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Judge charged with DUI – 2nd judge seen ditching beer
Arrested with 'glassy, red bloodshot eyes' after accident that injured other motorist

BELLEVILLE, Ill. — A judge driving with his boss was charged with drunken driving after a wreck that sent another motorist to the hospital, and the other judge was seen by an officer pouring out a can of beer, police said.

St. Clair County Circuit Judge Patrick Young, 58, was handcuffed and arrested and charged with drunken driving after the Sunday crash, about 20 miles from St. Louis. He refused a sobriety test, authorities said.

Another officer, Jeffrey Sheary, reported seeing Young's passenger, Chief Judge Jan Fiss, 64, pour out an open beer can on the road and try to hide it in his coat.

It was not clear if Fiss had been charged.

In his report, Belleville police Patrolman Shane Brown said Young was apparently turning left in his sport utility vehicle when he entered the path of a pickup truck. Its driver, Abel Muhammad, 39, was trapped in the wreckage and later hospitalized complaining of a broken leg.

Brown reported detecting "a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage" on Young's breath. He wrote Young "also had glassy, red bloodshot eyes."

Young's attorney, Clyde Kuehn, said yesterday his client was "absolutely within his rights" to refuse a field sobriety test and a Breathalyzer test, saying the tests have proven unreliable.

Refusing a blood alcohol test leads to a six-month license suspension in Illinois. The misdemeanor DUI count carries a maximum punishment of a year in jail and $1,000 in fines, Kuehn said.

Young was released after posting his driver's license and $100 as bond.

Messages left for both judges through the court were not immediately returned.

I find it interesting that this happened just one day before both of them were to be sworn in for another term in office. It is rumored that this was not the first DUI offense but the first to involve another vehicle. Both of these individuals ran on the Democratic ticket.

It is also interesting to note that Judge Young who acted in St. Clair County’s Domestic Violence court frequently used field sobriety tests and Breathalyzer tests as substantiating evidence in court cases he presided over as being definitive evidence of a persons lack of sobriety.

It will be interesting to see if either one of these will get the mandatory jail time required by Illinois law for refusing a sobriety test or convicted on any other associated charges.