Font ResizeANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTVA-CBS 11 News) How much does it take to get a repeat offender off the street? When it comes to DUIs, turns out a lot.
Lori Phillips drove drunk over, and over, and over. Now she is facing murder charges, and the question on everyone's mind: What can we do to stop this from happening again?
A fatal traffic accident on November 5th left one man dead, his girlfriend critically injured, and 55-year-old Lori Phillips behind bars charged with murder.
Phillips is no stranger to DUIs. She has been accused of 5 in the last 26 years, 4 here in Alaska.
The chief municipal prosecutor says there is little they could do to stop Lori Phillips from getting behind the wheel drunk.
"This person is not going to pay any attention to the rules," says Al Patterson, Anchorage's Chief Municipal Prosecutor. "So if she is not going to pay attention to the rules, how are you going to stop her from doing it?"
4 years ago on November 23 2005, Lori Phillips was charged with DUI, alluding police, and refusing to take a Breathalyzer test.
During her sentencing on June 13 2006, we got a glimpse of the scope of Lori Phillips' problem with alcohol.
According to court records at about 4:00pm on November 23rd 2005, Phillip's teen daughter saw her mother driving toward Anchorage on the Seward Highway.
Phillips' daughter knew her mom liked to drive to Indian to drink and was afraid she might be driving drunk. She flagged her mother down and got
"Her daughter pleaded with her and said look, you have been drinking and don't drive. Please don't drive." Muni Attorney Jennifer Messick explained to the court at the sentencing, "Ignoring that, her mother got back in the vehicle and continued to drive."
Phillips made it as far as Potter Valley Road and turned into the mailbox area blocking the boxes. A neighbor trying to check his mail pulled up next to her and asked if she was all right.
Lori told him she was fine, but he was concerned, so he called police.
Phillips was still there when police showed up, with an open bottle of rum and an unopened bottle of wine in her car.
"The open container that the officers found in the vehicle - was an open bottle of rum, which they said was larger than a 750, but not an entire gallon, was about half gone," said Messick.
Officers tried to get her to roll her window down, and that was when Lori Phillips put the vehicle in drive and took off. They followed her with their lights and sirens on until Phillips tried to turn into her driveway. She missed and crashed into a snow bank.
During her sentencing Phillips blamed the whole thing on her teen daughter. "We had argued that morning and she was raging and she's vicious and she's violent," Lori Phillips told the judge, "Sometimes I just can't take it."
Phillips pled no contest on all three charges, and was sentenced to 6 days behind bars, had to pay thousands in fines, got her license revoked for 90 days and her truck impounded for 30 days.
Phillips was ordered to undergo alcohol treatment.
She was placed on probation for 4 years and could not commit any jailable offenses during that time.
After he handed down his sentence Judge S. Murphy had this to say: "Ms. Phillips, you're a smart person. I hope this is the last we ever see of you in the court system and definitely the last we have of you driving while intoxicated."
It would not be.
Phillips was arrested March 15 2009 for DUI. Keep in mind she was still on probation.
Now the question on everyone's mind: how was she allowed to get behind the wheel drunk again and cause a fatal accident?
"This particular individual, since they weren't put in jail for the rest of their life, they are out on the street, they have a right- they have the ability to get in a car and drive," explains Patterson.
In March, Phillips was spotted driving under the influence in almost the same area as her 2005 crimes, Potter Valley road and the Old Seward Highway. Again she crashes into a snow bank and refuses to take a Breathalyzer test. She is arrested for dui, which is a violation of her probation.
On April 22nd, the Municipality revokes her probation from the 2005 DUI and imposes her suspended sentence.
"She had a license at the time she got the one in 2009," recalls Patterson, "She had done everything she needed to do- she was still on probation."
On May 29th, Muni attorneys request a 3rd party custodian for Phillips.
But, her lawyer told the judge Phillips should be fine because she had not had any incidents for two months.
The municipality disagreed, saying the last two times A.P.D. officers went to her home to check on her as part of her required alcohol testing, she would not answer the door.
"They did go to her door. They don't break down the door, but they knocked on the door, and she wouldn't answer the door," says Patterson, "They indicated that they could see her, or somebody inside and nobody would come to the door."
The court did not grant the 3rd party custodian, but the judge did require random alcohol tests.
Over the next few months Lori Phillips and her lawyer ask for multiple continuances, and get six change of plea hearings.
"Theoretically, that person will change their plea, but they don't have to," says Patterson. "They can say, well, I've changed my mind."
Then on November 5th, police say Phillips drinks and drives and causes another traffic accident. This one fatal.
Phillips' daughter tells CBS 11 News her mom was tired of being cooped up in the house following her March DUI, so Phillips drives to a midtown salon. While there, witnesses say she is drunk.
On the way home, police say Phillips caused a head on collision near Potter Marsh that left 23-year-old Louis Clement dead, and his girlfriend, 29-year-old Joyua Stovall, critically injured.
The Municipality says there is nothing they could have done to stop it, which is why the families of Louis Clement and Joyua Stovall say the justice system is broken.
"You don't expect to wake up and hear this kind of news, that somebody behind a wheel that has had previous DUIs that has been allowed to drive again and again and again," says Louis' mother Brenda Clement.
"We need to change things," says his father, Mark Clement, "It's been said a hundred times, but we need to do it.
"Give me a solution. Tell me what you want me to do that will fix the system that will guarantee this will never happen again," says Patterson.
So what can be done?
That is exactly what our state's lawmakers are trying to figure out: how to close the loophole that let Lori Phillips kill another person with her drunk driving.
"It's the kind of case that makes you want to do something," says Anchorage Democratic Senator Hollis French.
Last year, the state legislature beefed up Alaska's DUI laws.
A 3rd DUI is now a felony. Ignition interlocks are mandatory with the first DWI, and offender's bail conditions are now available to police officers on the street.
"DWI is the kind of crime Alaskans are sick and tired of," says Senator French, "As the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, we are going to look at this, and make certain we are doing everything we can to be fair to the innocent public who deserve protection from these drivers."
Senator French vows to direct his Senate Judiciary Committee to specifically look at revising bail conditions and tougher mandatory minimum sentences to prevent someone like Lori Phillips from offending again.
"DWI laws are an ongoing process," Says Sen. French, "Every year we think of new ways to toughen our approach to this crime. "It's simply not fair to put the loaded gun of a DWI driver on the roads and have them kill innocent citizens."
As for the Chief Muni prosecutor, he says tougher laws are good, but even that might not help stop the problem of repeat drunk drivers.
"Like I say, I can only think of two ways: one is that they go to jail for the rest of their life or we have a death penalty. Other than that I don't see a way to keep people from doing what they do." Says Patterson.
Lori Phillips has been charged with second-degree murder, first-degree assault, and a string of drinking and driving charges. Because Phillips has had more than two DUIs her fatal DUI has become a felony.
If she is found guilty, she'll face more than 120 years behind bars.
The Municipality of Anchorage is also pursuing criminal charges against her for probation violation.
Lori Phillips has pleaded not guilty and is set to go to trial in February.
To contact Andrea Gusty, call 907-273-3146.
