Men sentenced to prison in DUI cases
URBANA — Three local men were recently sentenced to prison in driving under the influence cases in Champaign County as a result of negotiated plea agreements accepted by Judge Richard Klaus:
— Edward Gelzenlichter,47, whose last known address was in the 1100 block of Silver Street, Urbana, was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to DUI in two separate cases.
Assistant State's Attorney Sam Rosenberg said that on March 26, Gelzenlichter was arrested in the 200 block of North Lincoln in Urbana after he became enraged at a man whose vehicle he was following. He got out and came at the man with a tire iron but witnesses stopped him from hitting the man, Rosenberg said. He was arrested for DUI.
In the second case, he was stopped on April 12 at Mattis Avenue and Glenn Park Drive in Champaign for a traffic violation. Rosenberg said police discovered he had bloodshot and glassy eyes and that he failed field sobriety tests.
Rosenberg said Gelzenlichter had three prior DUI convictions.
— John King, 56, who listed an address in the 1700 block of Lynnwood, Champaign, was sentenced to three years in prison after he pleaded guilty to aggravated driving under the influence.
Rosenberg said on May 8, 2010, King hit another vehicle as he was making a turn at Bradley Avenue and Hagan Street in Champaign. He admitted drinking four beers and that he was under the influence, Rosenberg said. Police found open and empty beer containers in his car.
King had three prior convictions for driving under the influence, which made this one non-probationable, Rosenberg said.
Klaus allowed King to turn himself in to begin serving his sentence Oct. 4.
— Victor Alvarado, 34, who listed addresses in both the 3800 block of Sandstone Drive, Champaign and the 1400 block of Briarcliff Drive, Urbana, was sentenced to 30 months in prison for aggravated driving under the influence. Rosenberg said on May 30, about 2:10 a.m., police stopped him for running a stop sign near Bradley Avenue and Bluegrass Lane.
At the time of the stop, he showed signs of impairment. Rosenberg said Alvarado had no driver's license or insurance.
Once again i think exact opposite should be done. People should not be going to prison for a DUI charge. This does nothing to help the root cause of the behavior which is possible alcoholism. In my opinion prison should only house the most violent offenders of our society and is not a place for non violent drug or alcohol abusers. These people should be given court ordered treatment for alcoholism and have their licenses stripped not being sent to prison so our tax money cause house and feed them for 3 or 4 or less years. You can get popped off with a child molestation or child porn charge and get probation or less time in prison than a DUI. Does that make any sense to you?Which would you rather live by a non violent drug or alcohol offender or a child molester?
In most cases, I would agree with you that non-violent offenders should be kept out of jails and made less of a taxpayer burden. But in the case of drunk drivers with multiple offenses, I don't see another way. Yes, they need treatment for their alcoholism, but in the meantime we also need a way to keep them from getting behind the wheel. One well-known radio host compares a drunk driver to a terrorist - you never know when their "bomb" will go off and injure or kill someone. I agree. Taking away their license does nothing - just look how often a repeat offense goes hand in hand with a driving on a suspended license charge. While a habitual drunk driver's thought process may not necessarily be the same as that of a violent criminal's, the results of their actions are often just as tragic.
Heres how I look at the stats, take the number of people that drive- drunk and not drunk everyday compared to number of accidents that occur with the same drivers and the % is really low the actual number of drunk driving or non drunk driving accidents. Im pretty confident that the number people killed in non drunk driving accidents is prob hgher or bout the same as people who were drunk. If the person would get treatment after the first time they got caught with a DUI it would significantly reduce the number of multiple offenders. As a Libertarian I really dislike the government telling people they can or can not do something but in case of chronic DUI offenders they should at least ankle bracelet them to where they can monitor if they are driving or not. If they are put on intense probation with in home visits they can monitor if they are drinking. I just feel our government rather just throw everyone in prison and make money for private owned prison systems than get people the proper treatment they need.
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