Wednesday, March 31, 1999
Repeat DUI offender receives 28 years
2nd chances expire after 23 convictions
BY TOM O'NEILL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Charles Jodrey
|
BATAVIA — Babies born this morning will be driving cars for more than a decade before Charles Jodrey gets another chance to drink and drive.
If the Milford man survives the next 28 years in prison for a laundry list of DUI- and forgery-related convictions, he will be 84.
Before a Clermont County judge Tuesday, Mr. Jodrey appeared solemn in his orange jail jumpsuit. When Common Pleas Court Judge Robert Ringland tersely sentenced him to maximum prison time, it ended a trail of forgery, habitual drunkenness, aversion to alcohol treatment and abuse of the dead.
When his own license was taken away for drunken driving, Mr. Jodrey used the identities of four other men to obtain “valid” driver's licenses. Each was an acquaintance of his from the New Richmond area.
Each was killed, ironically, in car crashes.
“There's nothing left to do but keep him in jail,” Judge Ringland said after the hearing. “He's been offered opportunity after opportunity.”
Mr. Jodrey's first DUI conviction came in 1967; his 23rd, came this month. No Ohio resident has more DUI convictions. Three others have 18.
Revelations about Mr. Jodrey's criminal history have shone a spotlight on what Ohio prosecutors consider insufficient DUI sentencing for repeat offenders.
For instance, DUI isn't a felony until the third offense in six years, at which time the maximum prison sentence is one year, the mini mum 60 days.
Even then, a 1996 law presumes that some repeat offenders not enter the state prison system but instead serve their time in the county system, where crowding often results in early release for nonviolent offenders.
Clermont County prosecutor Tom Scovanner, who handled the case, said Mr. Jodrey's history illustrates how DUI punishment doesn't fit the crime.
John Murphy, executive director of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorney's Association in Columbus, said he agrees.
“We're a little concerned about the sentencing; there's a good argument that the penalty ought to be increased for multiple offenders,” he said. “There's a presumption they not go to state prison. We propose moving (repeat DUI) to a felony-3 because that takes that off.”
But specifically on increased mandatory minimum sentencing for repeat offenders, Mr. Murphy said there is “nothing pending, but there's concern in the legislature.”
That's even true when drunken drivers kill, as Mr. Jodrey did in 1984, when an accident he caused took the life of Martin Ackerman of Anderson Township.
Mr. Jodrey served 10 years in an Ohio prison for the 1984 accident. When he got out, he resumed drinking.
He also obtained and then altered the birth certificates of four men he knew — Michael Berwanger, Daniel Murphy, Larry Pence and Archer Gee. All were dead.
Mr. Murphy and Mr. Pence were killed in a 1967 accident near New Richmond in Clermont County. Mr. Murphy had recently returned from a tour of duty in Vietnam.
“My brother's been dead for many years, but it's wonderful that his name is cleared,” said Denis Murphy, who attended numerous court appearances by Mr. Jodrey, including Tuesday's sentencing.
“But more important, I hope it sends a message to people who are thinking of subverting the law. I think insulting is a good word for what he did,” Mr. Murphy said.
Were it not for a sharp-eyed Clermont County deputy, Rebecca Feldkamp, Mr. Jodrey's series of forgeries and deceptions might never have been exposed.
When he was arrested under the name Daniel Murphy on Thanksgiv ing Day on a DUI charge in Miami Township, he was taken to Clermont County Jail.
Deputy Feldkamp recognized Mr. Murphy as Mr. Jodrey — and a domino fell.
Prosecutors initially suspected him of 11 prior DUIs. More research caused the list to grow to 15. After combing through records from Ohio and Kentucky, the number eventually grew to 23, Mr. Scovanner said Tuesday.
Mr. Jodrey avoided a trial when he pleaded guilty earlier this month to the November DUI and preceding forgeries. By pleading guilty, rather than no contest, he gave up his right to appeal, which ensures he will stay in jail until 2027.
Mr. Scovanner said that of all things Mr. Jodrey possibly faced, 12 stood out: jurors.
Mr. Jodrey wanted no part of facing them.
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