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Friday, June 12, 2009
4 DWIs, Another Round of Freedom
By Joline Gutierrez Krueger
Journal Staff Writer
It was pretty easy to figure out which one among the jailbirds in bright citrus-colored scrubs and shiny shackles was Sean Slade, he with the sun-streaked hair, umber tan, designer glasses and a look that said, "I'm a celebrity; get me out of here."He's a celebrity only in the high-society notoriety sense, famous only among his many well-connected friends and those who have watched him repeatedly race through the justice system like a pimped-out Harley.
Slade
So here he was again last week before state District Judge Stan Whitaker, asking for another second chance at busting out of the Metropolitan Detention Center, where he had been sent for violating his probation on his fourth DWI conviction.
("Fourth," I should explain, is a relative term here. A check of court records indicates Slade, 44, has been arrested on drunken driving charges, often at aggravatingly high levels of intoxication, at least seven times. But who's counting?)
"I truly, truly believe that Mr. Slade has had 39 days to think about his situation," Donna Trujillo Dodd, Slade's attorney du jour (he's had at least five on this case alone), told Whitaker.
She was referring to her client's time in the slammer after he was picked up on a domestic battery charge involving his live-in girlfriend and a trash can and a report that apres attack he went for drinks at Quarters, one of his many favorite watering holes.
Trujillo Dodd also informed the judge that Slade really, really had to resume his yearlong probation — his punishment for felony DWI — so that he could get back to running his real estate businesses.
"You are a danger to the community," Whitaker told Slade. "Whether you lose your job is no concern to me."
But prosecutor Gail Prosser wan't backing up the judge's tough line. The domestic violence charge, whether or not forbidden booze was involved, was collapsing because the victim/girlfriend/employee now "adamantly, adamantly" insisted the incident never happened.
"I'm hoping that it goes away," the woman told me this week before she hung up.
If he had lost his probation, Slade faced jail through March 2010.
Instead, Prosser was left with recommending that Slade be allowed to resume probation, provided he be a good boy and stop hitting women, stay away from the victim/girlfriend/employee, move in with his mother in her swanky, gun-free Sandia Heights estate and, oh yes, stop drinking.
This, despite Whitaker's last admonishment in September over another "lapse" in Slade's compliance that he would not tolerate even a hint of shenanigans.
Among the allegations then was that Slade was still drunkenly driving his big, black Ford Excursion by having at least one of his daughters, ages 6 and 9, blow into its court-ordered ignition interlock device.
Last week, though, no more for real, Whitaker said.
"You heard it from me, Mr. Slade," he said. "You should be in jail and stay there. That's my sense about it."
But then: "Mr. Slade, you may think I want you in jail. I don't. I just want you to comply."
And then: "God help me if I agree to this and you are still drinking and something more tragic takes place."
An order that Slade's probation officer be more "intensive" about her monitoring and there it was, another get-out-of-jail card for a guy who has amassed not only the seven DWIs but at least eight domestic violence-related charges — six that were dismissed, none that resulted in anything more than misdemeanor slaps on the hand.
That's not counting five charges of driving with a revoked or no license, of driving with an open container or using his brother's identity in an apparent attempt to conceal his own.
Outside the courtroom, a woman who said she worked for Slade but was not the victim/girlfriend/employee in the most recent domestic violence case, told me: "He really is a nice guy."
Nice, maybe, but scary when combined with booze, women and enough money to buy a good attorney to clean up the mess.
We have seen this show before. Occasionally, the justice system puts a stop to it. Often, though, the only thing that ends it is, as Whitaker fears, something tragic.
Sooner or later, most of us grow up, grow responsible, learn from our mistakes. Or sooner or later, we run out of second chances, money or life — or we cause someone else to.
It's hard to know where on the grown-up scale Slade sees himself, though judging from the aforementioned criminal record and both his Facebook and MySpace pages filled with images of young blonde babes, fast Harleys and partying from Taos to Cabo, I have a pretty good guess.
So God help Slade make the best of this next second chance. And now that he's out of jail again, God help us. Truly, truly.
UpFront is a daily front-page opinion column. You can reach Joline at 823-3603, jkrueger@abqjournal.com or follow her on Twitter @jolinegkg.
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