Rowlett mayor convicted of DWI
Leader fined, given 2 years' probation
07/23/2003
A Dallas County jury found Rowlett Mayor Shane Johnson guilty Tuesday of driving while intoxicated in January.
Judge Dan L. Wyde sentenced Mr. Johnson, 31, to two years' probation. Mr. Johnson also will have to pay an $800 fine and participate in community service.
Mr. Johnson, who has held several local radio marketing and account positions, became Rowlett's youngest mayor when he was elected in 2000.
"I am mayor elected, and I will continue to be," Mr. Johnson said moments after Tuesday's verdict was read.
It took the jury less than an hour to return the guilty verdict.
Shane Johnson |
Mr. Johnson was arrested about 12:30 a.m. Jan. 31 while driving in Rowlett near Lake Ray Hubbard. Police said Mr. Johnson failed several field sobriety tests and a breathalyzer test. Mr. Johnson's blood-alcohol level ranged from 0.129 to 0.117 percent on the night of the arrest, authorities said. The state limit for presumption of drunken driving is 0.08 percent.
Mr. Johnson's attorney, David Burrows, said he had hoped the jury would find his client not guilty.
"But any time you fail a breath test, it is tough," Mr. Burrows said. "Without that breath test, I believe there could have been a different result. But we don't argue with the jury's verdict."
Prosecutors Sam Moss and Kristy Kelley said they were pleased with Tuesday's decision.
"We think it was the appropriate one," Mr. Moss said. Mr. Johnson "took advantage of his right to have a trial, and the jury reached a decision. This case was no different ... than the hundred others that we have. There was the same set of facts."
Mr. Moss lauded an off-duty Dallas police officer for initially reporting Mr. Johnson's erratic driving on the night he was arrested. Senior Cpl. Dexter Ingram of Dallas testified that he was headed to his Rowlett home when he made his first-ever 911 call. The officer said he saw a vehicle stopped at a light at the intersection of Interstate 30 and Bobtown Road in eastern Dallas County.
The 10-year law enforcement veteran said the driver was lying back in the driver's seat.
"I didn't know whether he was conscious," Cpl. Ingram said. "I drove around him and made a left turn. He then sped away from the light."
Cpl. Ingram said he called a 911 operator and identified the vehicle, adding: "This guy is about ready to kill himself. He's running off the road. ... He's speeding; he's switching lanes."
Officer Kelly Praslicka, a six-year member of the department, said she saw Mr. Johnson driving erratically and speeding away from a stoplight at Miller Road. She said she pulled over the mayor, smelled a strong scent of alcohol on his breath and determined that he was intoxicated.
"He told me he had not had anything to drink," she testified.
A videotape from a camera mounted on Officer Praslicka's squad car showed Mr. Johnson saying later during the arrest that he had had at least two alcoholic beverages.
Mr. Johnson said on the day of the arrest that the incident was "highly uncharacteristic" of him. Mr. Johnson also noted a "gross failure in judgment" and said he was "not proud" of the incident.
During the trial, Mr. Burrows contended that his client was more sleep-deprived than intoxicated.
"Can sleep deprivation mimic intoxication?" Mr. Burrows asked the jury during his summation. "My client was courteous and respectful. He did everything police told him to do."
Mr. Johnson said the verdict will not change his relationship with the Rowlett Police Department.
"I will continue to have a working relationship," he said.
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