Texas prosecutor drops drunken driving charge against Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton under circumstances that would almost certainly not happen for the vast majority of us. the reason they dropped charges is apparently because the trooper who pulled her over is on paid leave for misconduct, presumably unrelated, and is unavailable to testify. In order to take advantage of this Alice Walton had to arrange for the trial to be delayed almost two years then when he was unavailable before a two year deadline was up they had to drop charges.
This is at least her second drunk driving charge and she also has a history of speeding, and was involved in at least two probably three previous accidents including the 1998 DWI incident and one that resulted in the death of a pedestrian, as indicated in the following article and an excerpt from "In Sam We Trust."
Alice Walton Arrested for DWI, Held Overnight On Birthday
Alice Walton, the second-richest woman in America, was arrested on the charge of driving while intoxicated and held in jail on the night of her 62nd birthday last Friday, October 7.
The daughter of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton was stopped by the Texas Highway Patrol in Weatherford, Texas for speeding. “During the stop, indications were that Ms. Walton had been drinking. Sobriety tests were given, she cooperated, and they indicated intoxication,” according to Texas Senior Trooper and public information officer Gary M. Rozzell.
Upon arrest, Walton refused a blood-alcohol test. “Technically, if you’re driving in our state and an officer has probable cause, you are required to submit to a breathalyzer,” Rozzell said. Separate from any criminal procedures, an Administrative License Revocation hearing will be called that could suspend Walton’s license for 90 days on a first offense.
This is not the first time Walton was arrested for driving while intoxicated. She was reportedly convicted on four counts in a drunken driving case in May 1998 in Springdale, Arkansas. Police officers testified in court that at the scene of her car accident, Walton said “Do you know who I am?” and also refused then to consent to a blood-alcohol test, according to the Associated Press. .....
"She accepts full responsibility for this unfortunate incident and deeply regrets it.” Complete article
Alice Walton, the second-richest woman in America, was arrested on the charge of driving while intoxicated and held in jail on the night of her 62nd birthday last Friday, October 7.
The daughter of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton was stopped by the Texas Highway Patrol in Weatherford, Texas for speeding. “During the stop, indications were that Ms. Walton had been drinking. Sobriety tests were given, she cooperated, and they indicated intoxication,” according to Texas Senior Trooper and public information officer Gary M. Rozzell.
Upon arrest, Walton refused a blood-alcohol test. “Technically, if you’re driving in our state and an officer has probable cause, you are required to submit to a breathalyzer,” Rozzell said. Separate from any criminal procedures, an Administrative License Revocation hearing will be called that could suspend Walton’s license for 90 days on a first offense.
This is not the first time Walton was arrested for driving while intoxicated. She was reportedly convicted on four counts in a drunken driving case in May 1998 in Springdale, Arkansas. Police officers testified in court that at the scene of her car accident, Walton said “Do you know who I am?” and also refused then to consent to a blood-alcohol test, according to the Associated Press. .....
"She accepts full responsibility for this unfortunate incident and deeply regrets it.” Complete article
Alice, like both her parents and her brother Bob, had a reputation as a fast driver. The Walton’s leaden feet had long been a popular topic of banter in Bentonville. Helen’s pastor, the Reverend Gordon Garlington, joked that Helen’s silver Lincoln continental …..
But early one beautiful misty morning in April of 1989, speeding down the highway in her 1987 Poershe on her way from her farm to work, Alice Walton slammed into a woman trying to cross the road, killing her instantly. Fifty-year-old Oleta Hardin, mother of two fully grown sons, had been waiting for a ride to her job at a nearby canning factory when she decided to step down off her porch out onto the edge of the road to watch for her friend, who was running late.
Neither she nor Alice Walton saw each other until too late. Hardin was carried up onto the hood of the car. Her head smashing through the windshield before her body was thrown off as the Porsche skidded to a stop.
Hysterical, spattered with blood and shards of glass, Alice Walton ran back to the body, but there was nothing to be done. Walton was treated for shock and minor injuries. Oleta Hardin's husband, Harold, who worked the night shift at a nearby tool plant, arrived home from work barely an hour later to find a policeman waiting on his front porch with the terrible news. He was still in shock when Alice showed up a little later that day and tried as best she could, stumblingly, to apologize to him.
