2003 DUI overturned

Roy Richard DeFranco testified he never burped or barfed in his mouth as he sat in a patrol car after he was stopped for suspicion of driving under the influence in 2003.

The Coeur d’Alene man’s attorneys successfully argued that whether DeFranco, now 60, belched didn’t matter. What did matter is whether Idaho State Police Trooper Gerald Stemm would have known if he had.

Idaho’s Court of Appeals overturned DeFranco’s conviction recently, saying Stemm didn’t monitor DeFranco for the required 15 minutes before giving him a breath test to determine if the man had been drinking.

Officers are required to monitor a suspected drunken driver for 15 minutes before administering a breathalyzer. If a DUI suspect burps or regurgitates in his mouth, it could skew the test results. If a burp is seen, heard or smelled, the clock starts over.

According to an Idaho Court of Appeals opinion, Stemm placed DeFranco in the patrol car then went to his trunk to get some paperwork. Stemm said he could see DeFranco through the back window.

Though Stemm said he could have heard DeFranco if he had burped or coughed, the appeals court disagreed.

“Stemm could not have heard or smelled a belch or regurgitation because of the trunk lid and the rear window separating the men and the sound of the cruiser’s running engine,” Judge Karen L. Lansing wrote.

The opinion overturns DeFranco’s DUI conviction.

– Taryn Brodwater

Schools request more funds

The Coeur d’Alene and Lakeland school districts will seek additional property tax money this year because of an increase in enrollment.

Coeur d’Alene is seeking an additional $795,097 and Lakeland $128,898 to buy more furniture and school supplies and hire more staff. The Post Falls School Board meets this morning to decide whether they too will need extra cash.

Coeur d’Alene’s enrollment is up 222 students from last year and Lakeland’s increased by 28. State law allows districts to implement one-year emergency levies if enrollment is higher than the previous year. The number of extra students entitles the Coeur d’Alene district to ask for as much as $894,316, but officials decided against that because of the extreme anti-property-tax feelings in the region.

Lakeland’s levy rate will be significantly lower this year than last, Assistant Superintendent Ron Schmidt said, citing the growth in the area as well as the school funding shift approved by the Legislature last month. He said someone with $200,000 in property will likely pay $5 to $7.

– Meghann M. Cuniff

CdA teachers to get raises

Teachers in the Coeur d’Alene School District will get a 2.25 percent raise this year under a new contract agreed upon this week by the district’s Board of Trustees and the teachers’ union, the Coeur d’Alene Education Association.

The contract allows for an additional pay increase of up to 0.75 percent if student enrollment continues to increase. Funding is tied directly to enrollment, so the higher the enrollment, the more money there is for the district to give.

“We’re very pleased,” said Barbara Crow, president of the teachers’ union.

The contract marks the end of months of negotiations that concluded with the help of a professional mediator. Crow’s organization approved the contract Tuesday and the Coeur d’Alene School District Board of Trustees gave it their stamp of approval Friday. Last year’s contract agreement wasn’t reached until December.

– Meghann M. Cuniff