Woman sentenced beyond plea deal after fifth DUI
Flathead District Court Judge Amy Eddy went beyond the bounds of a plea agreement on Wednesday and gave a longer sentence to a woman who admitted to drinking with two and three times the legal limit of alcohol in her blood in two felony DUI cases that occurred within days of each other in July.
Krista Laverne Rodler, 40, was sentenced to 13 months with the Department of Corrections for placement in a DUI treatment program, followed by a consecutive three-year commitment to the Department of Corrections for her fourth DUI.
In that case Rodler pleaded guilty to felony driving under the influence after she was stopped by a Columbia Falls police officer on July 9. Rodler had driven through someone’s yard, and that person had gotten a license plate number to give to police. An officer located the vehicle traveling on Fourth Avenue East North, traveling above the posted speed limit, swerving into oncoming traffic. A marijuana cigarette was found in the ashtray and Rodler admitted to consuming alcohol before driving. She was so drunk she could not complete field tests, but a breath test indicated that she had a blood alcohol concentration of .271, more than three times the legal limit. At that time, Rodler already had three DUI convictions on her record from March 1998, April 1998 and June 2009.
Rodler was released from jail, and three days later, on July 12, Rodler was involved in a hit and run accident at a drive-thru in Evergreen. A witness followed Rodler until her vehicle stalled out on Birch Grove Road, four miles from the scene of the crash. Rodler eventually admitted to being involved in the crash, though she initially denied it. A breath sample indicated that Rodler’s blood alcohol concentration was .184, more than twice the legal limit. Rodler pleaded guilty in the case.
For that incident Eddy sentenced Rodler to a concurrent 13-month commitment to the Department of Corrections for placement in an alcohol treatment program, followed by a five-year suspended sentence to the Department of Corrections.
Eddy’s sentence for the fourth DUI included more time committed to the Department of Corrections than the plea agreement called for, but she said she was not happy with the fact that the incidents had occurred within days of each other, and not a week after Rodler had been released from a treatment facility. Eddy said that a pre-sentence investigation indicated that Rodler had started drinking on the bus home from the treatment facility. Eddy was further discouraged by Rodler’s lack of commitment to remain illegal substance-free since her arrest.
“You continued to test positive for meth through the fall,” Eddy said.
Rodler will receive credit for 19 days time served.
Reporter Megan Strickland can be reached at 758-4459 or mstrickland@dailyinterlake.com.