Late Paperwork Ends DUI Case

A career DUI offender has been allowed to walk out of court, and retain his driver's license, as a prosecutor didn't file the necessary paperwork in time, as reported in The Spokesman-Review.

James L. Crabtree has a history of DUI-fueled car crashes.  But, in his latest arrest, for felony DUI following an incident on November 17, Superior Court Judge Michael Price let him go.

Price also returned his driving privileges. 

Price said, "The state has not filed charges…so orders preventing you from driving are no longer in place."

Mary Ann Brady, the Deputy Spokane County Prosecutor in the case, was not immediately available for comment.

Cpl. Dave Thornburg, with the Spokane Valley Police Department, said that Crabtree had rear-ended another vehicle at the intersection of East Broadway and North Pines Road.  When other motorists noticed Crabtree hunched over his steering wheel passed out, they barricaded him with their cars to keep him from attempting to escape.

With Crabtree's release, the Spokane County Sheriff's Office has grown frustrated.  Thornburg said, "This guy has a pattern. He nearly killed Earl Howerton, who is a law enforcement officer.  Within months of serving that term, he got into another DUI … crash on Market Street. Here he has a DUI again. He's not getting help and he continues to break the law. He's going to keep going until he kills himself or somebody else."

The incident involving officer Howerton occurred on December 16, 2001.  While under the influence of cocaine, Crabtree sped down Bigelow Gulch Roach.  Soon - but not soon enough - he was spotted by Howerton. 

Howerton, on duty and driving in a patrol car, tried to avoid a collision by steering his car off to the side of the road.  He was braking while Howerton was accelerating; the result was Crabtree ramming him head-on.  They both suffered from serious injuries.

At that time Crabtree was convicted of vehicular assault for the accident, and drug charges for trying to sell cocaine to an undercover deputy while he was awaiting trial.  He received five years in prison though former Prosecutor Don Brocket and former Spokane Police Chief Roger Bragdon had asked for clemency.

Crabtree was a Spokane County Sheriff's deputy for three years in the 1980s.

Crabtree, once released from prison, got arrested for DUI and driving with a suspended license in October of 2006.  That accident, where he collided with a minivan on Market street, resulted in a March 2007 conviction.

In regards to the paperwork arriving late and the judge dismissing Crabtree, Thornburg commented, "Yeah, it's disappointing to me. For someone like Crabtree, that's why we have that law.  The frustrating part is we are trying to make the community safer and stuff like this happens."

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