Rams' Little charged with DUI, speeding

ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis Rams defensive end Leonard Little, who pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in a 1998 accident that killed a St. Louis woman, was charged Monday as a persistent offender with felony driving while intoxicated and speeding.

Little, 29, was arrested shortly before 4 a.m. Saturday after police in the St. Louis suburb of Ladue pulled him over for reportedly traveling 78 mph in a 55-mph zone on Interstate 64. A probable cause statement filed by police said Little had bloodshot and watery eyes, smelled of alcohol and failed three roadside sobriety tests.

The statement said Little admitted to drinking alcoholic beverages.

St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch declined to say whether Little took a breath test.

Little, freed later Monday on $7,500 bond, was suspended without pay for the first half of the 1999 season after he pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in a 1998 accident that killed Susan Gutweiler. In that case, Little's blood alcohol level was nearly twice the legal limit.

In addition to Monday's charges, Little again could face another lengthy suspension from the NFL.

"Our only comment will be it will be reviewed under terms of the substance abuse policy," league spokesman Greg Aiello said Monday, before the charges were filed. "We have to wait until it works its way through the courts and there's a resolution, but players are accountable."

The NFL's guideline for a drunk-driving conviction is a fine of half a regular-season game check up to $20,000 absent aggravating circumstances. Subsequent violations result in increased discipline as determined by the commissioner, Aiello said.

The charge of driving while intoxicated normally is a misdemeanor.

In Ladue, Little would be treated as a first-time offender, though St. Louis County prosecutors are pressing the case as a felony, accusing a persistent offender.

Bob Wallace -- the Rams' executive vice president and general counsel -- called Little's latest legal troubles "an unfortunate situation that we're gathering information on."

"Obviously, this is a very unfortunate situation," Wallace told reporters. "Other than that, it's probably inappropriate for us to comment anything further while it's in the legal system."

In the manslaughter case, Little completed his 90-day jail sentence, 1,000 hours of community service and four years probation in 2002.

But attorney John Kilo, who handled the wrongful-death lawsuit against Little for the Gutweiler family, noted that state law was amended in 2001 to allow for persistent offender prosecution.

Mothers Against Drunk Drivers picketed the Edward Jones Dome -- home of the Rams -- when Little played his first game in 1999 after serving an eight-game suspension. The organization protested again Monday, fearing lenient treatment for a professional athlete while criticizing Little for dredging up painful memories for the Gutweiler family.

"Once again, families' lives are being torn apart," said Mike Boland, MADD Missouri's board chairman. "This reopened wounds that are unbelievable."

McCulloch said Little would get no special prosecutorial treatment.

Little often has expressed remorse for the fatal crash, in one interview saying he cried for nearly two months afterward. But Bill Gutweiler, Susan Gutweiler's widower, said Little never made an attempt to reach out to Gutweiler's son, Mike, who was 15 at the time of the crash.

"To me, it just didn't seem like he cared," Gutweiler said. "After all these years he could have sat down and written my son a letter, and never did. Getting nothing was another slap in the face."

Little went to his first Pro Bowl after last season and has played with the Rams his entire six-year career. He was fifth in the NFL with 12 1/2 sacks last year despite missing a month with a torn pectoral muscle. He has 39 sacks the last three years, third-highest over that span.

Hours after Little's arrest Saturday, the Rams chose defensive end Tony Hargrove of Georgia Tech in the third round of the NFL draft. But coach Mike Martz said that selection was unrelated to Little's situation.

The Rams lost their other starting defensive end from last season when Grant Wistrom signed a free-agent deal with the Seattle Seahawks.