Fourth DUI conviction gets Norfolk woman four to six years

Kaitlin Dozler was sentenced Dec. 20, in the Antelope County district court in Neligh, for enhanced driving under the influence of alcohol.

The Honorable James Kube sentenced Dozler to not less than four nor more than six years in a facility under the direction of the Nebraska Department of Corrections. She was given credit for 111 days previously served in the Antelope County Jail. Kube also ordered 15-year revocation of her driver’s license, commencing when she is released from incarceration. She was ordered to pay $5,000 restitution to Codee Miekle, owner of the vehicle she was driving when she was involved in a head-on collision July 22; $500 restitution to Van Jacobsen, owner of the vehicle she hit; and $1,530 to Jonny Dodge in Neligh, for Jacobsen’s car rental. She was also ordered to pay $147 court costs.

Dozler had faced a potential sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

Provided she loses none of the good time she is eligible for, she must serve three years before becoming eligible for parole and four years before her mandatory release.

Dozler pleaded guilty to the Class 2A felony, fourth-offense driving under the influence of alcohol, .15 grams or more, Sept. 27, and Kube found her previous DUI convictions suitable for enhancement purposes.

Kube reviewed a presentence report prepared by an officer with the Norfolk probation office. He said Dozler had been consuming whiskey shooters all day on July 22 and had purchased more at a Neligh liquor store. When the head-on collision occurred, she was driving a vehicle without the owner’s permission, and had no insurance. The Jacobsen vehicle was totaled.

The judge said, the retired couple had injuries, “luckily not life-ending,” and were traumatized.

He said the report indicated the 33-year-old had started occasional drinking at age 14 and in 2009, began drinking daily. She had cut down for a while but by 2014, she was consuming two sleeves (20 shots) of alcohol during drinking events.

Dozler’s attorney, Antelope County public defender Pat Carney, asked for probation, indicating Dozler had recently completed treatment “on her own,” had arranged alcohol-free housing in Omaha and had lined up a “good job” that would enable payment of restitution in “pretty rapid fashion.”

“She wants to pay restitution,” he said. “She is remorseful and wants to … make things right.”

When asked by Kube why she had been successful with past probation terms but had gone back to drinking when they ended, she said, “I guess it was just the accountability of probation.”

She also told the judge, although she did not have permission to drive the vehicle she was driving July 22, she had permission to drive another vehicle owned by Mielke for two months. She also said that she had been suicidal, was taking medication and had been prescribed a second medication but hadn’t picked up the prescription because she “got off work too late.”

“I have worked really hard to get my life back together,” she said. “I understand this could have been much worse than it was.”

Before passing sentence, the judge told Dozler people like herself are “kind of selfish.”

“It’s one thing to be suicidal, its another to take actions that (end up) killing other people.”

Dozler was remanded to the custody of Antelope County sheriff Bob Moore for execution of sentence.