Grandmother's DUI charge lowered in plea deal

A felony criminal endangerment charge against a 49-year-old Kalispell woman who allegedly was drunk while driving with her granddaughter in the passenger seat was lowered to a misdemeanor in a plea deal earlier this year.

In accordance with the plea deal, Flathead County District Court Judge Robert Allison sentenced Tamara Guinard on June 4 to a one-year suspended sentence and a $600 fine for misdemeanor DUI No. 1 and a one-year suspended and consecutive sentence for misdemeanor criminal endangerment. He gave her no credit for time served.

Guinard pleaded guilty to misdemeanor criminal endangerment by Alford plea, meaning she maintained her innocence but recognized the state’s prevailing evidence against her. She had faced up to 10 years and a $50,000 fine if convicted of the felony charge.

The plea deal followed a motion by public defenders Vicki Frazier and Courtney Nolan to exclude certain field sobriety evidence provided by the arresting officers and certain prior acts, including references to Guinard being a heavy drinker, alcoholic or closet drinker, or that Guinard had been drinking one day earlier.

The Flathead County Attorney’s Office also filed a motion to exclude any references to a charge being a felony, the penalty for that charge or evidence of Guinard’s good character.

According to court records, a Columbia Falls police officer who was off duty on Feb. 10  reported seeing a vehicle pull out in front of another vehicle on U.S. 2 and then swerve back and forth from the curb to the adjacent lane.

A Flathead County sheriff’s deputy who also responded pulled over Guinard’s vehicle and allegedly smelled alcohol. Guinard allegedly told the deputy she had only had one beer during the day but drank “a lot” the night before. Guinard allegedly failed a field sobriety test, and her BAC was 0.175, above the 0.08 limit for driving.