By Jeff Lehr
Globe Staff Writer
JOPLIN, Mo. —
A Webb City man was assessed a suspended sentence Monday on an assault conviction for operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated in an accident two years ago that caused serious injuries to another man.
Justin M. Allen, 32, pleaded guilty March 22 in Jasper County Circuit Court to second-degree assault in connection with a two-vehicle accident May 13, 2008, on Highway 43 north of Joplin.
A passenger in the other vehicle, Ervin P. Langan, suffered a concussion, broken ribs, and injuries to a knee and ankle. Allen also was injured in the accident north of Ivy Road in Jasper County, according to a probable-cause affidavit.
The affidavit signed by a state trooper states that the trooper asked Allen after the accident, as he was being loaded into an ambulance, if he had been drinking. The defendant reportedly acknowledged that he had consumed some beer.
But he refused a portable breath test, and the trooper arrested him, the affidavit states. He later told the trooper that he’d had too much to drink to be driving but refused a blood test as well, according to the affidavit.
Allen’s guilty plea was part of a plea agreement with the Jasper County prosecutor’s office. The agreement limited the prison time he might be assessed to no more than four years.
Circuit Judge Gayle Crane on Monday assessed the defendant the full seven years allowed by state law for the Class C felony offense, but suspended execution of the sentence and placed him on supervised probation for five years.
The judge ordered that an interlock device be placed on all vehicles Allen drives to prevent him from driving while intoxicated.
Jasper County Circuit Court records show that Allen had a conviction for excessive blood-alcohol content in 2003, and that his driver’s license was suspended at the time of the 2008 accident that injured Langan.
