St. Louis, MO

Gov. Jay Nixon on Wednesday proposed sweeping reforms to the state’s DWI law that would crack down on the most severely intoxicated drivers and enforce better tracking of prior offenses.

The Democratic governor said his proposal had bipartisan support, which would be essential in the Republican-controlled Legislature.

He laid out his proposal in the Overland office of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, in front of portraits of people killed by drunken drivers. He was flanked by the House sponsor, Rep. Bryan Stevenson, R-Joplin, and co-sponsor Rep. Rachel Bringer, D-Palmyra.

The governor also visited Hannibal and Jackson to discuss the legislation. A bill had not been prefiled Wednesday.

Nixon promised reforms last month after the Post-Dispatch exposed failures by St. Louis area police, prosecutors and judges to punish drunken drivers.

The newspaper found that persistent drunken drivers were routinely avoiding felony charges, plea deals were allowing many repeat offenders to avoid convictions, and drivers who refused blood-alcohol tests were not missing a day of driving.

“Today we are presenting comprehensive reforms that will make Missouri safer by strengthening and reinforcing our drunken driving laws,” Nixon said Wednesday.

He did not detail how much the reforms would cost or who would pay.
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Some of Nixon’s proposals directly addressed failures identified by the Post-Dispatch investigation.

For example, the bill would take thousands of DWI cases out of municipal courts annually. The Post-Dispatch found that few DWI cases in municipal courts in the St. Louis area resulted in convictions.

Under Nixon’s plan, all repeat DWI offenders, drivers with a blood-alcohol level of 0.15 or above, and drivers who refuse to submit to a blood-alcohol test would be charged in state courts, where the most serious cases are prosecuted.

That would be a sea change in how DWIs are handled locally. The majority of DWI cases in the St. Louis area go through municipal courts.

Slightly more than half of all drivers who were given blood-alcohol tests registered at least 0.15, according to the newspaper’s analysis of more than 25,000 DWI arrests.

It was unclear how prepared state courts would be to handle a major influx of cases, or whether municipalities would suffer from a reduction in revenue.

Last month, St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert P. McCulloch expressed support for letting municipal courts manage DWI cases for most first- and second-time DWI defendants. Under Nixon’s plan, many of those cases would end up on the desks of county prosecutors, where the governor said they would be handled more equitably. McCulloch could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

At least one veteran municipal prosecutor said he thought shifting cases from municipal to state courts was appropriate.

“State courts have more power than we do,” said Darold Crotzer, the Clayton prosecutor. “Some of those drivers need to go to jail, and it’s difficult for us to send them to jail because the money comes right out of the police budget.”

Nixon also called for requiring local police departments and courts to use the Missouri Highway Patrol’s DWI tracking system, which is now voluntary.

The Post-Dispatch found that poor record-keeping often prevented local authorities from recognizing when a driver had prior offenses and could be charged with a felony under Missouri’s “three strikes” law.

Departments that fail to comply could be penalized by having grant money withheld, similar to sanctions in place for cities that fail to report traffic stop data.

Nixon also proposed making it illegal to refuse a blood-alcohol test. Under current law, drivers who refuse the test face an automatic one-year revocation of their licenses.

That’s one of the harshest sanctions in the state law. But the newspaper found that prosecutors often bargain away those suspensions as part of plea deals in criminal cases, letting uncooperative drivers keep their licenses.

Prosecutors said it was a tool to get guilty pleas in cases that were tough to win without test results proving the drivers were drunk.

Nixon’s staff said it wasn’t decided yet whether a criminal sanction would replace license revocation.

A few criminal defense lawyers scoffed at the idea of criminalizing the refusal to take a breath test. Gary Earlywine, a lawyer who specializes in traffic cases in St. Charles and St. Louis counties, noted that DWI defendants often face other traffic charges, such as careless and imprudent driving.

A charge of refusing to take a breath test “would just be another one you could arrange a settlement on,” he said.

Nixon also called for harsher sanctions in cases where drivers refuse a blood-alcohol test or register at least 0.15 percent, including forcing them to get a device that prevents a vehicle from starting if the driver has alcohol in his system. Currently the device is required only for repeat offenders.