Though Alice Walton had been speeding-and had been ticketed twice for speeding in the previous year- the police decided not to file any charges. Witnesses said she couldn’t have avoided hitting the woman, as police explained to Harold Hardin. He accepted that explanation. “It wasn’t her [Alice’s] fault,” Hardin said later. “Oleta stepped on the road in front of her too close for her to stop.”
Other than a payment from Alice Walton’s auto insurer, Hardin said he was offered no compensation by the Waltons and didn’t ask for any. *
* Writer Vance Trimble, in his 1991 biography of Sam Walton, quotes Hardin as blaming Alice for the accident, saying that if she had been watching, she could have stopped. Trimble also quotes Hardin as saying Walton’s lawyers offered him $2,500 for funeral expenses and that he hired a lawyer to get an undisclosed, presumably larger amount in an out-of-court settlement. Interviewed in 1997, though, Hardin said he never blamed Alice Walton, wasn’t offered any money, and never demanded any. "In Sam We Trust" by Bob Ortega p.198-201
But early one beautiful misty morning in April of 1989, speeding down the highway in her 1987 Poershe on her way from her farm to work, Alice Walton slammed into a woman trying to cross the road, killing her instantly. Fifty-year-old Oleta Hardin, mother of two fully grown sons, had been waiting for a ride to her job at a nearby canning factory when she decided to step down off her porch out onto the edge of the road to watch for her friend, who was running late.
Neither she nor Alice Walton saw each other until too late. Hardin was carried up onto the hood of the car. Her head smashing through the windshield before her body was thrown off as the Porsche skidded to a stop.
Hysterical, spattered with blood and shards of glass, Alice Walton ran back to the body, but there was nothing to be done. Walton was treated for shock and minor injuries. Oleta Hardin's husband, Harold, who worked the night shift at a nearby tool plant, arrived home from work barely an hour later to find a policeman waiting on his front porch with the terrible news. He was still in shock when Alice showed up a little later that day and tried as best she could, stumblingly, to apologize to him.
Though Alice Walton had been speeding-and had been ticketed twice for speeding in the previous year- the police decided not to file any charges. Witnesses said she couldn’t have avoided hitting the woman, as police explained to Harold Hardin. He accepted that explanation. “It wasn’t her [Alice’s] fault,” Hardin said later. “Oleta stepped on the road in front of her too close for her to stop.”
Other than a payment from Alice Walton’s auto insurer, Hardin said he was offered no compensation by the Waltons and didn’t ask for any. *
* Writer Vance Trimble, in his 1991 biography of Sam Walton, quotes Hardin as blaming Alice for the accident, saying that if she had been watching, she could have stopped. Trimble also quotes Hardin as saying Walton’s lawyers offered him $2,500 for funeral expenses and that he hired a lawyer to get an undisclosed, presumably larger amount in an out-of-court settlement. Interviewed in 1997, though, Hardin said he never blamed Alice Walton, wasn’t offered any money, and never demanded any. "In Sam We Trust" by Bob Ortega p.198-201
The Walton family isn't held accountable when their sweat shops burn down or for many of their fraudulent business practices and the tax payers subsidize their store with tax cuts and road projects. And on top of that their policies almost certainly contribute to outsourcing and higher poverty crime rates that accompany new Wal-Marts.
According to the following article Alice Walton will almost certainly have her record expunged:
Walmart Heiress Asks To Expunge DWI Arrest
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — Walmart heiress Alice Walton is asking that her 2011 arrest in the state for driving while intoxicated be expunged from the records, and prosecutors say her request will likely be granted.
Charges in the case were dropped when the two-year statute of limitations ran out Oct. 7.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported Sunday that Parker County, Texas, prosecutor John Forrest said he didn’t pursue the charge because the state trooper who arrested Walton wasn’t available to testify.
The Texas Department of Public Safety said the trooper is suspended pending an internal investigation into allegations of misconduct.
The request is common after charges have been dropped in a misdemeanor case, said Fred Barker, an assistant prosecutor in the county.
“The case is not that credible, which is probably a reason it was laying around for a while,” he said.
Barker wouldn’t elaborate on the credibility of the case, but he said that a month from now, there may be no record of the arrest ever occurring.
“It will cease to exist for us in any way — literally,” Barker said, “We would not even acknowledge it ever existed nor that it was expunged, or that we ever talked to you about it.
“There’s really no way to stop it,” he said. “Once that’s done, it’s gone, gone, gone.”
