Missouri Supreme Court ruling gives DWI offenders a break

Jefferson City, MO

For decades, Missouri lawmakers regularly tweaked drunken-driving laws to toughen them. But along the way, they neglected to cut an old paragraph that did the opposite.

As a result, a recent Missouri Supreme Court ruling now allows many repeat drunken drivers to avoid felony charges, and it probably will allow others to get out of prison.

In Jackson County alone, prosecutors had about 145 felony cases pending against repeat drunken drivers. Now they must reduce those to misdemeanors, prosecutors said.

That means offenders will face up to a year in jail instead of up to four years in prison.

“This is not what anyone intended,” Jackson County Prosecutor Jim Kanatzar said.

The unanimous high court decision, which involved a Lafayette County case, centered on an old clause left near the bottom of the state’s drunken-driving law since the early 1980s. Legislators have neglected to remove the clause, even when it conflicted with newer language.

Whenever two conflicting standards exist within a criminal law, the defendant gets the lesser penalty, the high court said.

The old clause said that if someone received a suspended sentence after pleading guilty in municipal court to driving while intoxicated, that conviction could not be counted toward state felony charges, which prosecutors can file on a driver’s third offense.

The court’s ruling raises questions, starting with whether the ruling must be applied retroactively. Defense lawyers say yes. Prosecutors are unsure.

But if the ruling applies to previous cases, inmates convicted of some DWI felonies will get out of prison, and thousands of people could have their old felony convictions overturned, defense lawyers say.

“The opinion has sent shock waves through the law enforcement community,” said Kanatzar, who hopes the legislature quickly can fix the law. More >>

 Subscribe to Missouri DWI News