Repeat offender gets 5 years for March DWI

Convicted drunken driving offender David Hull was handed a sentence of five years in prison Tuesday morning in New Madrid County, assistant Cape Girardeau County prosecutor Michael Mueth said.

Hull, of Thebes, Ill., pleaded guilty in August to the drunken-driving offense, which occurred March 9 in Cape Girardeau. The case was transferred to New Madrid County on a change of venue.

He was tried as an aggravated offender; he has at least three other convictions for driving while intoxicated, including one in 1987 involving the death of 20-year-old Randy Held.

In that case, Hull was also convicted of reckless homicide and served five years in prison.

Held died as a result of injuries in a wreck that occurred Aug. 23, 1986, on Highway 3 in Illinois, between Olive Branch and Thebes. The accident occurred near Held's home, his mother Mildred said in a previous interview.

The prosecution asked that Hull serve seven years in prison for the most recent DWI offense, Mueth said, but he added he was satisfied with the five-year penalty.

Patrick McMenamin, defense attorney for Hull, requested that New Madrid County Circuit Judge Fred Copeland decide on a three-year-sentence instead, Mueth said.

Mueth said Hull would likely serve about 31 percent of the five-year sentence.

Since the death of her son, Mildred Held, who tries to attend most of Hull's court proceedings even more than 20 years later, became a spokeswoman against drunken driving.

For a time she served as president of the Cape Girardeau branch of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and said the group allowed her to reach teens who may have struggled with drunken-driving issues.

bdicosmo@semissourian.com

388-3635

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