Ky. senate passes bill to strengthen penalties for habitual drunk drivers
NC GAZETTE / WBRT RADIO
STAFF REPORT
Sen. Dennis Parrett of Elizabethtown speaks in regard to SB 34, which will strengthen penalties for habitual drunk drivers. Photo by LRC Public Information.
Thursday, Feb. 12, 2015, 8 p.m. — State Sen. Dennis Parrett’s bill to strengthen penalties for habitual drunken drivers passed on the floor of the Senate Thursday and is headed to the House of Representatives.
Senate Bill 34 would change what is known in legal circles as the “look back period” to 10 years from five years – meaning penalties for someone convicted of drunken driving multiple times in a 10-year period can be increased.
“I have said this many times as I have talked about this measure — for a lot of people, one DUI, as serious as it is, is a mistake. I respect that. Two is not a mistake. Two is a problem. Two, three, four DUIs is a big problem,” said Sen. Parrett, D-Elizabethtown.
He added that 96 percent of the time, repeat DUI offenders do so within a 10 year period.
In drafting this legislation, Parrett worked with the Hardin County Attorney Jenny Oldham, judges and others in his district, along with Rep. John Tilley, D-Hopkinsville and Senator Whitney Westerfield, R-Hopkinsville, who is a cosponsor of SB 34 and is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
If the bill becomes law, Parrett said it would be named the Brianna Taylor Act. Brianna was 17 when she died in a car wreck eight months ago in Hardin County. The Elizabethtown High School graduate was on her way home at the time of the crash.
The driver, 35-year-old Michael Hilton, of the other vehicle has been charged with driving under the influence, two counts of assault and murder. Parrett said that this is the sixth time Hilton has been charged with driving under the influence. Because of Hilton’s last drunken-driving conviction happened more than five years ago, the latest charge is considered his first under the legal definition of Kentucky current criminal statutes.
Brianna’s parents, David and Tonya Taylor, testified in favor of SB 34 when the bill was before the Senate Judiciary Committee meeting last week.
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