DUI victim, offender pleased with new bill
Lawmakers passed a bill Wednesday that would make an offender’s fourth DUI a felony, punishable with prison time and hefty fines.
Colorado joined a majority of states in the U.S. that punish DUI drivers with felonies. The bill is now headed to Gov. John Hickenlooper’s desk to be signed into law.
Jeanie Highline wishes the punishment was tougher, but is pleased with the bill. She lost her husband, Craig Highline, in October 2008 to a DUI driver. Craig Highline was driving home on his motorcycle at night when he was rear-ended by a drunken driver.
“We didn’t expect it to be Craig’s turn that night, we didn’t expect it to be anybody in our family’s turn. We thought it wasn’t going to happen to us but it did,” said Highline.
The drunken driver changed her life forever. She now volunteers with Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
“It was a rough row to hoe. It still is some days. Even this morning, there are still mornings I wake up and think it’s all just going to be a bad dream and he is still going to be next to me this morning,” said Highline.
Vaughn Littrell was also pleased with the bill. Littrell knows first hand, the punishment isn’t enough.
“It wasn’t until I was sitting there with a 10-year prison sentence at the department of corrections that you start to think ‘wow, this is serious, I just killed someone drinking and driving’ and at that point the damage has been done,” said Littrell.
Littrell got his second DUI 10 months after his first DUI. On the day of his second arrest, he said he knew he shouldn’t be driving, but he got behind the wheel. His car flipped, seriously injuring his sons and killing a woman in the other car.
“I hit a lady on her side door, flush. She died instantly. Her passenger was on a coma for 30 days and her son would never see his mom again,” said Littrell.
He believes this harsher punishment will deter people from driving while intoxicated.
If this bill gets signed into law, there will only be four states remaining that don’t have felony DUI penalties.
