May 17, 2008 12:17 am
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By Melissa Dunson
mdunson@joplinglobe.com
Heather Jensen, 29, spent four years in prison for killing her best friend while driving under the influence of methamphetamines. She called her sentence a slap on the wrist.
“I should have gotten more time,” Jensen, of Webb City, said.
Today, Jensen is a proponent of tougher sentences for anyone involved in driving while under the influence of any substance or for providing drugs or alcohol to minors, especially if someone dies because of it.
Jensen isn’t alone.
Police officers, victims’ families and others are calling for tougher penalties for those involved in the deaths of teenagers when alcohol, drugs, recklessness or negligence is involved.
Missouri law
Dan Whitworth, a general practice attorney in Joplin, said penalties for driving under the influence, being a minor in possession or selling or providing alcohol to a minor vary from a fine to 5 to 15 years behind bars.
A minor who is driving is considered intoxicated at a much lower level than adults, he said. Minors can be arrested for DWI at 0.02, while adults have to register 0.08. People can be charged with driving under the influence of drugs with any amount of the drug in their system, Whitworth said.
A first-offense DUI is a Class B misdemeanor in Missouri punishable by a fine of up to $500 and six months in jail. Repeat offenders can get progressively more serious fines and jail time — up to $5,000 and 5 to 15 years in prison, according to Missouri statutes.
“You do see people get that much but they really have to be a perpetual offender,” Whitworth said.
In Missouri, minors also can be charged with possession of alcohol if they are found with the bottle, or with alcohol in their blood stream. That minor in possession by consumption law is unique to Missouri, Whitworth said. The penalty for being a minor in possession is similar to, but lower, than the beginning penalty for DWI or DUI.
Providing alcohol to a minor, either by selling it as a retailer or furnishing it to them as a friend or parent also carries a fine of $500 and not more than 6 months in jail. On the second offense, Whitworth said that penalty can jump to a fine of up to $1,000 and one year in county jail.
Businesses that sell to minors can also face other penalties as well. The employee who sold the alcohol can be fined or charged as well as the business.
“They’re looking for repeat violations,” he said. “(Alcohol Control) is very serious with how they do it. They make those businesses stay on their toes.”
The record
Records from the Missouri Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control indicate most businesses that sell alcohol to minors are generally fined, or at most lose their liquor license for just a few days.
According to documents obtained through a Missouri Open Records request, there were 43 alcohol retailers in Jasper and Newton counties cited for selling alcohol to a minor from Jan. 1, 2006, to the present. Most of those businesses were fined, with fines ranging from $150 to $700. The average fine was $200 to $400. Several businesses caught during that time were only warned. Four of the businesses were suspended from selling alcohol for up to 5 days as a penalty; none had their licenses permanently revoked.
Documents provided by the state agency also suggest a varied response to repeat offenses.
A Kum & Go, 3505 S. Range Line Road, was cited on Jan. 7 and again on Jan. 28, 2006, for selling to minors, but only received warnings each time. A Grace Energy location, 3347 Range Line Road, was cited March 16 and again on May 18, 2007, and received fines of $500 and $700 respectively.
“I don’t think they are near tough enough,” said Kerry Freeman, head of Jasper County’s Mothers Against Drunk Driving. “I would think they do need to lose their license ... pull their license, that would hit their pocketbooks more than a $500 fine.”
Sue Hirshey, owner of Sue’s C-Store, 26206 Fir Road, in Carl Junction, said consistency and observation are needed from the stores to screen underage kids and to ensure adults are not purchasing for minors. Sue’s C-Store has no violations for sales to underage minors.
“It’s just a matter of carding everyone,” Hirshey said in a phone interview.
One situation that Hirshey or her employees have seen is where an adult will enter the store and try to purchase alcohol -- with several teens waiting in their car.
Sometimes, it’s just parents buying alcohol for themselves while
“You just have to watch the situation and try to read people,” Hirshey said. “We have refused to sell if it looks like they are taking orders for kids
The Missouri Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control did not return multiple phone calls made to its Jefferson City office over the last two weeks.
Freeman wants tougher sentences not only for retailers but also for any adult who buys it for a minor as well as those who are driving drunk.
Freeman’s 18-year-old daughter, Christina, was killed after getting in the car with a 17-year-old driver, who according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, had allegedly been using drugs and alcohol.
Freeman attends local trials dealing with driving under the influence and said some offenders end up paying a high price for their actions, but it’s usually only after repeated offenses.
“There needs to be stiffer consequences for the first offense, not just the ninth,” Freeman said. “One drunk driver gets 120 days, another gets life in prison.”
Officers respond
Newton County Sheriff Ken Copeland said his department responds to a minor in possession of alcohol differently depending on the circumstance. Sometimes officers will make arrests. Other times, if the offender is under 17, the case will be referred to the juvenile office. Sometimes, the teenager’s parents are called.
Most of the time, authorities respond to large parties with underage drinkers based on noise complaints lodged by neighbors, although occasionally they will hear about the parties in advance from other teens. The underage drinkers will often enlist older friends, and sometimes relatives, to purchase alcohol for them, Copeland said.
So far this year, the department has responded to several large parties. The larger ones can draw 75 people and pose difficulties when the majority are minors and it is not clear who has been drinking and who has not, Copeland said.
“There is no way in the world we can arrest everybody,” Copeland said. “Not everyone who is there is drinking. There is no way we can arrest 75 to 80 kids.”
Authorities will often try to determine who is hosting the party and track down the source of the alcohol so they can be cited, Copeland said.
Carthage Police Department School Resource Officer Sgt. Van Bennett faces a similar problem. He said he often doesn’t hear about large parties until after they happen, and when they do catch minors drinking, there is a code of silence between teens and sometimes even parents, so many times the source of the alcohol can’t be established.
“I’ve had people refuse to testify because they didn’t think it was a big deal,” Bennett said. “It’s the apathy of those who refuse to get involved that make it so difficult.”
Bennett isn’t convinced that tougher penalties would make a difference.
“Stiffer penalties would act as a deterrent, but enforcing them may be harder,” he said.
Carl Junction Police Department School Resource Officer Mike Hulderman thinks there are plenty of laws that try to prevent teens from dying in tragic accidents, but they just aren’t always enforced. In most cases, he said, parents who buy alcohol for teens spend a night in jail, bond out, go to court and pay a fine.
Time to think
As for Jensen, she said her four years in prison helped save her. She thought she would get 120 days in jail. When the judge handed down her four-year sentence, she said he told her that she might not understand his reasons for the longer sentence then, but that later she would thank him.
Jensen said it took her all four years to fully grasp what she’d done, grieve and rebuild her life. A 120-day sentence would not have been enough, she said.
“I was so cold hearted from the time of the wreck until I went to prison, that I didn’t really deal with anything,” she said.
Jensen went to school while in prison, got her GED, and worked on the highway clean up crew. She also went to counseling while in prison and did a lot of crying.
“I had to grow up all over again,” she said.
Ranked 9th
In 2006, Joplin ranked 9th on a list of Missouri cities in frequency of drinking-related crashes. The city had a total of 86 drinking-related traffic accidents. Jasper, Barry, Newton and McDonald counties were all among the top 25 percent of Missouri counties in frequency of drinking-related crashes.
Source: Missouri State Highway Patrol
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