The thinking is that the high blood-alcohol content would signal a problem drinker — someone who poses more of a threat than someone who made a one-time mistake of having one too many.

Travis Noble, a local defense lawyer who specializes in DWI cases, said the threshold for harsher penalties seemed arbitrary.

St. Louis, MO DWI Defense Lawyers

Columbia, MO

Repeat DUI offenders in Missouri are required to have an alcohol ignition lock on their cars. In July when the law took effect, the department of revenue sent out letters to 70,000 repeat offenders to let them know about the new requirement. So far, only around 4,000 alcohol ignition locks have been installed. 70,000 repeat DUI offenders are now required to have in-car breathalyzers in order to get behind the wheel legally. Since the law went into effect on July 1st, only about 4,000 of these devices have been purchased. However, department of revenue representative, Ted Farnen thinks this low figure is misleading because not everyone who will be affected by the law is allowed to apply to get their license back.

“Lets say your license was suspended in 2008 for 2 years, you wouldn’t be allowed to apply to get your license back until 2010.”
So people who aren’t allowed to have their licenses back, aren’t buying the devices, because they won’t need it until they have regained their driving privileges. Securior Ignition Interlock makes and installs these devices, and employee Charles Lee says that business has more than tripled since July. However, Lee expects an even greater increase in business in the future, and attributes people not buying their devices to procrastination.

“I think people are waiting until the very last minute, until they have everything done until they get the devices.”
Farnen and the department of revenue know not everyone follows the letter of the law, and they expect that some repeat offenders will illegally drive without the new devices. The penalty for a repeat DUI offender who goes out driving without the alcohol ignition device is twelve points on their license, and having their driving privileges revoked for a year.

Columbia, MO DWI Criminal Defense Lawyers

St. Charles, MO

A St. Charles County man was charged this afternoon with involuntary manslaughter and assault while driving while intoxicated for a head-on crash that killed a Defiance woman in January.

Steven A. Hicks, 22, of the 1400 block of Stone Creek Valley near O’Fallon, Mo., was the driver of a pickup that collided with a car driven by Diane Fulkerson, 55, on Jan. 19. Fulkerson died, and Peter Adams, a passenger in her car, was injured.

Police said Hicks was eastbound on Highway DD near Diehr Road, when his truck veered off the road, then crossed into the westbound lane in the path of Fulkerson’s car.

Police said Hicks’ blood-alcohol level was .225 percent, nearly three times the limit at which Missouri drivers are presumed drunk.

The Missouri Highway Patrol investigated the crash.

St. Charles, MO DWI Criminal Defense Attorneys

Fulton, MO

About 70,000 Missourians with two driving-while-intoxicated convictions have been sent letters informing them that they now must have breath monitoring devices installed for six months on their vehicles in order to regain their license to operate them in Missouri.

On Tuesday three Missouri agencies announced a special statewide enforcement of the ignition interlock law that went into effect today. The enforcement effort also will involve other traffic laws, including speeding and wearing seat belts.

The agencies included in the crackdown are the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Missouri Division of Highway Safety and the Missouri Department of Revenue.

The device was demonstrated Tuesday in Jefferson City by Abraham Garcia, who represents Smart Start, an approved manufacturer for the device in Missouri.

Garcia breathed into the device that was installed on a Chrysler sedan he brought to Jefferson City for the kickoff of the statewide “The Heat is On” enforcement effort.

The new law is aimed at repeat drunken drivers who want to regain their driver’s licenses.

When the devices are installed the engine cannot be started until after the driver breaths into an alcohol detector, proving he or she is sober.

To help prevent someone else from breathing into the device to get the car started, the devices are programmed to require the driver on a random basis to stop the car and retest. It is also a crime for another person to breath into the device who is not driving.

The Missouri Department of Revenue, which issues driver’s licenses, will enforce the new law on violators caught by law enforcement agencies.

The new law requires drivers wanting to get their license restored after a second drunk driving conviction to use the device for six months.

The devices are leased for the six month period at costs varying from about $70 to $100 a month. They also must be installed only by vendors approved by the state. Installation costs varies from $30 to about $200 in some cities.

