Benton Courier - Bond set at $50,000 for Benton woman charged with 10th DWI

Bond was set at $50,000 Wednesday for Sheila Blair, 42, of Benton after Blair, who has a history of DWI charges, was arrested Monday night on suspicion of drunken driving. Blair’s history of DWI charges dates to 1995, according to the Saline County prosecuting attorney’s office, which requested a $100,000 bond.
Blair’s lawyer requested that bail be set at $10,000 before District Judge Mike Robinson made his decision.
“She’s extremely dangerous,” said Carrie Robertson, a deputy prosecutor, said of Blair.
“Her MO [modus operandi] is reckless driving and usually citizens will call that in, the police will respond, and she’s always been under the influence.”
According to Teresa Belew, executive director of the Arkansas chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), Blair’s DWI arrest history includes two convictions in 1995, one in 2002, five in 2003, and one in 2004.
“This is an offender [who] I have been personally tracking since the beginning of 2003 and [she] is the worst sort of repeat offender,” Belew said. “[Blair] is someone who continues to drink and drive, whose actions continue to escalate to the point that she actually injured a good Samaritan while she was fleeing from the police in Little Rock a few years ago.”
   Blair is on suspension from a felony DWI conviction in 2004 in which the judge sentenced her to four years in prison, with two years suspended.
   “Sheila Blair has been arrested for numerous DWIs,” Robertson said.
“She was convicted back in 2004 for DWI-sixth offense, in which the state sentenced her to a regional punishment facility, where she spent at least a year and they have a therapy program down there specifically for that. She’s been out on suspended imposition of sentence, which the state has filed a motion to revoke.”
   Belew said: “[Blair] has been afforded every opportunity that society allows for her to receive. Treatment, education, and intervention and she has not complied with that.”
   The judge ordered the prosecuting attorney’s office to notify all law enforcement agencies in Saline County that Blair does not have a drivers license — it will either be suspended or revoked by the state of Arkansas. If Blair is caught operating a vehicle, she will be immediately arrested and placed in the Saline County jail.
   “Our next step is to appear in circuit court [Division 3, with Circuit Judge Grisham Phillips presiding] next Thursday [at 1:30 p.m. April 26] where the motion will be heard,” Robertson said, “and it will be up to the judge at that point if he wants to revoke her sentence and he can sentence her up to 4 years in prison on her other felony, separate from this incidence.”
   The next appearance date for Blair on the new DWI charge is scheduled for 1 p.m. Tuesday, June 5, in Saline County District Court.

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