GILROY
– Embattled Councilman Charlie Morales will spend his 57th
birthday, Sept. 2, in a San Benito County courtroom asserting his
innocence or admitting his guilt in an upcoming driving under the
influence of alcohol trial.
Morales is being arraigned Tuesday on one misdemeanor DUI charge
stemming from his June 29 arrest on Highway 25 just south of the
county line.
GILROY – Embattled Councilman Charlie Morales will spend his 57th birthday, Sept. 2, in a San Benito County courtroom asserting his innocence or admitting his guilt in an upcoming driving under the influence of alcohol trial.
Morales is being arraigned Tuesday on one misdemeanor DUI charge stemming from his June 29 arrest on Highway 25 just south of the county line. Morales was stopped by the California Highway Patrol after driving a foot-and-a-half off the white edge line of the road and later failing roadside sobriety and breathalyzer tests.
San Benito County Superior Court Judge Steven R. Sanders will preside.
“This is an arraignment. It’s not the actual trial yet,” San Benito County District Attorney John Sarsfield said. “This is when the suspect is formally advised of the charges filed about them, they can enter a guilty or not guilty plea, and they can get a lawyer appointed if they cannot afford one.”
It is unclear how Morales will plead. Morales, who had at least one other DUI in the 1980s, did not return phone calls before deadline. His attorney, Milton Gonzales, could not be reached for comment.
If convicted, Morales could face 10 days to a year in jail, have his license suspended for 18 months and be forced to pay more than $1,500 in fines and court fees, according to state law.
If Morales pleads guilty or is found guilty, the judge could use two allegations in court documents to make punishment more severe:
• Morales had a blood-alcohol level of .23 percent, nearly three times the legal .08 limit and greater than the .20 limit which triggers stiffer penalties.
• At the time of his June 29 arrest, the longtime Gilroyan was serving a probation for a DUI conviction from a December 1999 incident when he ran a red light at Murray Avenue and Leavesley Road without looking. A breathalyzer test registered his blood-alcohol level at more than twice the legal limit and he had a 14-year-old passenger in the car.
The irony of Morales, a former youth probation officer, violating his probation is likely lost within the court process.
Morales’ 1999 arrest happened in Santa Clara County. His June 2003 arrest happened in San Benito County.
Although Judge Sanders may use the prior conviction to augment Morales’ punishment, there has been no formal parole violation since the incidents happened in two separate counties.
“The fact he was on probation is irrelevant for us,” Sarsfield said. “The factor being looked at is that there was a prior conviction (for a DUI) within the last seven years.”
A Santa Clara County judge could declare Morales in violation of his probation, but since his is a “summary probation” and not a more restrictive “formal probation” a probation officer was never assigned to monitor Morales. In other words, there is no record in Santa Clara County of Morales’ most recent drinking-and-driving binge.
“Frankly, we don’t always know about an out-of-county matter,” Santa Clara County District Attorney Supervisor Mark Hood said. “Keep in mind we’re talking about a half a million summary probation cases.”
Had Morales been assigned a probation officer, the offense would have been noticed in Santa Clara County, Hood said. The same is true had Morales been caught June 29 a quarter-mile north in Santa Clara County.
Morales initially was stopped by a California Highway Patrol officer on June 29 at about 7 p.m. for drifting right of the road’s white edge line, following another vehicle too closely and not wearing a seat belt. Upon interviewing Morales, the CHP officer smelled alcohol from the interior of Morales’ 1994 Jeep and observed his eyes were bloodshot, according to court records.
A second officer performed a field sobriety test, which Morales failed, and administered a breath test that registered .23.
Morales told one of the CHP officers he had one glass of champagne at his mother’s house 30 minutes prior to being pulled over. However, a person of Morales’ build would have to consume four to eight drinks in an hour to register a .23 blood-alcohol level, according to the CHP.
Since his arrest, The Dispatch newspaper and some Gilroy councilmen have strongly encouraged Morales to step down from his seat on the city dais. Morales mostly has kept mum, but in an interview shortly after the June 29 arrest, he said he was “strong enough” to remain a councilman.
According to the city charter, any elected official convicted of a felony or serving more than 60 days in jail will be removed from office. If Morales is forced to resign his post, city council will appoint a replacement.
Although the City Council makeup has stayed the same since the arrest, Morales’ professional status apparently has changed. Sources who did not comment on the record said Morales recently retired from his probation officer job at Harold Holden Ranch for Boys in Morgan Hill.
Holden Ranch officials did not return phone calls for this story.
“I’ve heard Charlie retired or took some sort of disability leave, but I have not confirmed that with him,” Mayor Tom Springer said.