There is no approved vendor for the device in Fulton. The nearest vendors are located in Jefferson City and Columbia.

In Jefferson City the authorized interlock vendors are The Entertainer, 2511 West Edgewood Drive; Mobiltek, 1805 Valley Hi Road; and Ewers Tires and Service, 1401 Missouri Blvd.

In Columbia, the authorized interlock vendors are Midwest Audio Visions, 3605 South Providence Road, Suite 7; Sound Performance, 1310 Indiana St.; and R & R Car Audio, 416 Big Bear Blvd.

Drivers with the devices installed also must have them rechecked every month at the vendor.

People required to have the device who are caught driving without it could face an additional two-year driver’s license suspension.

A law was passed in Missouri in 2001 allowing judges to order interlock devices for people convicted of two drunken driving convictions.

Former Gov. Matt Blunt wanted a law to mandate the devices because he said judges were not making use of the option.

The law that goes into effect today was passed in 2008 but it did not go into effect until this July in order to allow enforcement procedures to be geared up and rule-making procedures adopted during the last year.

The law was approved by the Missouri General Assembly last year by a vote of 29-5 in the Senate and by a vote of 132-13 in the House.

Slightly more than one-third of the states in the nation also have passed laws requiring use of the devices by first or second DWI offenders.

Legislation requiring the device for first-time DWI offenders was introduced in the 2009 session of the Missouri General Assembly but it did not pass.

Missouri DWI Ignition Interlock Attorneys

Warrensburg, MO

A new Missouri state law takes effect today regarding repeat driving-while-intoxicated offenders that requires them to install an Ignition Interlock Device (IID) in their vehicle.

This device must be purchased at the offender’s expense, and there are some throughout the community who have high hopes that the law will be effective in reducing alcohol-related incidents.

Beginning today, Missouri state law will require repeat DWI offenders to install a breathalyzer, or IID, in their vehicle in order to gain limited driving privileges, after serving the minimum time on their restriction period.

Although no exact price for the device was given by the Warrensburg Police Department, according to ignitioninterlockdevice.org, the person will pay an installation fee ranging from $50-$200, a monthly rental fee ranging from $50-$100, as well as fees for data downloads, maintenance expenses and calibration appointments, which are usually scheduled every 60 days.

The device must be installed by a certified person or agency throughout the state. According to a representative in the office of attorney Daniel Carter, who specializes in DWI violations, Sound By Design, 120 E. Gay St., is the only known local installer. The individual will be required to show proof of installation upon application for the reinstatement of his or her driving privileges.

“It’s through the Missouri Department of Transportation and it’s like right now, if you get a DWI, you are required — in order to get your driver’s license reinstated — to show proof of insurance or proof of taking an alcohol class,” said police Sgt. Scott Munsterman, of the Warrensburg Police Department’s traffic division.

“Just like that, there are certain criteria that you have to meet and you have to show proof to the (state) Department of Revenue. Failure to do so will result in your driving privileges remaining either restricted or revoked.”

The breathalyzer must be installed, and maintained, for a period of six months, beginning at the reinstatement date. Failure to maintain the device could result in the loss of driving privileges for two years, or until the reinstatement requirements are met. The requirements include paying a fine of $20 and showing proof of installation of an IID.

Not everyone is eligible for installation of the device, however. Persons with two DWI convictions within a five-year period must serve at least two years of a five-year denial period, and those with three or more convictions must serve at least three years of a 10-year denial period before being considered.

Those finished with serving their five-year denial period for vehicular manslaughter, as well as those that fail to submit to alcohol or drug testing more than once, will also be required to install an IID and maintain it for the six-month period.

Although the law has met some opposition, there are others who said they think that requiring repeat offenders to install the device will prove to be beneficial and that it is a just punishment.

“(Because of the law) there will be less drunk drivers out there, and I would hope that the community would feel a little safer,” said Avis Lowe, a senior victim advocate for Mothers Against Drunk Driving. “Now, they will have a harsher punishment, which will make them think harder about what they are doing. That way, they won’t do it again.”

Kristin Sell, Warrensburg resident, thinks it is a necessary precaution to keep the roads a little safer.

