A 55-year old Anchorage woman has been charged with murder after last week's deadly crash on the Seward Highway.
A 55-year old Anchorage woman is charged with murder after the deadly crash on the Seward Highway, Nov. 5th, leaving one person dead and another critically injured.
Police say Lori Phillips was driving under the influence when her SUV crashed into another car. If Phillips is convicted, it will be her 5th DUI in 26 years.
Lori Phillips is not only charged with second degree murder, she is also charged with assault in the first degree, driving under the influence, driving with a revoked license, and reckless driving. According to her daughter, Whitney Phillips, who was at the arraignment on Nov. 8th, this comes at a time she was trying to get back on track.
"She (Lori Phillips) has been cooped up in the house for her previous charges and she just wanted to get out I guess and she had been doing really well, she had been going to treatment and she was doing really well," Phillips said.
Before the crash on Nov. 5th, Phillips was charged with a DUI back in March and had been ordered not to drive or drink alcohol. Those previous charges are why prosecutors charged her with a much more serious crime. "What the District Attorney and the investigative detective had to do is sit down and try to match the evidence that they have against the elements of the various crimes. They felt like they had evidence supporting a murder two, rather than just manslaughter charge," said Lt. Dave Parker, with the Anchorage Police Department.
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According to the DUI watch group, 'Alcohol Alert', a quarter of Alaska's traffic fatalities in 2008 was alcohol related. Although Alaska joined 7 other states in requiring all convicted drunk drivers to install an alcohol ignition interlock device in their vehicle, some lawmakers say that is not enough.
That is why Representative Harry Crawford is planning to introduce an expanded version of his 'Alcohol ID License' legislation he originally introduced in 2005, which would fine the repeat offenders $2,000. Half of that amount would reward the clerks. According to Rep. Crawford, currently, a repeat offender is fined a $1,000 and rewards businesses that do not sell alcohol to repeat offenders who have a mark on the driver's licenses for previous DUI charges. "There are an awful lot of people that are not confiscating the licenses and they are not following through and I want them to follow through, so to make it more difficult for repeat offenders to buy alcohol and to continue to offend once again," said Rep. Harry Crawford, D- Anchorage.
Lori Phillips bail is set at $100,000 with a court approved third party required for release and is scheduled to be arraigned Nov. 11th at 2:30pm at the Anchorage Jail Court.
Police have not yet named the man killed in the crash; they say they will do that after Phillips is arraigned, Nov. 11th, because they have not yet notified next of kin.
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