A Hailey man has been sentenced to four years in prison for driving drunk one too many times.
Twenty-seven-year-old Heber Jared Duke has been convicted twice for DUI. The first incident was an aggravated DUI in 2007 in which a friend was dragged down the highway after the friend's shirt became caught in a car door. The second was in 2009 and was automatically charged as a felony because of Duke's prior felony DUI conviction.
Sentence was imposed Monday in Blaine County 5th District Court by Judge Robert J. Elgee. Duke was given credit for 364 days already spent behind bars.
In the first conviction, Duke was given credit for time served and placed on probation for five years. The second conviction led to the revocation of his probation.
Duke's DUI problems started the evening of Sept. 27, 2007. A probable-cause affidavit filed by Blaine County Sheriff's Deputy Mark Dalton describes what happened.
Dalton wrote that witnesses saw Duke pull out of the Suntree Hollow trailer park and head north on state Highway 75 with a "dark object flapping and caught on the passenger door." Dalton further stated that the witnesses "realized it was person being dragged and they begin flashing their headlights to get the driver to stop."
Dalton wrote that Duke stopped and the witnesses convinced him and the injured man to go with them to nearby St. Luke's Wood River Medical Center. Police were then called; Duke was interviewed and subsequently arrested.
Duke was earlier ordered to pay about $45,000 in medical expenses for his friend's injuries.
Duke's second DUI arrest was in downtown Hailey shortly after midnight on Dec. 27, 2009. In another probable-cause affidavit, Hailey police officer Shane Manning wrote that he pulled the vehicle over for "failing to maintain its lane and traveling without its headlights and taillights on."
Duke was arrested and taken to the Blaine County jail. Manning wrote that a blood-alcohol test was given there and Duke tested .230, nearly three times the legal driving limit of .08.
Terry Smith: tsmith@mtexpress.com
Herber J. Duke
