A 34-year-old Mound House woman who was convicted last year of drunken driving after a rollover accident that involved her two young children was back in Douglas County Jail following a fender bender in Carson City last week.
Megan Marshall admitted Tuesday in East Fork Justice Court to drinking alcohol in violation of her probation and was ordered jailed on $10,000 cash bail after she requested placement in a substance-abuse treatment program.
Marshall was arrested in Carson City on Jan. 9 after an accident with her two young children in the car.
According to Carson City Sheriff's Deputy Glenn Fair, Marshall rear-ended a vehicle that had yielded on Edmonds Drive to traffic on Fairview Drive.
"I could smell odor of alcoholic beverage from 15 feet away. It was that strong," Fair said.
Marshall allegedly failed a field sobriety test and a preliminary breath test revealed a blood alcohol level of .188, more than twice the legal limit, Fair said.
Marshall was booked into the Carson City Jail on suspicion of second-offense drunken driving, two counts of gross misdemeanor child endangerment, failure to restrain a child, driving on a license revoked for drunken driving and following too closely. Her two sons, in the car at the time, were uninjured.
It was the second time Marshall was suspected of an accident involving alcohol in which her children were passengers. She was arrested in March after a rollover accident on Foothill Road near Genoa in which the boys were also uninjured. Her blood-alcohol content in that accident was .185.
At her sentencing after the Genoa accident, East Fork Justice Jim EnEarl suspended a six-month jail term and fined her $692. He forbade Marshall from consuming alcohol or drugs.
On Tuesday, EnEarl imposed the sentence but told Marshall she would be placed in a substance-abuse program which would count toward her jail term if she is successful.
"You've got some horrendous problems in your life right now," EnEarl told Marshall. "I think you are on the right track to fix that. If you don't, you are going to kill yourself, kill someone else or kill your children."
"She had a very good, offense-free record until one year ago," said her lawyer, Walter Fey. "In one year, she's hit two DUI's back-to-back with children in the vehicle."
"That's what concerns me," EnEarl said. "She's placed these children's lives in danger and the citizenry in danger. She's shown no regard for driving on a license suspended for DUI, if these charges are proved."
A trial date of Jan. 24 is set for Marshall in Lyon County on a charge of domestic battery. According to Dayton Justice Court records, Marshall was arrested on Sept. 5 on suspicion of child abuse without substantial bodily harm. That charge appears to have been reduced to domestic battery.