Web Search powered by YAHOO! SEARCH
09.12.2009 5:00 am

Dodging DWIs: Newton Keene

St. Louis Post-Dispatch
  • Email this
  • Print this

The public service ads tout the basic theme: You drink. You drive. You lose. But that’s often not the case in metro St. Louis. Lenient plea deals, secrecy laws and outright mistakes have allowed most DWI offenders — including many chronic offenders — to avoid serious punishment — in a system-wide breakdown that has claimed lives in Missouri and Illinois. Explore this map and timeline of Newton Keene’s arrests and convictions.

Early on Feb. 5, Tawanda Jackson, her friend Jon Moss, her son, Arnold “Jay” Jackson, 9, and daughter, Takia Jackson, 11, were driving from Tennessee to St. Louis to attend her grandmother’s funeral. Police say Keene crashed into their car, killing Tawanda and Arnold Jackson and Jon Moss.

Watch a video of family members of the victims, talk about the night of the crash and Keene’s repeated DWI convictions.

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (No Ratings Yet)
Loading ... Loading ...
5 comments

Comments are closed.

Where do you DA’s, Judges, & defnese attornys want a drunk driver-in jail or weaving down the road at YOU? With consious, malicious disregard this jerk killed a family-with YOUR blessing everytime you let him go. Madison County YOU had this drunk once-he apparently thanked you for his continued freedom by murdering an innocent family in YOUR county.

— janeqcitizen
8:56 pm September 12th, 2009

I just don’t even know where to begin….I have two friens who each have 3 dwi’s. They are mother and son. The son earned his third one while under the age of 21. At this time he still has not been prosecuted, his second one which had a SIS had resulted in him not satisfing the conditions set by the court before he received his third one. Both he and his mother never had the Ignition Interlock System installed in either of their cars. They both continue to drive, even though their licenses are suspended. It is obvious that our legal system cannot keep up either….I have no doubt that one of these two or both of them will either kill themselves or someone else. After reading the STL Post-Dispatch stories today, I realized that the odds of even being pulled over, not to mention arrested, for DWI are slim to none. These two have already had 3 convictions, the minor had 3 convictions in less than 2 1/2 years. The both of them drive under the influence an average of 6 times a week…I know this for sure.

— Suzie
12:35 pm September 13th, 2009

St. Louis county prosecutors must be so very proud. Blood on their hands and they don’t even seem to care. Perhaps it is because they drive DWI too? Or perhaps they’ve never buried a friend or family member who had their life terminated by a DWI offender? Or maybe its because they are so busy being politically active for their “messiah” Obama? The whole system is corrupted. The only part of the system that seems to care about DWI are the traffic cops and specialized DWI units. Having said that, we still have far too few police officers dedicated to DWI enforcement. This is especially true in the inner city when the police are spread too thin. It is nearly impossible to arrest every DWI driver. Officers are far too busy responding to all sorts of calls for service. And the ones who aren’t are not motivated enough to hunt for DWIs. Or their administration discourages them from doing so. And so the butchery goes on.

— Bob Welsh
8:57 am September 14th, 2009

CLAYTONS judges and PA’s are a complete JOKE!! They can care less about DWI’s, you cant even find one in the office on weekends or holidays. I was there a few holidays back at 3pm on a thursday. NOT ONE PA LEFT for a felony warrant with a guy in custody. ACCOUNTABILITY does not exist in the stlouis co pa’s office, PERIOD!! Im not even sure if a family member of theirs being killed could get any of them motiviated either. SAD, but they know its true!! ALL they do is play politics at the cost of innocent lives taken by these criminals who get away with MURDER, literally behind a wheel drunk. Their is nothing the PA’s office can do or say ever change my perception of their office, no one is accountable, no one cares, and they have ZERO leadership. I know this, you know this, and the people of stlouis county knows this.

— OFFICER
4:23 pm September 18th, 2009

Looks like St. Louis County is where you can get away with murder. I wonder how many so called fees are collected before charges are dropped. At least it looks like St. Charles County is doing its part to keep chronic drunks in prison.

— gfthoebes
5:28 pm September 23rd, 2009