BELLEVILLE – Lawyer David Cates of Swansea drove drunk a day after his mother Judy Cates lost an election for Illinois Supreme Court, according to state police.
Trooper Nicholas Weibacher stopped Cates at 12:45 p.m. on Nov. 4, near milepost 6 on eastbound Interstate 64.
Weibacher wrote, “Driver was all over the roadway, running off the roadway.”
He wrote that Cates admitted to drinking, his eyes were bloodshot and glassy, and his breath had the aroma of an alcoholic beverage on it.
Weibacher’s report showed that Cates refused a field test for sobriety and refused a test at Swansea police station at 2:23 p.m.
Weibacher issued a separate ticket charging improper lane use.
Cates, age 39, posted $3,000 bond.
Police arrested him on the same charge in 2007 and 2014.
Three convictions for driving under the influence constitute a felony, but the rule doesn’t apply to Cates because the prior arrests didn’t result in convictions.
St. Clair County associate judge Stephen Rice amended the first ticket to reckless conduct. He fined Cates $1,500 and ordered treatment.
Special prosecutor David Rands dismissed the second ticket and Cates pleaded guilty of improper standing.
Associate judge Christopher Kolker, now circuit judge, fined Cates $3,000.
For the current ticket, State’s Attorney James Gomric asked Chief Judge Andrew Gleeson to appoint a special prosecutor.
Gleeson ordered an appointment, but the case file doesn’t identify the prosecutor.
Cates, who retained Thomas Keefe III of Swansea to defend him in 2014, retained Brian Roberts of Carbondale this time.
Roberts entered a plea of not guilty on Nov. 19, and petitioned to rescind the automatic suspension of Cates’s license.
He claimed the stop was improper and Weibacher had no reasonable grounds to believe Cates was driving under the influence. He claimed Weibacher didn’t warn Cates properly or arrest him properly.
He also claimed Cates didn’t refuse to submit to a chemical test or complete it.
“The defendant submitted to the requested test or tests but the test sample of the defendant’s blood alcohol concentration did not indicate a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 or more,” Roberts wrote.
Roberts asked for a hearing on Dec. 8.
He also moved to discover witness names, Cates’s statements, recordings, photographs, and criminal records that might be used for impeachment.