RL man with vehicular homicide conviction gets prison for fifth OWI
Oct. 4—BARRON — A Rice Lake man who spent 10 years in prison for killing a Clayton man in 2010 while driving drunk will spend 18 months in prison for driving drunk in Eau Claire.
A breath test showed Lee R. Namtvedt's blood alcohol content was nearly four times the legal limit for driving when he was picked up on Galloway Street on Jan. 29.
Namtvedt, 45, pleaded guilty Monday in Eau Claire County Court to a felony count of fifth-offense drunken driving.
Judge Jon Theisen ordered Namtvedt to spend three years on extended supervision following his release from prison.
Theisen fined Namtvedt $600 and revoked his driver's license for three years.
As conditions of supervision, Namtvedt must maintain absolute sobriety and undergo an alcohol and drug assessment and any other recommended programming or treatment.
According to the criminal complaint:
An Eau Claire police officer was monitoring vehicles and pedestrians entering and exiting the taverns on the 400 block of Galloway Street at 1:45 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 29, when she noticed a vehicle come to a stop, drastically protruding into traffic in an awkward fashion.
The officer noticed a man exiting the vehicle when she pulled her squad car up behind the vehicle. The officer found the driver, who was eventually identified as Namtvedt, standing in a secluded corner hidden from the street by a fence.
Namtvedt swayed heavily where he stood in the snow and braced himself up against the fence for balance. The officer could smell a strong odor of intoxicants as she stood next to him. He appeared completely in a daze.
Namtvedt's speech was slurred, delayed, and he repeated himself frequently. His eyes were bloodshot and glossy.
The officer went to Namtvedt's vehicle, which was still running in the street. The transmission was in drive. There was a strong odor of intoxicants coming from inside the vehicle.
Namtvedt said multiple times he had not been drinking. He said he came to Eau Claire from Rice Lake but refused to say where he had been throughout the evening.
Namtvedt refused to perform field sobriety tests. A receipt from an Eau Claire tavern was found in his pocket.
A check of records showed that Namtvedt had four prior drunken driving convictions and was currently on extended supervision for his 2011 conviction in Barron County for homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle.
Namtvedt was taken to Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire for a blood draw. A breath test showed his blood alcohol content was .307, nearly four times the legal limit for driving. Because of the high reading, Namtvedt was taken to the emergency room to be medically cleared before being transported to the Eau Claire County Jail.
Barron County Court records show Namtvedt was sentenced by Judge James Babbitt to 10 years of prison and 10 years of extended supervision on April 5, 2011, for the vehicular homicide conviction.
Conditions of supervision prohibited him from drinking alcohol or entering taverns.
According to the criminal complaint in that case:
Namtvedt was driving north on 19th Street, near Rice Lake Regional Airport, when he started to pass a vehicle at about 10:15 p.m. March 17, 2010. He never passed the car but stayed in the passing lane about a half-mile before colliding nearly head-on with a car driven by Michael Near, 22, of Clayton.
Near was pronounced dead at the scene. Namtvedt received serious injuries and was taken to Regions Hospital in St. Paul, where a blood test indicated he had a blood alcohol level of .27, more than three times the legal limit for driving.
When questioned at the scene, Namtvedt told authorities he was 85 years old, did not drink and had not been in an accident. Namtvedt had previous drunken driving convictions in 1999, 2000 and 2007.
