An Indiana state lawmaker does not face any immediate legislative discipline after pleading guilty to drunken driving charges for crashing his pickup truck into an interstate highway guardrail and driving away.
The Republican Rep. Jim Lucas of Seymour signed an agreement Monday with the prosecutor in southern Indiana’s Jackson County in which he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of driving while intoxicated and leaving the scene of an accident.
Lucas said in a statement after Monday’s court hearing that he takes “full responsibility” for his actions surrounding the May 31 crash and will continue in his legislative position.
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Republican House Speaker Todd Huston said Tuesday that he had not yet reviewed the plea agreement and wanted to see Lucas get “the help he needs and make sure that situation doesn’t happen again.”
When asked if Lucas would face any disciplinary action by the Legislature, Huston said he was “obviously disappointed” by Lucas’ actions.
“I’ve never really had a chance to talk to him,” Huston said. “I’ll look into it and see what we do in the future.”
Republican Indiana state Rep. Jim Lucas has yet to be disciplined by the Legislature after being charged with two misdemeanors for leaving the scene of a drunken driving accident. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, File)
This year’s legislative session ended in April and lawmakers don’t return for another full-time session until January.
The plea agreement calls for no additional jail time for Lucas, 58, as long as he completes at least 180 days of supervised probation, including alcohol or drug abuse treatment if ordered by the department of county probation, and is paying about $4,000 in restitution to the state highway department to repair damage from the crash.
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Lucas, who was first elected to the Legislature in 2012, is allowed to keep his position as state law only bars those with felony convictions from holding elected office. Lucas is a prominent supporter of legalizing marijuana and loosening state gun laws. He has repeatedly faced controversy over social media posts deemed “disgusting” by Democrats and “unacceptable” by Republicans.
Police said officers stopped Lucas on foot near where they found his truck parked behind a Seymour carpet store about 3 miles from the crash site at the Interstate 65 and Indiana 11 interchange. The truck had significant front-end damage and three flat tires, two of which were broken down to metal tires.
Lucas smelled of alcohol, failed a field sobriety exam and had a blood-alcohol level of 0.097% on a portable breath test device. The state’s legal driving limit is 0.08%.
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Jackson County Prosecutor Jeff Chalfant said the plea agreement with Lucas was standard for a first-time drunken driving charge.
