ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, March 31, 1997 TAG: 9703310100
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
The defendant said the truck was weaving because it had 280,000 miles on it and the steering was loose.
A man whose record includes six drunken-driving convictions - and 10 more for driving with a suspended license - could spend up to a year in jail after being caught yet again driving with a suspended license.
Randall Stevenson, 41, had had his license suspended more than a dozen times when he was pulled over about 1:30 a.m. on June 22. His car had been weaving, police said, and he failed several sobriety tests.
A jury deliberated about two hours Friday before finding Stevenson guilty of driving without a license. After 20 more minutes, they suggested he get a year in jail and $2,500 fine.
The panel could not reach a unanimous verdict on whether Stevenson was drunk at the time. Circuit Judge Preston Grissom declared a mistrial on that charge, and Stevenson will be retried May5.
Stevenson's truck weaved across the road several times before he was stopped, police Officer Amy McNutt testified. She said his eyes appeared bloodshot, watery and glassy. He also swayed when he walked and seemed to smell faintly of alcohol, she said.
Stevenson also did not recite the alphabet correctly, McNutt testified, and could not count the fingers on his hand in the manner she had requested.
Stevenson said he'd had two beers and part of a third that night but did not consider himself driving-impaired. He said the truck was weaving because it had 280,000 miles on it and the steering was loose.
He blamed his stagger on inflamed joints.
Defense attorney Albert Fary Jr. argued the smoky pool hall his client had visited could explain the appearance of his eyes.
Fary also noted that Stevenson had caused no ``near accidents.''
``Thank God there was no one else on the road that night,'' prosecutor Andrew James said.
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