Judge jails Colorado lawyer who showed up drunk for drunk driving sentencing

After three drunken driving arrests in 18 months, a Colorado lawyer agreed to plead guilty in all three cases and be sentenced in Arapahoe County Court earlier this year.

According to state disciplinary documents, when the attorney, Denise Kay, showed up for sentencing in January 2024, the presiding judge “questioned whether she was under the influence and ordered her to submit to a preliminary breath test,” which revealed an alcohol level in the breath. of .324, four times the legal limit for DUI in Colorado.

“The judge found Kay in direct contempt and committed her to the county jail for three days,” according to the disciplinary order.

The case highlights some of the problems with current deterrence strategies aimed at reducing drunk driving and emphasizes emerging technologies aimed at stopping drunk drivers that anti-DUI activists call of “monumental”.

Kay, 56, had no criminal record in Colorado until 2022, when she backed into a parked car in Littleton. His blood alcohol content was 0.298, more than three times the legal limit.

She pleaded guilty in October 2022 and was sentenced to 12 months of probation and ordered to use an interlock device on her car, which is essentially a breathalyzer for a vehicle.

It requires the driver to blow into a mouthpiece of the device before starting or continuing to drive the vehicle.

While on probation, Kay, an employment lawyer, was arrested by Sheridan police in August 2023 on suspicion of drunk driving. During the stop, police said Kay backed his car into a police car.

At the time, she was also driving another of his cars, which was not equipped with a locking device. She later pleaded guilty to drunken driving in the Sheridan case, and the charge of evading an interlock device was dismissed.

A few weeks later in Englewood, police went to a grocery store where Kay had driven her car into a pile of rocks. Her blood alcohol level was .297 and she was again charged with driving while intoxicated.

Being on probation, losing his license and being ordered to use an ignition interlock device did not stop Kay from repeatedly driving under the influence, according to court records and police reports.

“I'm not proud of any of this and I'm embarrassed by any of this,” Kay told CBS News Colorado.

“Drug addiction has no boundaries,” she said, noting that she is currently serving a prison sentence until October and is eligible for work release.

“I'm so grateful and I pray every day that I don't hurt anyone, and that's what's getting me through this,” she said.

Rebecca Green, executive director of Mothers Against Drunk Driving in Colorado, said that for some offenders, jail time, probation, interlock devices and having their license revoked aren't always effective deterrents.

“Someone who gets their first DUI has probably driven impaired 80 times before they get arrested,” Green said. She said Kay appeared to “really need care and treatment”.

Green said some repeat DUI drivers respond well when they hear the stories of DUI crash victims and survivors.

But she said the best deterrent to drunk driving – as revolutionary as the introduction of seat belts – may be an emerging technology called DADSS, or Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety, developed by the automotive industry and the federal government.