Former Champaign officer starts jail sentence for DUI
URBANA — A former Champaign police detective began serving time Monday morning at the Champaign County jail for driving while drunk.
Lisa Staples, 41, pleaded guilty on May 17 to misdemeanor DUI for driving while drunk on Dec. 19. About 9:30 p.m. that day, she hit a sport utilty vehicle, driven by a Mahomet teen, from behind on County Road 1600N near Bondville.
On Monday, Judge Jeff Ford sentenced Staples, whose last known address was on Frank Drive in Champaign, to 180 days in jail and two years of probation. She was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and $1,609 in restitution; to serve 150 hours of public service; to complete all treatment and counseling recommended by her substance-abuse evaluation; to wear an alcohol-monitoring bracelet after she gets out of jail and to attend self-help sobriety meetings for 26 weeks.
Ford said Staples will serve at least 20 days of the 180-day jail sentence, with credit for two days already served. The remaining 160 days are held in remission, meaning that Ford can impose as few or as many of them as he sees fit should she violate the terms of her probation.
In addition, Ford ordered her not to work at any business that sells alcohol, meaning she must leave her job as a restaurant manager at Jupiter's at the Crossing in Champaign.
how nice of the court system we all know this case and the person in question here.Only 180 days in the county after good time is 90 days and of course she will be a trustee have her own cell.Why not have her spend the time in another county?I feel the champaign county court system is jacked
really?
Considering that another woman had a case recently adjudicated in Champaign, receiving 18 months in prison for a DUI in which she was driving the wrong way on I-57, struck another vehicle and caused injuries to the other driver (broken heel and fractured tailbone), I'd say Lisa Staples got off easy. The woman in the other case had no prior convictions, and was convicted (under a plea agreement) of aggravated DUI. Lisa Staples was convicted (under a plea agreement) of misdemeanor DUI, and had a felony charge involving providing false information to obtain a driver's license dropped. The accident that Ms. Staples caused was not just some simple bump into another vehicle (see photos at http://stoplisa.blogspot.com/ ).
It seems to me that there is some disparity in the way these DUI cases were handled (and no, I am not condoning or excusing what the other woman did). Maybe next time around Ms. Staples will get caught in another county.
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