Juries convict two DUIs

April 21, 2006

By MARY AMES

Frontiersman

PALMER - Two felony drunk driving cases went to trial in Palmer Superior Court in the last two weeks, and neither jury took long to reach a verdict.

One jury took about an hour to convict Christopher Hewitt, 27, of driving under the influence and driving without a valid license on April 12, after a two-day trial before Judge Eric Smith.

Hewitt was picked up Dec. 20 in Wasilla by Corey Rupe, a Wasilla police officer at the time. According to Rupe's report, he saw one person in a 1984 Chevrolet Impala at 4 a.m. and followed it when Hewitt pulled the car into a parking lot. Rupe had to drive down the street, turn around and come back to the parking lot. By then, Hewitt was out of the car, knocking on the door. Hewitt told Rupe he worked there, but didn't have the keys. At first, Hewitt said someone else was driving the Impala, but then told Rupe that wasn't so, according to the report.

&#8220All right, you got me,” Hewitt said. &#8220My license is revoked, man.”

&#8220He was flat-out lying,” said Suzanne Powell, assistant district attorney. &#8220He had to admit that at trial. We had the owner who said he never worked there.”

The same defense, that someone else was driving, didn't work for Jimmie L. Connell either. Connell, 40, went to trial in front of District Court Judge John Wolfe, who was appointed acting Superior Court Judge.

Connell was charged with felony DUI, reckless driving, driving without a valid license and fourth-degree weapons misconduct.

According to the police report by Alaska State Trooper Shannon Fore, on April 18, 2005, just before 7 p.m., Connell crashed his 1992 Plymouth Voyager minivan at the intersection of Big Lake Road and Birch Lake Drive. The minivan left the road at about 40 mph, traveled across the bike path and crashed into a clump of trees without leaving any brake marks. Troopers found a two rifles and a bag of ammunition in the vehicle.

At the hospital, Connell's blood alcohol measured .319, something that surprised the doctor who treated him for the 3-centimeter cut on his forehead.

According to notes written by Dr. Michael Alter, Connell wasn't acting very drunk. If one didn't smell the alcohol, one would hardly know, he wrote at the time.

Connell never said someone else was driving, but during the trial his defense attorney put another man on the stand, saying that man was driving, according to Richard Payne, assistant district attorney .

&#8220That was the first I heard about it,” Payne said. &#8220And he seemed to be surprised to hear he was driving.”

Connell's jury went out for lunch and deliberations at about 12:20 Wednesday, and returned with a guilty verdict on all counts at about 2:20, Payne said.

According to court records, Hewitt was on probation when he got his first DUI arrest in March 2000. Hewitt accepted a plea agreement in June 2000 and was ordered into the state's Alcohol Safety & Action Program.

In May 2001, Hewitt was charged with reckless driving and driving without a valid license. He pleaded no contest to the charges in November 2001, and was sentenced to 120 days in jail, with 110 suspended. Hewitt was charged in September 2004 with driving without a valid license, and pleaded no contest to the charge a month later.

Hewitt's second arrest for DUI came in June 2005, along with another invalid license charge, improper use of plates and a petition to revoke his probation. He pleaded no contest to the DUI charge in September 2005, was fined $3,000 and sentenced to 120 days in jail with 100 suspended.

Hewitt is scheduled to be sentenced on his new conviction on July 14.

Court records show Connell's first DUI conviction in Palmer court in 1988, followed by charges in 1994, November 1995, and 1999. He also has convictions for assault and violating a protective order. Connell has two open cases from April 2005 for allegedly leaving the scene of an accident and driving without a valid license, and another assault charge from March 2005.

Connell sentencing date had not been posted at press time. [double check]

According to Payne, the district attorney's office has taken the same number of DUI cases to trial so far this year as they did all of last year. And, although neither Payne nor Powell had a reason for the increased number of trials, they both had personal reasons for prosecuting DUI cases.

&#8220I want to be safe,” Powell said. &#8220And I want the community to be safe. If treatment will stop them, then something else needs to stop them.” Payne had an uncle who was killed by a drunk driver before he was born, and he thought society settled the issue.

&#8220Before I became a criminal prosecutor, I thought people had it figured out,” he said. &#8220I don't like the threat to the public. Drunk drivers scare me, they just scare me.”

Contact Mary Ames at 352-2284 or mary.ames@ frontiersman.com.