A Rapid City resident chalked up his 16th
DUI conviction and was sentenced to two years in state prison, as reported by the Rapid City Journal and others, while the deputy district attorney and the local president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving would like sterner DUI laws imposed in South Dakota.
R.G., 60, has 19 DUI arrests – 16 were DUI convictions and 11 were for felony DUI. However, due to the length of time between convictions, some of his DUI history was not presentable in his current case.
On August 16 R.G. was sentenced for his latest DUI arrest, which occurred on June 19 when R.G. drove into a parked car near a casino on East North Street, Rapid City.
Deputy State's Attorney Sarah Morrison said that R.G.'s blood alcohol level was .247 at the time of his arrest. Morrison added, "This man has clearly shown that he is a danger to the community. We have almost a 35-year record of him drinking and driving in the Rapid City area."
Tarah Heupel, the Rapid City spokeswoman, stated that $2,750 worth of damages were incurred between the vehicle R.G. hit and his own. A witness told police that R.G. had fled the scene – in order to go home and retrieve his insurance information. The police found him in his home and arrested him for charges of DUI, hit and run and driving with a revoked license.
The hit and run charge was dropped. The revoked license charge was also dropped, in exchange for R.G. pleading guilty to DUI alone.
Beginning in 1977 R.G. began receiving DUIs. Arrests that occurred in 1980, 1981 and 1985 were dismissed.
Morrison was only allowed to use R.G.'s DUIs from 2005 and 2010 to enhance his sentence to a third-offense felony DUI – because the state puts a 10-year limit on calculating sentences for DUI offenders unless the offender had served in prison during the 10 years.
Morrison said that though R.G. did serve a short prison sentence after his 2005 offense, it was not considered enough prison time to calculate in the 1997 DUI convictions.
Morrison said that R.G. will be up for parole as soon as he serves his first eight to ten months in prison.
Morrison stated, "I wish that the statutory wording provided for a longer look back. Mr. (R.G.'s) history is a perfect example of why that's important."
The president of the Pennington County branch of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Lila Doud, said, "Maybe we need lifetime DUIs instead of dropping off after 10 years… We need him off the streets. I was very thankful that the judge put him back in prison because that is where he needs to be."
Whether this is your 1st, 10th or 20th DUI charge the best attorney to help you is one that is versed in defending DUI, DWI, OUI or OWI. Click here for our directory and contact a DUI attorney near you today!