Wyoming's Laramie Boomerang has reported that a man has been convicted of felony DUI, without the benefit of a blood test or police surveillance video, in his fourth
DUI in the last five years.
J.C.V.V. , 29, was arrested in Laramie on March 17. His previous DUI arrests were Laramie County on July 8, 3006, Cheyenne on February 6, 2009 and Carbon County on April 12, 2009.
Due to his DUI record Judge Jeffrey Donnell revoked J.C.V.V.'s bond. He will be held until his sentencing in the Albany County Detention Center.
J.C.V.V. is facing up to two years in prison and up to $10,000 in fines. Burt Ahlstrom, J.C.V.V.'s attorney, had told the court that his client - with both a long standing job at an auto dealership and the single parent to three young daughters - was not a flight risk.
Judge Donnell, however, revoked his probation due to his repeat DUI convictions.
Donnell said, "That makes you, by definition, a danger to the public."
On July 1 a new state law went into effect that would allow officers to obtain a search warrant to draw blood from a DUI suspect - regardless if the suspect refused such tests.
J.C.V.V.'s case was one of the last where the DUI charges were incurred prior to July 1. At his arrest he was still allowed, under the previous law, to refuse chemical testing at the Albany County Detention Center.
E. Kurt Britzius, the Albany County deputy prosecuting attorney, told jurors that though the case did not benefit from alcohol testing - or police surveillance video as the arrest was beyond the range of the patrol car's video camera - that the jury would not have any direct evidence against J.C.V.V. for DUI.
Instead, Britzius argued, "This is more like a 1950s style case from the state's perspective. We don't have video; we don't have a chemical test."
What Britzius did present was testimony from an eyewitness and from two Laramie Police Department (LPD) officers.
Near the intersection of Second and Grand in downtown Laramie, LPD officer J.P. was in the midst of assisting in the chase of a burglary suspect when an unidentified female stopped him. She reported witnessing a drunken man that was about to get in his truck, allegedly with the intention of driving, after leaving the Buckhorn Bar.
The officer, in determining that he didn't have time to get the woman's identification, retrieve his vehicle or continue in the chase of the burglary suspect, said, "At that point, I had to make a choice. Either I identify this person or make contact with someone that was possibly committing a crime."
Looking north on Second Street, the officer saw a man sitting in the driver's seat of a white Chevrolet pick-up truck. The vehicle was parked but the ignition had been fired and its headlights were illuminated.
The officer walked in the middle of the street, going toward to the vehicle, when the vehicle pulled award from the west curb and drove south towards him. The officer raised his flashlight and aimed it through the front windshield to gain the driver's attention.
The driver failed to stop. The officer allegedly had to move to the right or he would have been struck.
When the officer shouted to the driver to "stop" the man pulled over.
The officer said the driver had glassy eyes, smelled of alcohol and slurred his speech.
After noting the driver's I.D. the officer performed a field sobriety test. He said that J.C.V.V. "had difficulty standing with his heels and toes together."
It was at this time that J.C.V.V. allegedly became belligerent and made threats to the officer.
The second officer, T.F., had arrived at the scene prior to J.C.V.V. exiting his vehicle and corroborated officer J.P.'s account.
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