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Friday, December 11, 2009
Ind. Courts - LaPorte County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Alevizos in news again today
Supplementing this ILB entry from yesterday, where the judge received a Distinguished Hoosier Award from the Corrections Department, Stan Maddux reports today in the Michigan City News-Dispatch:
LA PORTE - La Porte Circuit Court Judge Tom Alevizos rejected a plea agreement Thursday because it called for no jail time.Alevizos said Brandon Clark, 36, La Porte, has 11 prior arrests for operating while intoxicated and four previous convictions.
The judge then pointed to statistics that show alcohol-related fatalities have gone down nationwide from 26,173 in 1982 to 13,846 last year due to increased enforcement.
"That's more people alive per year than the sum total of everyone killed on 9/11, Iraq and Afghanistan in terms of American casualties," said Alevizos, who has sought jail time for chronic drunk drivers since taking the bench nearly two years ago.
The plea agreement called for six months of work release for operating while intoxicated.
In August, La Porte Police officer Chae Uhlemann said a train just passed through a crossing at Tipton and Washington streets, but the vehicle driven by Clark sat at the crossing for nearly 30 seconds before accelerating at a high rate. Police said he was stopped following a short chase and had a blood alcohol level of .503 percent. Bottles of vodka and rum were found in his vehicle.
"The plea is far too lenient for a person of your record," Alevizos said before scheduling another hearing in the case for Jan. 20.
According to court records, Clark was deemed a habitual traffic violator in 1999 and had his driving privileges suspended for 10 years.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on December 11, 2009 01:55 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts