CHARLESTON, SC NEWS - LIVE 5 WCSC Breaking News, Weather, SportsCity Councilwoman pleads guilty to DUI, open container charges
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MT. PLEASANT, SC (WCSC) - Charleston City Councilwoman Deborah Morinelli pleaded guilty to DUI and open container charges Thursday afternoon.
Magistrate Thomas E. Lynn sentenced Morinelli to pay $2,529 in fines. Judge Lynn cited a clean criminal record, no previous traffic violations and her public service record as reason for the sentencing.
Morinelli, 55, was not at the proceedings, which were held at a Charleston County Court in Mt. Pleasant.
Her attorney, Paul Tinkler, told Lynn that Morinelli is currently in a rehab facility in Sumter, where she is being treated for alcoholism.
In court, a Charleston Police officer testified the incident happened June 26 around 1:30 pm. Morinelli was found sitting in a ditch outside her car near Plainview Road and Highway 61, said Officer Heath King.
She could not get up, kept falling back and had a strong smell of alcohol, he added.
Morinelli admitted to having two bottles of wine, King told the judge. Inside her car, she had several eight-ounce bottles of wines, he added.
Morinelli was arrested and taken to MUSC. Blood tests from the State Law Enforcement Division show Morinelli had a .29 blood alcohol level, three times the legal limit.
When asked where she had been, Morinelli told King she had been at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting that morning, but could not explain where she had been since then, King told the judge.
Morinelli's husband, Tom, described his wife as a compassionate woman with a big heart. The couple has been married 30 years.
Prior to moving back to the Sumter treatment facility, the councilwoman spent some time at a treatment facility in North Carolina.
Morinelli's attorney had initially requested a trial jury, but has since changed his mind and entered a plea. He is a former city council man, who served on council with Morinelli for eight years.
Morinelli has not resigned from her council post. She is in her second four-year term, which expires January 2010.
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