A Towaoc woman with four prior DUI convictions pleaded guilty Friday in 22nd Judicial District Court to driving under the influence.
Shondella Silas, 41, pleaded guilty to the Class 4 felony of driving under the influence with three or more priors. She faces a possible sentence of two to six years with the Colorado Department of Corrections with three years mandatory parole.
At the time of her arrest, she was prohibited both from drinking and from driving.
Silas had a mandatory protection order from a September robbery case, prohibiting her from consuming alcohol. Her Colorado driver’s license was revoked because of three or more refusals during prior DUI arrests.
Charges of driving under restraint, violating a protection order and driving without insurance were dismissed with her guilty plea to DUI.
In the September robbery case, Silas pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges of felony assault causing serious bodily injury, felony robbery and misdemeanor assault. That case is set for jury trial in July.
According to a Cortez Police Department incident report, the DUI stems from an incident outside City Market on Nov. 16.
A caller reported a possible drunken driver in the City Market parking lot. An officer found several people, including Silas, sitting on the curb next to a blue Mitsubishi with two empty vodka bottles inside. They said they didn’t know who had been driving the car.
After reviewing surveillance video, the officer was not able to identify the driver of the Mitsubishi. Silas and others were asked to leave City Market, according to the incident report.
The officer left City Market for another call and then returned to see if the Mitsubishi was still there. Instead, the officer found Silas driving the Mitsubishi on Montezuma Avenue, the report states.
The incident report states that Silas needed assistance from the car to stand up. During her arrest, the officer reported that Silas “refused everything,” including roadside sobriety tests and a breath test.
In Colorado, the Department of Motor Vehicles can revoke a driver’s license if the driver has refused chemical testing when an officer has probable cause that the driver was intoxicated. Because Silas had refused testing at least three times in the past, her license was revoked for three years at the time of her arrest.
She was transported to Southwest Memorial Hospital for medical clearance before being taken to Montezuma County Detention Center, where she blew a 0.152 blood alcohol content during a preliminary breath test, according to the incident report.
Judge Todd Plewe on Tuesday rejected a request from public defender Richard Sims that sought permission for Silas to remove a SCRAM continuous alcohol monitoring.
Deputy District Attorney Sheena Goldsborough argued against Sim’s request, stating Silas has been on alcohol monitoring for less than two months, which is not long enough to establish sobriety. Plewe agreed.
The judge made the record that Silas has DUI convictions from 1997, 2007, 2012 and 2018 with a separate conviction for driving while impaired in 2012.
“If you want to stay in the community, you need a SCRAM,” Plewe said.
sdolan@the-journal.com