Yavapai County, AZ - In Camp Verde, Arizona, the highway goes through town and then past the jail and court complex. Also off the same exit is a wildlife park that attracts children and families. It is normally a safe and family oriented town about half-way between Phoenix in Flagstaff.
Last Friday morning, however, it was a dangerous place to be. That is because a woman named Linda Magenty was driving through with an alleged alcohol content of .235, well over Arizona's Super Extreme limit of .200.
Not only was Ms. Magenty allegedly nearly three times the legal limit of .08 (which is a basic DUI in Arizona), she was driving on a suspended license for a felony DUI from 2007. To make matters even worse, she sped into a construction zone after going about 100 miles per hour.
According to police reports she passed several vehicles on the wrong side of the road and almost hit another stopped vehicle. The car stopped near the jail and was taken into custody and booked into the Camp Verde Jail.
She was charged with a literal truckload of charges, including aggravated DUI (a felony in Arizona), seven separate counts of endangerment (also felonies), criminal speed and having an open container of alcohol.
Under Arizona's DUI sentencing guidelines, assuming that her 2007 aggravated DUI is the only felony on her record, she faces a presumptive prison term of 4.5 years. If she loses at trial that term is likely to be significantly enhanced by the presence of many aggravating factors.
Law enforcement and the public should have little sympathy for a person who (if proven true) did what she did. However, we should be quick to distinguish that there is a difference between this case (which represents the worst of the worst, and also the luckiest of the lucky in that she didn't kill herself or somebody else this time) and first offense low level DUI cases where there is little bad or aggressive driving.
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