Walton, 64, is the daughter of late Walmart founder Sam Walton.
She was returning home to Millsap, Texas, after a dinner with friends on her 62nd birthday when the trooper stopped her vehicle on Oct. 7, 2011, for speeding on Interstate 20 near Weatherford.
The trooper’s report said there was the odor of alcohol in her car and that she showed signs of intoxication and refused a breath-alcohol test.
Walton could not balance, stopped while walking and used her arms to balance, the trooper wrote.
“Walton stated, ‘I can’t do that at any time, I’m not balanced,’” according to the report.
Walton was handcuffed and taken to the Parker County jail in Weatherford before being released on $1,000 bail.
During the investigation, prosecutors obtained two letters that physicians wrote saying that Walton can’t walk or maintain balance normally.
The physicians cited a severe motor-vehicle accident in Mexico in November 1983, which led to repeated problems with Walton’s left leg, leaving it substantially shorter than her right. Complete article
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — Walmart heiress Alice Walton is asking that her 2011 arrest in the state for driving while intoxicated be expunged from the records, and prosecutors say her request will likely be granted.
Charges in the case were dropped when the two-year statute of limitations ran out Oct. 7.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported Sunday that Parker County, Texas, prosecutor John Forrest said he didn’t pursue the charge because the state trooper who arrested Walton wasn’t available to testify.
The Texas Department of Public Safety said the trooper is suspended pending an internal investigation into allegations of misconduct.
The request is common after charges have been dropped in a misdemeanor case, said Fred Barker, an assistant prosecutor in the county.
“The case is not that credible, which is probably a reason it was laying around for a while,” he said.
Barker wouldn’t elaborate on the credibility of the case, but he said that a month from now, there may be no record of the arrest ever occurring.
“It will cease to exist for us in any way — literally,” Barker said, “We would not even acknowledge it ever existed nor that it was expunged, or that we ever talked to you about it.
“There’s really no way to stop it,” he said. “Once that’s done, it’s gone, gone, gone.”
Walton, 64, is the daughter of late Walmart founder Sam Walton.
She was returning home to Millsap, Texas, after a dinner with friends on her 62nd birthday when the trooper stopped her vehicle on Oct. 7, 2011, for speeding on Interstate 20 near Weatherford.
The trooper’s report said there was the odor of alcohol in her car and that she showed signs of intoxication and refused a breath-alcohol test.
Walton could not balance, stopped while walking and used her arms to balance, the trooper wrote.
“Walton stated, ‘I can’t do that at any time, I’m not balanced,’” according to the report.
Walton was handcuffed and taken to the Parker County jail in Weatherford before being released on $1,000 bail.
During the investigation, prosecutors obtained two letters that physicians wrote saying that Walton can’t walk or maintain balance normally.
The physicians cited a severe motor-vehicle accident in Mexico in November 1983, which led to repeated problems with Walton’s left leg, leaving it substantially shorter than her right. Complete article
The article neglects to mention that the accident that injured her leg in Mexico was also a result of her recklessness and speeding.
Makes me wonder why I should shop at Wal-Mart if I'm going to contribute to their legal defense fund without getting much if any benefit for myself since their merchandise is worthless due to the fact that they have cut their manufacturing expenses to the bone to make their huge profits.
This is her second drunk driving charge and she also has a history of speeding, now she need to have an honest discussion with her DUI attorney about her future. Also she needs to make sure that lawyer has never been reprimanded, suspended, or dis-barred. My brother is system admin at a Los Angeles DUI lawyer office and he often tells me how DUI cases if not fought properly can destroy your life.
ReplyDeleteShe has political connections most of us don't have; which is why she can get away with much more including an accident where she killed someone, among other things.
ReplyDeleteIt's angering that even though some people never seem to learn their lessons, they seem to get away with it. But in all honestly, if they have any sort of conscience, they will have to live with the guilt of what they've done for the rest of their lives and that is somewhat comforting when justice seems to be lacking.
ReplyDeleteEliseo Weinstein @ JR's Bail Bonds
Most reports about her reactions to this and the accidental death she caused previously don't indicate much of a conscience. She was much more upset when she hit someone who died as a result of the accident but once she had time to think about it and consult with her lawyers she seemed to have gotten over it.
DeleteThe greater concern seems to be about her reputation not that she killed someone.