Document text
Drinking driver gets 25 months in prison A 67-year-old man with a long history of drunken driving was sentenced Monday to 25 months in prison. Leslie Loftis Jr., who listed a Phoenix address but also lives at the Veterans Affairs Domiciliary in White City, pleaded guilty in a Jackson County court to a felony charge of driving under the influence of intoxicants. Loftis was driving with a suspended license when he was arrested by Phoenix police April 25. The arresting officer stopped him at 12:20 a.m. after witnessing a traffic violation. Loftis refused to take a breath test and was too intoxicated to perform other sobriety tests, the officer reported. Deputy District Attorney Rachel Bridges said Loftis admitted in a taped confession that he had consumed alcohol. She said Loftis told the officer, "Oh, I'm way too intoxicated. I shouldn't be driving in the first place." Bridges said Loftis has nine previous drunken driving convictions. Public defender Eugene Thompson said the majority of Loftis' prior convictions took place in either 1970 or 1980. He urged Jackson County Judge Patricia Crain to consider the fact that Loftis was suffering from a medical condition at the time of his arrest. Thompson said Loftis had a head injury, but did not elaborate. "He wasn't motoring real well anyway," Thompson said, adding that his client suffered from chronic alcoholism. "Obviously, this is a problem. The question is, is putting him away going to do much good." In addition to jail time, Crain suspended Loftis' driver's license for three years. Loftis was ordered to pay a $500 fine and sentenced to 24 months of post-prison supervision. She urged Loftis to seek treatment while incarcerated. Court records show Loftis was convicted of drunken driving in 1995, 1992 and 1986 in Jackson County. He also was convicted in a Klamath Falls court in May 1997 and in Curry County in March 1995. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.