Columnist Jeff German: DUI deal doesn’t impress everyone

Saturday, April 3, 2004 | 6:50 a.m.

Jeff German's column appears Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays in the Sun. Reach him at german@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4067.

SINCE NOVEMBER 1999 Boulder City Attorney David Olsen had overseen the prosecution of hundreds of drunken driving cases.

But shortly before 1 a.m. on Sept. 13, following a night on the town in Las Vegas with his wife Valerie, Olsen found himself at the other end of a drunken driving charge.

While he and his wife were riding into Boulder City on his motorcycle, Olsen was pulled over by police for failing to stay in his lane. He was arrested and charged with driving under the influence after a breathalyzer test found his blood alcohol level to be .11, above the legal limit of .10 at the time. A new law lowering the alcohol limit to .08 went into effect 10 days later.

Last week Olsen entered into a plea deal with Clark County prosecutors in which he accepted much stiffer penalties than what most first-time DUI offenders get.

And this week he's looking to arrange time behind bars at the Clark County Detention Center as part of that unusual agreement, which calls for him to spend six days in jail. First-time offenders rarely get jail time.

But Olsen should consider himself lucky. In a city facing more pressing political matters -- the mayor and a councilman are bracing for a recall election on Tuesday -- Olsen still has his job. Believe it or not, he still can oversee the prosecution of other DUI offenders in Boulder City.

If he stays out of trouble for a year, his DUI charge will be removed from the court record and reduced to careless driving, which will be well worth the inconvenience of spending a few days behind bars.

Olsen says it was his idea for jail time, as well as a $1,175 fine, which is double the usual fine for first-time offenders. He says it also was his idea to place a breath interlock device over the ignitions of his Ford F-150 truck and Hyundai Tiburon to prevent him from driving drunk again.

The added punishments sound impressive on the surface. But in reality Olson had no choice but to hold himself to a higher standard to maintain the credibility of his office when prosecuting other drunk drivers in Boulder City.

He acknowledges that.

"I'd like to be able to sit across the table from DUI defendants in the future as the city attorney and say, 'I'm not asking you do do anything I wouldn't be willing to do,' " he says.

"I've been given a tremendous opportunity to serve this community, and I want the community to know I take this seriously."

At the same time, however, Olsen continues to insist that he wasn't drunk when he was pulled over last September. He says he shared a six pack of beer with his wife while attending a motorcycle rally and Blue Oyster Cult concert on Fremont Street. On his way back into Boulder City, he says, he had another beer and a shot of tequila at a bar. His drinking was spread out over a period of more than six hours.

District Attorney David Roger says that because Olsen tested so close to the blood alcohol limit, prosecutors would have had a tough time proving their case. So they had incentive to deal.

Olsen simply decided it was better professionally for him to stop fighting and move on.

Gary Booker, the prosecutor assigned to Olsen's case, says Olsen "stood up like a man" and accepted responsibility for what he did.

"This is by all stretches a hard deal," Booker says. "This is a lot."

But that's not the way Stop DUI President Sandy Heverly sees it. She's not impressed at all.

Heverly, who spends her days helping families that have fallen victim to drunk drivers, says Olsen, of all people, should have known better than to drink and drive. He deserves a stiff punishment.

What angers Heverly, however, is the clause in the agreement that wipes Olsen's DUI charge off the books after a year.

She says she's starting to see this a lot in DUI cases at the courthouse.

"This makes a mockery of our statute and is insulting and offensive to our victims," she says.

It also makes you wonder whether Olsen really got a "hard deal."