[Update: The result of Butel’s disciplinary action Presiding Disciplinary Judge PDJ-2014-9037. some suspension of her law license; a year, but retroactive; myazbar.org has a summary]
[Sentencing came down early December: Butel “was sentenced Friday to 10 days in jail and three years of probation”, though it didn’t really turn out that way, see Case minutes of the 12/6/2013 sentencing minute: “credit for 9 (deferred) day(s) served”. Plea deal minute is dated 9/30/2013. However, the “deferred” days were never served, see minute 3/24/2014 “deleting the 9 day jail term”, what’s up with that? Leaving 1 day for the dui, would be my guess. See also for example the driver who killed Dr. Marwan Maalouf had his sentence halved after sentencing. I also note that the 9/30 agreement had already whittled down the charges from leaving the scene of a fatal to leaving the scene of a non-serious injury crash; dropping the felony from a class 3 to 5.]
Valley attorney Aimee Butel plead guilty. This will be a felony 3 — leaving the scene of a collision she did not cause; plus a simple DUI… “preliminary test showed Butel had a blood alcohol content of 0.129”. Why do drivers hit and then run? Usually because they are doing something wrong (like, e.g. dui)
Case minutes are at CR-2013113512. There are two counts in the plea: Count 1 is the felony 3 hit and run, Count 2 is a DUI. The dui does have some sort of mandatory jail sentence (2 days or something?); the Hit and run, however, is a Class 3 felony and carries a presumptive sentence of 3.5 years in prison; it however rarely results in any significant incarceration… we’ll see. The hit and run does carry a mandatory, automatic drivers license revocation of 10 years, so that should serve as a reminder to not commit a felony.
Here’s the original story;
Not to put too fine a point on it, but drivers who flee tend to have been doing something wrong. For example, in examining all cyclist fatalities in 2009, 6 were killed in collisions with drivers who fled these scene. 4 of those 6 were found to be impaired and were convicted of manslaughter.
In the case below, police describe the situation as one where the driver (whoever that is; police have a suspect) would clearly not be found at fault with regard to normal rules-of-the-road. The driver nevertheless faces pretty serious charges, hit-and-run is a class 3 felony (involving death, but not caused by the hit-and-run driver), plus some serious license revocation time…
Naked woman killed while sitting in Ariz. road
March 23, 2013 3:05 pm
Police are investigating the death of a woman who had been sitting naked in the middle of a Phoenix street before she was struck by a car and killed early Saturday.
Police have yet to release the name of the woman. They also had no information about what led to her behavior before being hit.
The driver of the car has been identified as 43-year-old Amiee Butel. She’s facing charges of leaving the scene of a fatal traffic collision and suspicion of driving under the influence.
Sgt. Steve Martos tells television station KNXV that Butel initially stopped and watched the activity surrounding the woman who had been hit but then fled. Her car was found soon after and she was arrested.
Martos says Butel showed signs of being impaired.
Case Number: S-0700-CR-2013113512 State of AZ Vs. Aimee Butel
blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2013/03/aimee_butel_valley_attorney_actos_dui_fatal.php
Another one
There are way too many of these to keep track of them all but here’s yet another one June 5, 2013 ~3am —
A woman was struck and killed in a Glendale hit-and-run collision Wednesday morning, police said.
Glendale authorities received a call at 3 a.m. from a motorist that a woman was laying in the middle of the road along the 6300 block of Northern Avenue.
The woman, in her 30s, was in critical condition when rescue crews arrived. She was treated at the scene and then airlifted to an area hospital where she was pronounced dead, according to Officer Tracy Breeden of the Glendale Police Department
Several car parts were located in the roadway surrounding the woman’s body, but no description of the vehicle has been produced nor have any witnesses come forward.
Northern Avenue is closed from 67th Avenue to 59th Avenue as investigators continue looking at the scene.
If you have any information regarding the collision, Glendale Police encourage you to call 623-930-3000 or Silent Witness