Subject: Ohio drunk driver ordered closer to liquor store

Date: Fri, 02 Jan 1998 18:25:23 -0500

From: sunkist@idirect.com (Sunkist)

Newsgroups: alt.true-crime

01:46 PM ET 01/02/98

Ohio drunk driver ordered closer to liquor store

CINCINNATI (Reuters) - An Ohio judge has ordered a chronic

drunk driver to move within easy walking distance of a liquor

store or face jail.

In a sentence meted out Wednesday, New Year's Eve, Hillsboro

Municipal Judge James Hapner ordered Dennis Cayse to move

within ``easy walking distance'' -- defined as one-half mile or

less -- of a liquor store within 30 days or face a potential

1-1/2-year jail sentence for drunken driving.

It was Cayse's 18th conviction for drunk driving and he was

also sentenced to spend the first week of each of the next five

years in jail.

The judge also directed that Cayse, who lost his license

years ago but continued to drink and drive, be handcuffed to the

passenger-side door or be seated with someone between him and

the driver anytime he travels.

University of Cincinnati law professor Christo Lassiter said

the multiple sentence passed constitutional muster.

``It appears to me that this sentence is neither

unconstitutional nor inappropriate,'' Lassiter told Reuters

Friday. ``It looks to me like the judge felt that there was

nothing he could do to keep the man off the road except to make

him move to where he could walk to buy his booze.''

Hillsboro is a town of 6,000 just east of Cincinnati.

``For as long as I have been associated with law

enforcement, I have never heard of such an unusual sentence.

It's very squirrelly,'' Lt. Ronald Ward of the Highland County

sheriff's office told Reuters Friday.

``I have known Dennis Cayse a long time and I've never seen

him sober except when he was in jail,'' Ward said. ``His

lifetime record shows that if he is not in jail, he's going to

drink and drive.''