Rep. Jim Lucas, who pleaded guilty earlier this month to misdemeanor charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated and leaving the scene of an accident, also pleaded guilty to a prior drunken driving charge in the 1980s, The Republic has confirmed. However, judgment was withheld in that case, and the record does not appear in law enforcement databases, sources said.
Lucas, a Republican from Seymour, has insisted he will not resign after he pleaded guilty to charges stemming from his May 31 crash into guardrails on Interstate 65 at the State Road 11 interchange, after which he fled the scene, drove his severely damaged truck three miles and was found walking before his arrest by Seymour police. On June 12, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to probation and other terms in Jackson Superior Court.
“This is a standard plea agreement for a first-time operating while intoxicated case, and the defendant is also pleading guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and agreeing to pay restitution for all property damage he caused,” Jackson County Prosecutor Jeffrey A. Chalfant told the court during Lucas’ sentencing earlier this month.
But records obtained by The Republic show this was not the first time Lucas pleaded guilty to a drunken driving charge. On Aug. 1, 1988, Lucas entered a guilty plea in the former North Vernon City Court to a charge of operating a vehicle while intoxicated.
Lucas did not reply to multiple messages Thursday seeking comment.
The records from 1988 show that Lucas was arrested by North Vernon police at 1:19 a.m. on July 17, 1988, after he was stopped for driving left of the center line on State Street. Lucas, now 59, was 24 at the time of that prior arrest.
An affidavit for probable cause obtained by The Republic shows that during Lucas’ 1988 arrest, a North Vernon police officer reported Lucas had an odor of alcohol, his eyes were bloodshot and his manual dexterity and balance were poor.
The officer administered two field sobriety tests that Lucas failed, the affidavit says, and a test showed Lucas’ blood alcohol level was .15% — one and-a-half times the 1988 legal limit of 0.10%.
Drunken driving penalties have increased significantly since Lucas’ original arrest. When Lucas pleaded guilty to OWI in 1988, records show, it didn’t leave much of a trail.
Lucas was ordered to pay a $500 fine plus program fees and court costs totaling $303. He was given no jail time or probation, and his license was not suspended. Further, the “special terms” on the one-page “Plea agreement and/or sentence” document Lucas signed reads, “Will not be certified to BMV/withheld judgement” (sic).
“I have seen this language before in other jurisdictions,” Chalfant, the Jackson County prosecutor, wrote in an email. “We do not use this language in Jackson County. This language means that there was no judgment and therefore no criminal conviction in this case.”
“If a court never enters judgment, then there is no conviction,” Chalfant wrote. … Mr. Lucas’ BMV record and the other databases … do not show that any prior conviction for OWI exists. The plea agreement in Mr. Lucas’ current case is a standard offer for first time OWI offenders, with the addition that he also did plead guilty to leaving the scene of an accident.”
In an interview with The Republic earlier this month, Chalfant said a prior conviction would have altered his approach to Lucas’ plea negotiations. Asked Thursday if knowledge of Lucas’ prior guilty plea would have resulted in Chalfant approaching plea negotiations differently, he replied:
“This 35-year-old arrest did not result in a conviction. I do not increase punishment for prior charges without convictions. I would have made the same agreement had I known this information.”
Lucas, whose district includes portions of Jackson, Bartholomew, Scott and Washington counties, pleaded guilty earlier this month to operating a vehicle while intoxicated, a Class C misdemeanor, and leaving the scene of an accident, a Class B misdemeanor.
The plea agreement came the same day that Chalfant’s office filed the charges against Lucas from the May 31 incidents, with the matter going from charges being filed to sentencing in fewer than eight hours.
Under the terms of the plea agreement, Lucas received a 60-day suspended jail sentence and one year of probation as well as a 180-day suspended jail sentence and one year of probation. Lucas’ driver’s license also was suspended for 60 days, with the exception of being permitted to drive only for the purposes of business in the counties where he has customers between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. weekdays. Lucas also will pay an estimated $3,929.62 in restitution and other fees and submit to an alcohol and drug abuse program for evaluation.
Lucas also may not possess or drink alcohol, and he may not possess any firearms or deadly weapons during his probationary period.
Read more in Friday’s edition of The Republic.
