Two more DUI arrests results in felony sentence
A 30-year-old Lakeside woman who unsuccessfully appealed her Columbia Falls City Court conviction for DUI No. 2 to district court in 2012 recently pleaded guilty to felony DUI after she was arrested and charged for DUI two more times.
Flathead County District Court Judge Robert Allison sentenced Rachel Hansen, now Rachel Bellesen, on Jan. 31 following a Nov. 22, 2013 plea deal reached by Hansen’s Bigfork attorney, Peter Leander, and the county attorney’s office.
Hansen was sentenced to 13 months with the Montana Department of Corrections, with recommendation for placement under the state’s WATCh program followed by a three-year suspended sentence, for a felony DUI charge stemming from a Nov. 18, 2013 traffic stop.
She was also sentenced to five years, all suspended and consecutive, for a felony count of criminal endangerment and a misdemeanor count of operating a noncommercial vehicle with a breath-alcohol level greater than 0.08 percent. Those charges came from a Nov. 22, 2012 traffic stop.
Hansen was also ordered to pay a $1,000 fine for each felony count and a $300 fine for the misdemeanor count, with $2,000 suspended.
The mother of two boys, 11 and 12, Hansen has a history of alcohol and drug abuse, with treatment at several different facilities.
In the Columbia Falls case, she was arrested in the O’Brien’s Liquor and Wine parking lot on July 14, 2011, following a minor vehicle accident.
After being handcuffed and placed in the back of a city patrol car, Hansen allegedly kicked out a window. The arresting officer used pepper foam spray to subdue her. A breathalyzer test showed Hansen had a 0.204 blood-alcohol content, about 2 1/2 times the legal amount for driving.
Hansen was charged in city court with six misdemeanors, including DUI per se No. 2, criminal mischief, resisting arrest, obstructing a police officer, driving with a suspended driver’s license and no insurance No. 4.
Columbia Falls City Judge Tina Gordon sentenced Hansen to $3,110 in net fines, two weeks in jail and 2 1/2 months house arrest. Hansen’s public defender, Jessica Polan, appealed the sentence to district court while Hansen enrolled in an alcohol treatment program in North Dakota.
In a plea agreement reached May 16, 2012, Judge Gordon dismissed the criminal mischief charge. District Court Judge Katherine Curtis maintained the rest of the city court sentence with some changes. She suspended another $500 of the net fines and ordered Hansen to spend four three-day weekends in the county jail.
Hansen was arrested again on Nov. 22, 2012, after a Montana Highway Patrol trooper responded to a one-vehicle accident north of Kalispell. When asked how much she had to drink, Hansen, the lone occupant, allegedly said, “Way too much.”
Hansen allegedly refused to provide a breath sample and was transported to Kalispell Regional Medical Center for a blood draw. Traffic records showed she had three prior DUI convictions and three prior no insurance convictions. She was charged with felony DUI No. 4 and misdemeanor charges of driving with a suspended license and no insurance.
In a plea agreement reached Sept. 17, 2013, the county attorney’s office agreed to ask for a four-year deferred sentence with six months suspended, both concurrent, if Hansen pleaded guilty to felony criminal endangerment and a misdemeanor charge of operating a noncommercial vehicle with an alcohol concentration of 0.08 percent or more. District Court Judge Heidi Ulbricht accepted the plea agreement on Sept. 19.
But then Hansen got arrested for a DUI again. A Montana Highway Patrol trooper pulled Hansen over on Nov. 15 around 11 p.m. after seeing her vehicle traveling 40 mph on Main Street in Kalispell.
She allegedly smelled of alcohol, failed a field sobriety test and admitted to drinking seven or eight beers at the Scoreboard Bar in Kalispell. Traffic records showed she had prior DUI convictions in August 2006, March 2011 and June 2012.