DWI LOOPHOLES

According to law enforcement officials and families who have been victimized by drunk drivers, a state law enacted two years ago to discourage habitual drunks from driving contains sizable loopholes. The 1993 law allows for successive charges of driving while intoxicated to carry more punishment for each conviction and elevates municipal charges to carry the same weight as state charges. Prior to its enactment, a municipal DWI charge didn't have the same severity as a state charge. However, restrictions and criteria in the law have some people who repeatedly drive drunk being charged as first-time offenders.

First, the good news. No longer are municipal DWI charges mere misdemeanors resulting in a fine. Now, it doesn't matter where a drunk driver is charged, whether it is city or state court: A verdict of guilty means a criminal conviction. With each successive DWI conviction, an enhanced DWI charge can be filed. A first-offense DWI is a Class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in the county jail. A second offense DWI is a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in the county jail. And a third offense DWI is a Class D felony, punishable by five years in prison.

The loophole identified by critics centers on the length of time allowed between charges as it relates to how a suspect is charged. The law states that a third DWI arrest can be charged as a felony if the previous two convictions occurred within 10 years. This has resulted in the following anomalous -- and, most would say, unjust -- situation: A DWI suspect charged in 1995 faces misdemeanor, first-offense charges, despite having two previous DWI convictions. This is because of the length of time between convictions. One of this suspect's previous convictions was a 1988 felony in which he was also convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the death of a young girl he killed in a wreck.

The defendant in question had been convicted of DWI first in 1983 -- 12 years ago -- and then the involuntary manslaughter incident followed in 1988 -- seven years ago. Because of this elapsed time, he gets charged as a first-time offender this year.

In the apt observation of Trooper Blane Adams of the Missouri Highway Patrol, "You get three DWI offenses, there's a problem. You have a drinking problem no matter how long it's been." Adams estimates that half the DWI suspects he takes into custody have at least one prior alcohol-related offense. His colleague, Sgt. Brent Davis, says anyone who has two or three DWI convictions -- no matter what the time frame between -- has a serious drinking problem. The overwhelming majority of Missourians will agree.

Surely timely legislative action in the session that begins Jan. 3 could correct this unconscionable loophole in Missouri's DWI statutes. Next time, God forbid, it could be your loved one who is struck by a first-time offender with previous, multiple convictions.