State AG to prosecute man for 4th DWI

The state attorney general has filed formal charges against a New Iberia man for fourth-offense DWI five months after the suspect struck a utility pole and fence in Morgan City. The suspect was allegedly under the influence of alcohol and drugs at the time of the crash.
Regis Southern, 34, of New Iberia, was charged Oct. 7 with DWI fourth offense and possession of Xanax by Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry in a bill of information. Assistant Attorney General Molly Lancaster signed the bill.
Southern’s arraignment is set for Nov. 9.
On Aug. 3, a district judge granted the 16th Judicial District Attorney’s Office motion to recuse itself from prosecuting Southern in the case. The recusal request was because a prosecutor with the 16th Judicial District Attorney’s Office in St. Mary Parish, Christ Beaner, represented Southern for a prior DWI conviction in Lafayette City Court, court records said.
The Daily Review reported in July that Southern’s case illustrates the hardships involved in prosecuting drivers accused of multiple DWIs. Court records hinted at difficulties in record keeping, problems coping with a refusal to undergo blood or other tests, and statutory obstacles to dealing with multiple DWI cases as what they really are.
The fourth DWI charge stems from a May 5 incident while he was under the influence of alcohol and “any controlled dangerous substance listed in Schedule I, II, III, IV, or V,” the bill stated.
Morgan City police received a call at 11:09 a.m. May 5 of a single-vehicle wreck on La. 70 near Fig Street.
Officers arrived and learned that a 2004 Ford pickup, driven by Southern, was traveling south on La. 70 when, for unknown reasons, the truck left the road-way, went about 300 feet off the road and struck a fence, a utility pole along with water line and electrical lines by Lake End Parkway, police said.
Southern’s behavior made officers suspicious that he may be under the influence of alcohol or narcotics. Acadian Ambulance responded to treat Southern for minor injuries. During treatment, an officer located suspected Xanax in one of Southern’s hands. Police searched the vehicle and located suspected drug paraphernalia.
Police charged Southern with fourth-offense DWI, careless operation of a motor vehicle, possession of Xanax and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Southern was trans-ported to a medical facility where medical staff obtained a blood sample. The blood sample was turned over to officers to be sent to a criminal laboratory for analysis.
According to the attorney general’s bill, Southern had two prior second-offense DWI convictions Feb. 3, 2010, in Lafayette City Court and April 6, 2012, in Vermilion Parish. Those incidents occurred July 8, 2008, and Oct. 30, 2007, the bill stated.
He was also convicted of DWI third offense April 9, 2010, in Iberia Parish for a Dec. 12, 2008, incident. For Southern’s December 2008 DWI, he was initially booked into jail for seventh-offense DWI because criminal history check showed six previous DWI arrests between April 2002 and June 2008, the July article stated.
The list of six previous DWI arrests in the affidavit may be unintentionally misleading. Sometimes the serving of papers in an existing case may show up as a separate arrest, according to one courthouse source familiar with drunken driving prosecutions.
In any case, a third-offense prosecution must, by law, be based on two previous convictions within 10 years.
The file on the third-offense DWI case indicates that in two earlier convictions, in April 2005 in Jefferson Davis Parish and in August 2006 in Cameron, Southern was arrested based on drinking alcohol, according to the July article.