A St. Louis County man was pulled over and arrested for DWI shortly after leaving the Creve Coeur Municipal Court. The Creve Coeur Municipal Court holds court on Wednesday nights, and Eddie Spencer III was pulled over just after he appeared in court on unrelated charges. After the arrest it became clear that Mr. Spencer had two prior alcohol-related driving offenses, so he has been charged as a Persistent DWI Offender, a felony in Missouri. Due to the felony charge, Mr. Spencer is currently being held on a $50,000 bond at the St. Louis County Jail. Although not mandatory by statute, the judge that set his bond also will require Mr. Spencer to wear an alcohol monitoring device as a condition of his bond.

What is a Felony DWI?
In Missouri, a third or subsequent DWI offense is a felony. Missouri used to only count drunk driving priors from the last ten years, but now prosecutors can use any prior drunk driving offenses to enhance a third offense or subsequent offense to a felony. A third offense carries a mandatory 30 days of jail time; a fourth offense 60 days; and 5th and subsequent offenses carry a mandatory two years of time to serve in the Missouri Department of Corrections.

Is it Even Possible to Win a Felony DWI Case?
Yes, felony DWI cases can be won at trial. If the defendant does not testify at the trial then the jury is not allowed to find out if the case is a first drunk driving offense or a a felony offense. This is an incredible benefit because as soon as a jury hears that a defendant has priors then the verdict would almost always be a guilty. In some cases, a jury trial is the best way to deal with felony drunk driving charges, but only with the assistance of a skilled trial attorney.

Please visit our Felony DWI page to read more about the Missouri process and penalties for felony drunk driving charges.

Source: www.kmov.com, “St. Louis County man chanrged with third DWI on way home from court hearing,” August 12, 2013.

St. Louis area police have announced that there will be enhanced DWI enforcement over the July 4th holiday weekend. Every year the police focus on drunk driving arrests around certain holidays, and with nice weather and good barbeques the 4th of July is always one of those holidays. St. Louis area drivers can expect checkpoints, but drivers can also expect police officers to take a more vigiliant approach towards possible impaired drivers over the long weekend.

The Wentzville Police Department in St. Charles County has already announced drunk driving enforecement for the holiday weekend. This enforcement will include sobriety checkpoints and “DWI saturation patrols” that will take place from July 3rd through July 7th.

Concern About Unlawful Arrests

It is concerning when law enforcement states openly that they will be focusing on drunk driving enforcement.  The concern is that any time someone begins to look specifically for something he will see it whether it is really there or not.  Around big holidays like the 4th of July there is a greater likelihood of an unlawful arrest for drunk driving due to law enforcement’s specific focus.  After all, police departments like to brag after a holiday weekend about how many arrests resulted from these checkpoints and saturation patrols.  The only way law enforcement can get to big arrest numbers is to arrest a lot of people, and any time a lot of people are arrested there is a good chance that a mistake was made and an innocent person has been unlawfully arrested.

Possible Consequences

The Wentzville Police Department haas included a list of drunk driving consequences in a recent news article. These consquences include:

• Jail Time
• Driver’s License Suspension or Revocation
• Being Sentenced to Use Ignition Interlock
• Rising Insurance Rates
• Financial Considerations such as attorneys fees, court costs, lost time at work and possible loss of job or job prospects

Please be aware of this enhanced drunk driving enforcement of the long holiday weekend. If pulled over for suspicion of drunk driving please read our page on What To Do If Pulled Over For DWI.Source: Wentzville Patch, “Wentzville Police Planning Drunk Driving Crackdown Over July 4th Holiday,” Tamara Duncan, June 23, 2013.