“I think that it is a good idea. I understand that people make mistakes and that they are sorry for what they have done, but I also think that the necessary precautions should be made,” Sell said. “I think that it gives people a little more sense of peace — if you break the rules, there should be consequences.”

Munsterman said, “I think (the law) is going to help prevent people from abusing alcohol, getting behind the wheel and choosing to drive. It will have the potential to save many lives out there.”

St. Louis, MO

A new law in Missouri will target repeat drunk drivers. Beginning July 1, people convicted of at least two drunken driving offenses, or anyone convicted of vehicular manslaughter involving alcohol, will have to get a breath-analyzing ignition interlock device installed on their vehicle.

The device will prevent the car from starting unless the breath test is alcohol-free. It is required in order to get a driver’s license re-instated.

Gabrielle Millenbruck is vice-president of Interlock of St. Louis, a business that has four locations around the St. Louis area. Interlock trains ignition interlock installers, and administers tests for clients referred by the state of Missouri.

Millenbruck says the devices have proven successful in national tests.

“An ignition interlock is proven to reduce repeat offenders by 60%while the interlock is installed,” Millenbruck says. “Nationally, you’re looking at about a 2% success rate in any other program of drunken driving reduction.”

Illinois lawmakers passed a similar law which took effect in January. That law, however, required the ignition interlock devices on first offense. St. Clair County State’s Attorney Bob Haida says it is too early to know the long-term effects of that legislation. Haida added that the legislation has not resulted in a backlog in courts.

In addition to training other installers and acting as an administrator for state officials, Millenbruck says Interlock of St. Louis has about 400 clients who were convicted on drunken driving offenses.

“That client will make a monthly, 15-minute appointment, we will plug into their device, download all the data. It can record up to 30,000 events in the log,” Millenbruck says. “It will tell us every time they start their car, every breath alcohol reading they have, every activity that they have that takes place in that vehicle. And then we’ll calibrate the sensor and schedule the next appointment in the device.”

Millenbruck says after an initial test to start the car, the device will ask the driver for a breath test every ten minutes. If they do not comply, the car’s horn will start blaring; notifying other motorists the car contains a driver who is out of compliance.

A list of certified ignition interlock installers is available at the Missouri Department of Revenue website.

Missouri DWI Information

Kansas City, MO

Business is about to pick up for ignition interlock providers in Missouri.

A new state law takes effect Wednesday that requires people with two or more drunk-driving convictions to install the devices on their vehicles for six months in order to get their license back.

The Missouri Department of Revenue says about 70,000 people in the state will be affected.

An interlock is a breath-testing device connected to a car’s ignition system. The driver must blow into the device before the car will start. An alcohol content above a prescribed level will disable the vehicle.

The law is good news for Mothers Against Drunk Driving and other traffic safety advocates.

“If you’re convicted twice, shame on you because you didn’t get it the first time,” said Avis Lowe, a MADD victim’s advocate whose 27-year-old son was a pedestrian killed by a repeat drunk driver in downtown Kansas City in 1995.

But the law is only a partial victory for advocates like MADD spokesman Mike Boland of St. Louis, who wanted the ignition interlock required for first-time convicted drunk drivers, such as in New Mexico and Arizona.

“I believe they’ve seen an almost 25 percent reduction in fatalities,” Boland said. “But even if we’re looking at a 10 percent reduction in Missouri, if you’re that one family and that knock is not coming at your door, that’s a great reduction.”

The Department of Revenue in May sent letters to people potentially affected by the new law and will send another round after the July 4 holiday, said Ted Farnen, director of communications.

The law will affect future repeat offenders of Missouri’s alcohol-related driving laws as well as past repeat offenders who have not had their driving privileges reinstated by July 1.

The Missouri Department of Transportation has a list of certified ignition interlock providers. The offenders are responsible for paying for the system, just as they are with other court costs.

Kansas also requires an ignition interlock for repeat DUI offenders, as well as for first-time offenders if their blood alcohol level is .15 percent or higher. The legal limit is .08.

Kansas City, MO DWI Defense Attorneys

Jefferson City, MO

As many as 70,000 Missourians convicted of alcohol-related traffic crimes could have to install ignition locks on their vehicles if they want to legally drive after July 1.

