State Rep. Carr denies DUI charges
BARRE - Berlin police stopped a state representative in mid-January after an officer saw a driver cross the white fog line and yellow center line several times on Vermont 62 while going 15 mph above the speed limit, according to court papers.
Rep. Stephen Carr, D-Brandon, 66, later told an officer he had been driving to Barre from the Capitol Plaza Hotel and Conference Center in Montpelier after eating dinner and having several drinks. The officer reported that Carr was clumsy in retrieving necessary documents and was slightly slurring his speech. The officer also smelled alcohol, court papers state.
Carr pleaded not guilty Thursday to two charges of first-offense driving under the influence of alcohol arising from the Jan. 14 stop. Judge Kirstin Schoonover ordered Carr released on conditions, including that he refrain from driving a car or consuming alcohol.
Carr, through his lawyer, Brooks McArthur, declined comment on the way out of Vermont Superior Court in Barre following Thursday's less than five-minute hearing.
During the January stop, Carr cooperated with field sobriety tests and submitted an evidentiary breath test to police, which recorded a blood alcohol content of 0.149 percent almost an hour after Carr's 11 p.m. stop. The legal limit for adult drivers in Vermont is 0.08 percent.
Carr told police he stopped drinking alcohol about 30 minutes before getting into the car, and said he had consumed one beer and several glasses of wine along with a meat dinner, according to court papers prepared by Berlin police officer Jared Mitchell.
Mitchell noted that Carr was unsteady while getting out of his Honda Ridgeline, and he lost balance while completing roadside sobriety tests, court papers state. Throughout interaction with police, Carr was "polite" and "cooperative," Mitchell stated in the affidavit.
Carr was eventually released by police into the custody of his son pending his arraignment Thursday.
If found guilty, Carr faces up to two years in prison or up to $750 in fines for each of his two charges. One misdemeanor charge is a general DUI allegation, while the other alleges that he was over the legal limit of 0.08 percent blood alcohol content.
Carr, in his second term in Montpelier, serves on the House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development in the Vermont Legislature, according to his online biography.
There have been no moves in the Legislature to sanction Carr over the incident.
Contributing: April Burbank, Free Press. Contact Elizabeth Murray at 651-4835 or emurray@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/LizMurraySMC.