St Joseph City Council member “Spanky” O’Dell was treated exactly the same way anyone else in similar circumstances is treated. The judge said so, the prosecutor said so, and his lawyer said so.
O’Dell on Tuesday pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor offense of operating a motor vehicle with an excessive blood alcohol level, and was sentenced to one year of probation. The charges stemmed from a traffic stop last month. About an hour after he was pulled over, O’Dell’s blood alcohol level was tested by police at .067%, well below the threshold for drunk driving.
But in court he admitted that at the time he was driving he was breaking the law. That’s part of what lawyers call the “factual basis” for a guilty plea.
“In order to plead guilty, both he and his attorney have to agree that at the time he was operating the motor vehicle, his blood alcohol contest was above .08%,” says Buchanan County Prosecuting Attorney Dwight Scroggins. “That’s what his lawyer told the judge, and that’s why the judge accepted his guilty plea.”
According to experts, alcohol dissipates from your body at a rate of about .015% per hour. This figure is accepted by the law enforcement and scientific communities alike.
Scroggins was asked to handle what was originally a municipal court charge against Mr O’Dell, because of the potential for conflict of interest.
“I agreed to do that,” Scroggins said. “If it’s something that needs to be charged, I’ll charge it, and if it’s not, I won’t. It’s that simple.”
“He was not treated any better because he’s a city council member,” Scroggins said, “and it would not be appropriate for him to be treated any worse because he is a city council member.”
Scroggins says Mr O’Dell was polite and cooperative with the officer who pulled him over. The prosecutor also agreed with defense lawyer Jim Nadolski, who said Mr O’Dell has never been in trouble with the law and had a “spotless” driving record prior to this case.
“Ninety-five percent of first offenders in non-aggravated alcohol offenses, who are polite and cooperative with law enforcement, will get an identical or nearly identical sentence,” Scroggins said.