Ever Olivos-Gutierrez has had a knack for drinking, driving and getting caught. Each time, his blood-alcohol level was higher than the time before, reaching two, three and allegedly four times the legal limit.
Each time, he was able to walk away without severe consequences, until he killed a 17-year-old boy early Monday and was captured while trying to drive away.
Colorado is one of just four states that don’t impose felony penalties for drunken driving. Previous efforts to push through a bill changing that have failed, but a bill introduced earlier this year appears to be gaining early momentum.
The bill’s supporters say budgets and outcry could make this year successful. Prosecutors warn that without a change in the law, they will continue to lack the ability to bring harsher charges and punishments against repeat offenders before a violent or deadly crash.
Repeat DUI offenders fill court dockets across the state. In some judicial districts, up to eight cases involving third-time DUI offenders are filed every week.
In 2009, a special investigation by The Denver Post illustrated the state’s weak punishments of multiple DUI offenders. In reviewing 202 vehicular homicide DUI cases, The Post found inconsistent sentences, cases that included no jail time and offenders who were released and later drove drunk and killed again.
State lawmakers promised to create stricter sentences, but a felony DUI bill failed in a House committee in 2010. A similar bill died again last year.
Fran Lanzer, state executive director for Mothers Against Drunk Driving Colorado, said cost has been repeatedly cited as a reason for Colorado failing to create a felony charge for DUI. Pennsylvania, Maryland, Maine and the District of Columbia also lack felony laws.
“It’s a money issue,” Lanzer said. “As a state, do we prioritize this? Because that’s what a budget is, priorities.”
Olivos-Gutierrez, who never obtained a Colorado driver’s license, was sentenced to less than a year in jail for more than a decade of traffic offenses — including two DUIs.
This week, his blood-alcohol level was almost four times the legal limit as he ran a red light in Aurora and smashed his SUV into a Chevrolet Camero driven by 17-year-old Juan Carlos Dominguez-Palomino at East Colfax Avenue and South Dayton Street in Aurora, according to an arrest affidavit.
Dominguez-Palomino died in his car. Olivos-Gutierrez, who has been living in the country illegally since January 2004, faces a charge of first-degree murder with extreme indifference and five other counts.
Waller touts bill
In recent years, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have refocused deportation efforts to target those who commit more serious criminal offenses. A felony DUI law could help alert agents to people living in the country illegally when they are arrested for drunken driving.
In 2013, 133 people died from accidents involving drunken driving, said Rep. Mark Waller, R-Colorado Springs. For the second year, Waller has introduced legislation that would make some DUI charges felonies for repeat offenders.
“If you get your first DUI, fifth DUI or 10th DUI, the punishment is the same,” Waller said.
Under the proposed law, anyone who gets a third DUI in seven years, or is charged with a fourth DUI, will be charged with a Class 4 felony. That charge carries a sentence of up to six years in prison.
In past years, opponents of the measure claimed the price tag was too high. But a boost in state revenue means this year gives the bill its best chance of passing, Waller said.
The bill easily moved out of committee with bipartisan support and is sitting in the Appropriations Committee — where some supporters worry it will die. On Thursday, Waller asked for $1.7 million to be set aside in the budget to fund the first year of the measure. The bill’s fiscal note estimates the budget for future years will be around $18 million, but Waller said he expects the real world costs will be lower.
Ferrandino’s concerns
“We have the money to do it this year,” Waller said. “If we don’t do it this year, we will never have a budget circumstance better than we have right now.”
House Speaker Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver, said Thursday he has concerns.
“The question is what is the right remedy to deal with this,” he said. “Putting them (offenders) in prison for a year is a penalty and definitely there deserves to be penalties on this, but it doesn’t change behavior, especially if they have substance abuse issues.”
Ferrandino, who supported the bill last year, said he would like to see provisions for DUI court programs.
Twentieth Judicial District Attorney Stan Garnett has long supported creating felony charges for repeat DUI offenders. On average, five to eight cases filed in his district each week involve defendants facing a third DUI.
“You have to try pretty hard to get two DUIs, and by the time you have three, you are, by definition, a very dangerous person,” Garnett said.
Currently, all DUI offenses are misdemeanor charges with a maximum sentence of one year in jail.
A felony DUI charge makes it easier to obtain harsher sentences for drunken drivers before they cause deadly accidents, Garnett said.
“What you want to have with this kind of criminal enforcement is a complete tool kit to do what you need to do to hold people accountable,” Garnett said. “That needs a felony DUI bill.”
Jordan Steffen: 303-954-1794, jsteffen@denverpost.com or twitter.com/jsteffendp
Staff reporter Kurtis Lee contributed to this report.