The devices prevent engines from starting until drivers breath into an alcohol detector to prove they are sober.

The new Missouri law applies to people convicted of at least two drunken driving offenses, or to anyone convicted of vehicular manslaughter in which alcohol was involved.

The Department of Revenue will require proof that the device has been installed before reinstating a person’s driver’s license. The ignitional interlocks will have to be used for six months.

The requirement was included in a bill that passed in 2008, with a delayed effective date of July 1, 2009.

Missouri DWI Defense Lawyers

St. Louis, MO (“Commentary” page of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

The new law in Illinois that will allow first-time driving-under-the-influence offenders to use a Breath Alcohol Ignition Interlock Device, which will prevent the car from starting if the driver has a blood-alcohol content of more than 0.025 percent, is a step in the right direction (“Tougher drunken driving law takes effect next week,” Dec. 26). But it does nothing to address drivers who have had their licenses suspended and continue to drive.

Missouri and Illinois lawmakers overlook the fact that people still have to get to and from work to make a living. The courts take away the licenses of drivers convicted of drunken driving, but they fail to monitor those offenders once they leave the courthouse. The courts might as well give them a hardship license along with the Breathalyzer device so they can at least drive to work.

After writing insurance for suspended drivers for almost 30 years, I found that unless you have a person living with you or on call to drive you around, the suspension does not work. These drivers risk jail time if they are caught driving on a suspended license, but most drive anyway because they have to drive, not because they want to drive. From age 16 on, we consider the use of a car necessary for survival and earning a living.

Fulton, MO

New road rules will soon go into effect that impact how and where some drivers are allowed to steer their vehicles.

Recent legislation signed by Gov. Matt Blunt will begin being enforced by at least Aug. 28, and means to clarify both operation of vehicles and punishment for misuse.

At the top of the list is a measure that closes a loophole in sentencing for intoxication. The law change aims to hold those found to be driving while intoxicated accountable, regardless of where they are caught.

“In Missouri if you have DWI one and two, then DWI three would be a felony,” said Tim Hull, a captain with the Missouri Highway Patrol. “But you have to have those in that sequence.

“Therefore, (the Supreme Court) was not allowing us to count the first one in that sequence if it happened within a municipality. If somebody got a DWI in a city and I would get them again on a state highway, although they had that previous offense I couldn’t have counted it and would still be arresting them for their first.”

Under the old law, DWI defendants could plead guilty or receive a suspended imposition in a municipality and that DWI could not be held against a person if they reached the felony threshhold of two more intoxication offenses.

“What this does is allow us to count that conviction, that plea of guilty or finding them guilty against them in a new sentence,” Hull said. “Therefore, a previous intoxication will count whether it’s state, county or muncipality ordinance and treat it just like a plea of guilty or finding them guilty.”

Other statute adjustments transfer some enforcement of DWI charges to the Department of Revenue. It will be in charge – starting next July 1 – of keeping check whether multiple offenders have an ignition interlock device installed. The device checks the person’s alcohol level and can prevent them from driving with alcohol in their system.

“Once a person receives that conviction, now (the Department of Revenue) will mandate an ignition interlock device be put back on their car before they can re-issue a driver’s license,” Hull said.

The legislature also changed laws for particular types of vehicles. That started with utility vehicles – like John Deere Gators – and ended with statewide rules for tractor trailers.

“Until now utility vehicles could not be operated legally on our roadways at all,” Hull said. “Under these specific guidelines utility vehicles can be used if owned and operated by a governmental entity for official use, operated for agriculture or industrial purposes, and (legislators) also put a clause in there that utility vehicles can be operated on occasion on secondary roads between the hours of sunrise and sunset.”

While this broadens rules for utility vehicles, restrictions are in order for tractor trailers in urban areas. New changes will prohibit them from using the left-hand lane on all three-lane roads in Missouri.

“That law had already been passed in the St. Louis area within the urbanized area when you have three lanes going the same direction,” Hull said. “This act kind of broadens it out from the St. Louis area to other urbanized areas around the state.

“We’re just making people aware of these new law changes and how it’s going to affect vehicle operation and want to educate the drivers and public of what’s new.”