More Convicted Felons
By rshellman
Drunken driving charges dismissed against former Yankees pitcher
KALISPELL, Mont. (AP) - A drunken driving charge against former New York Yankees pitcher Steve Howe has been dropped after prosecutors decided his blood test was improperly obtained.
City Attorney Glen Neier said prosecutors concluded they did not have probable cause to subpoena hospital records on Howe's blood test. Municipal Judge Heidi Ulbricht dismissed the charge Wednesday.
Howe, 39, of Whitefish, was charged in an Aug. 19 motorcycle accident on Kalispell's north side.
Howe reportedly slid his motorcycle on gravel and hit a fence, sustaining serious injuries. He managed to get to the nearby home of Dick Stotts, a former city detective who worked for Howe as a private investigator when the baseball player was facing drug charges.
Stotts took Howe to Kalispell Regional Medical Center, where he remained for a week. However, the accident was not reported to police, and it was several days before officers learned of it.
Prosecutors subpoenaed hospital records that showed Howe's blood alcohol level at 0.16, well above the 0.10 level considered legally drunk.
"If the accident had been reported, as it legally should have been, we'd have asked for blood tests ourselves and wouldn't have had to rely on medical records," Neier said.
"Even if anyone who knew anything about the accident or Howe's actions just before or after the accident had given us information that indicated alcohol was a factor, then that would have been probable cause to seek a blood test. But no one did, so we had to try this route."
Stotts and family members told investigators that alcohol was not a factor in the accident.
Howe was suspended seven times from baseball for drug or alcohol problems, and he was convicted of possessing cocaine in Kalispell in 1992.
The Yankees released him on June 22, 1996, and he was arrested two days later at a Delta Air Lines terminal at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport when a loaded .357 Magnum was detected inside his suitcase.
Last November, the left-hander pleaded guilty to gun possession and was placed on three years' probation and given 150 hours of community service.
Earlier this summer, Howe had been pitching for the Sioux Falls Canaries of the independent Northern League, but returned home to Montana after injuring his arm.
