A woman that has received her third DUI, and put her young son in harm's way for two out of the three incidents, has been sentenced for DUI and child endangerment, as reported by the York Dispatch.
Senior deputy prosecutor Jared Mellott said, "I consider it a form of child abuse ... whether the child is injured or not. Parents are supposed to be responsible."
J.S., 37, drove with her six-year-old son while her blood-alcohol level was 0.222 percent – which is almost three times over the state limit of 0.08 percent to drive – on May 27. State police stopped her at approximately 12:45 a.m. near Mount Rose Avenue and Greensprings Drive in the Springettsbury Township.
Officers were alerted to J.S.'s erratic driving as they witnessed her partially cross over the centerline of the road and then saw her abruptly swerve to avoid crashing into construction barrels and an oncoming vehicle.
After being pulled over officers noted that J.S.'s speech was slurred and she sounded confused. She proceeded to nearly fall over many times while attempting to her pass field sobriety testing.
On November 8 J.S. pleaded guilty to third-offense drunk driving, endangering the welfare of a child, careless driving, third-offense driving drunk at the highest alcohol rate, and driving with a combination of drugs and alcohol in her system.
According to Mellott J.S. was sentenced to a five-year probation – the first six months are to be completed in the York County Prison beginning February 3. She will, however, be allowed to participate in the work release out mate program while in prison.
Following her time in jail J.W. will be placed in a seven-month house arrest and must wear an alcohol monitoring ankle cuff.
J.S. was also ordered to pay a fine of $3,500, serve 100 hours of community service, take highway safety school, be evaluated regarding her drug and alcohol addictions and agree to go to counseling if ordered. As her plea was open Judge Kennedy was allowed to determine these stipulations.
Mellott thought the sentence too lenient and had requested that the judge sentence J.S. to prison for one to five years.
J.S. was charged in 2010 with DUI, child endangerment, reckless endangerment and fleeing police. In that incident she allegedly led police on a chase through Springettsbury Township with her young son – then three years old at the time – in the car with her. She pleaded guilty to all the charges except child endangerment, which was dropped, and she was given a two-year probation.
In 2009 she was charged with DUI in Manchester Township and pleaded guilty. In that incident she was given probation. She was also ordered to take DUI classes and have a drug and alcohol evaluation.
Whether or not this is your first DUI contact a DUI attorney for help. An attorney that specializes in DUI, DWI, OUI or OWI will know the best way to proceed for your individual circumstances.