LOOPHOLE IN HANDLING OF DWI CASES NEEDS TO BE CLOSED

Cape Girardeau County's prosecuting attorney, Morley Swingle, has once again stressed the need for reform in the state's law governing those convicted of repeated offenses of driving while intoxicated. The situation involves an apparent anomaly in how prior convictions are treated when offenders are brought in for subsequent charges.

The case of Johnny Wayne Newell Jr. is instructive and, frankly, horrifying. Newell was first convicted of DWI more than 10 years ago. Then, in 1990, he was convicted of felony manslaughter in the DWI-related death of Jackson resident Cathy Wilson. For that he was sentenced to four years in the penitentiary and released after serving 13 months. A couple of months after his release this summer, Newell was again arrested and convicted of DWI, but this time he was sentenced to only two months in the county jail.

According to Swingle, the law is flawed on several counts. Because the first DWI conviction occurred more than 10 years ago, it can't be included in elevating Newell's status to a repeat offender. Perhaps even worse, Swingle says, "The way the law is now written, a manslaughter conviction by DWI does not count as a prior conviction to make a guy a second or third time offender later on down the road. The Legislature needs to amend that particular statute to be sure that someone who has killed somebody while driving while intoxicated isn't then a first offender the next time this comes along."

Missourians will say amen to that. Lawmakers should make closure of this legal loophole a priority in the 1997 session of the General Assembly.