time and no loss of driving privileges. In some cases, the convictions were not even reported to the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles, a violation of state law.
The paper said the bargaining away DUI charges for donations raised more than $91,000 for the “drug law fund” since 2001. The money went to buy fire arms and radio equipment, according to Waverly police officials.
By Editor
An Anderson Township, Ohio man got a ride home from his son. Greg Greene was pulled over at about 2:30 am the other night.
It turned out Greg was only 15-years old. His passenger was his father who was drunk. Greene had been at an undisclosed bar with his son.
Rather than getting a DUI, he had his son drive home. Now he’s in even more trouble.
Greene is charged with drug possession, endangering children, possession of open flask and a misdemeanor drug abuse charge.
By Editor
It was a nice try to do the right thing, but an Ohio man was still arrested for DUI.
Jeremy Clary had been golfing and drinking all day, but had to get to a friend’s wedding eight miles from the golf course. Believing that he was too intoxicated to drive his truck, he borrowed a golf cart instead.
When arrested, on the way back to the golf course, he reportedly had a blood alcohol level (BAC) of more than twice the legal limit for DUI in Ohio. A video shown on television shows him almost falling down during field sobriety tests.
Clary said he thought it was safer because the cart could go no faster than 10 mph.