Avis Lowe keeps a picture of her son, Rob, on her desk at the Mothers Against Drunk Driving Heartland Chapter in Grandview.
Rob, who was 27 at the time, was killed when a drunk driver crashed through barricades at his work site more than 20 years ago.
The pain for her son has not gone away.
"You live day to day,” Lowe said.
According to Missouri Department of Corrections records, in mid June 2014, there were 493 drunk driving offenders in the state’s prisons serving an average of about nine years.
The 41 Action News Investigators found many of those offenders with three or more convictions get back on the roads and drive drunk again.
Jackson County prosecutors sent us two current cases for multiple drunk driving offenders.
Mark David Jones, 56, is now facing his fifth DUI offense after being pulled over in Independence.
There’s a warrant for his arrest and his case is pending.
Jeffrey W. Furney, 52, was sentenced to seven years in prison in February after his seventh DUI offense.
He will get a review for shock probation after 120 days served, but it’s unclear now if he’ll get it or not.
Not every multiple offender gets prison time.
Andrew Notestine, 32, is currently on probation after his fourth drunk driving conviction which also included a drug possession conviction.
He has spent time in jail.
Despite being extradited from Russell, Kansas after a marijuana trafficking arrest, he faced a 2012 Jackson County case and failied two drug tests while on probation. Court records show Notestine has spent no time in prison for that case or any of his other drunk driving offenses.
"Ridiculous, I think somebody needs to put him away,” Lowe said.
Changes in Missouri law and what that means for DUI offenders
A change in Missouri law January 1 would require habitual DUI offenders with more than five prior offenses to spend five to 15 years in prison with 85 percent time served before parole eligibility.
A conviction of manslaughter while driving drunk, even on a first conviction, will get a three to 10 year sentence, an increase from the current one to 7 years.
But probation options don’t change under the new laws.
As a result, opportunities remain to stay out of prison. But there are minimum jail stays for repeat DUI offenders before probation eligibility.
Lowe is encouraged by the new laws, but not satisfied.
"I would say they could be harder, but that’s from working with victims,” she said.
Lowe does believe Missouri drivers are safer now than in past years.
In 2012, Missouri became the 18th state to require ignition interlock devices for convicted drunk drivers.
With that device you must pass a breath test to start the ignition.
The idea is to stop offenders from driving drunk when they’re not incarcerated.
Notestine, for example, has a driving on a suspended license conviction on his record.
He’s not alone.
According to MADD, anywhere from half to three quarters of convicted drunk drivers will drive on a suspended license.
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Andy Alcock can be reached at anderson.alcock@kshb.com.
