Once you have been arrested and convicted of multiple driving under the influence (DUI) violation your credibility goes way down. This is especially true when you try to deny you were drunk on the fifth arrest. Such is the case with one Louis John Perrelli.
The 56-year-old from Tiburon, CA man who got his fourth and fifth DUI arrests in a two-month period pleaded in one case, but he plans to fight the other.
Perrelli, an energy consultant, pleaded guilty to drunken driving in December according to www.mercurynews.com. Under California state DUI law, the case was charged as a felony because Perrelli had three prior DUI cases within 10 years -- in 2002, 2004 and 2011, all in Marin County, authorities said. But his fifth DUI arrest -- on Feb. 18 in Sausalito -- could only be charged as a misdemeanor, because it happened slightly more than 10 years after incident that led to the 2002 conviction.
Perrelli did not limit his DUI behavior to California. Records show he also got a DUI conviction in Indiana in 2009, but the out-of-state conviction could not be counted in the 10-year window in California.
The charge he is fighting came in a grocery store parking lot where witnesses called police after watching a car collide with another vehicle. He was arrested in the parking lot when police arrived to find him slumped over the steering wheel. They had to knock on his window to wake him up.
Perrelli failed his initial sobriety test at the scene and was also driving on a suspended license.
Recent reports indicate he is in alcohol treatment. Let’s hope with an alcohol class and counseling Perrelli will be able to get and stay sober.