Rep. Trish Groe began serving a 10-day sentence in Maricopa County Jail on Dec. 20 after pleading guilty earlier in the week to a misdemeanor drunk-driving charge.
The plea agreement ended a highly publicized case that had dragged on for almost nine months.
Groe, who was initially charged with felony aggravated DUI, pleaded guilty to the lower charge as part of a plea agreement with La Paz County Special Prosecutor Dennis Wilenchik. A misdemeanor count of false reporting, which stemmed from inaccurate statements she gave to police when she was arrested, was also dropped.
Had Groe, R-3, been convicted of a felony, state law would have forced her to resign her legislative seat and barred her from seeking elected office in the future.
Groe also was fined $2,950.
The lawmaker is eligible for a work-release program, presumably to tend to her legislative duties.
She was not available for comment and has not spoken publicly about the incident since announcing she was entering a rehabilitation facility in late March. However, she did address her arrest in a posting to her blog in August.
She wrote: “I made a horrible mistake in drinking and driving. I put countless others at risk with complete disregard. I have no excuse. I am sorry for that and sorry for betraying the trust of all who counted on me. I am a Christian and a leader and my behavior has not reflected either.”
Groe was arrested March 22 while driving from Phoenix to her Lake Havasu City home. At about 8:45 p.m. that night, a sheriff’s deputy noticed a vehicle weaving on Arizona 95 near Parker. Parker is about a two-and-a-half hour drive from Phoenix.
Police reports show Groe was driving 70 mph in a 55 mph zone, and her blood-alcohol level was borderline extreme. Separate breath test show the lawmaker had a BAC between .158 and .148 percent. Lab results confirmed that her blood-alcohol level was .148 percent at the time of her arrest, nearly twice the legal limit of 0.08 percent.
According to the report, Groe twice denied she had been drinking before telling the deputy she was a “functional alcoholic.”
Shortly after her arrest, she took a leave of absence from the Legislature and spent about a month in a faith-based rehabilitation facility in the Phoenix area.
Prosecutors sought the aggravated-felony conviction because Groe’s license was suspended at the time of her arrest due to an unpaid speeding ticket in California.
Groe told reporters in March she paid the ticket last year and that her license was reinstated.
The arrest earlier this year was Groe’s second for drunk driving. In 1999, she was convicted of DUI in California, where she lived at the time.
Wilenchik was hired by La Paz County in June to handle the case after County Attorney Martin Brannan recused himself, saying he had a conflict of interest because Groe represents La Paz County in the Legislature.
Brannan had initially transferred the case to Yuma County prosecutors, but they sent it back after Brannan criticized a proposed plea deal in which Groe would have served one day in jail on a misdemeanor charge.
Sen. Ron Gould, R-3, says he is pleased the situation has been resolved, though he was critical of the process.
“I’m glad it has finally come to an end. It was handled poorly and it should have been resolved before now,” he said. “It shouldn’t have taken them nine months to get this resolved.”