Lynn mom loses appeal on fourth drunken driving conviction

LYNN – The Massachusetts Appeals Court has upheld the conviction of a Lynn mom nabbed for her fourth drunken driving offense in 2008 after she crashed her car into a local restaurant while en route to pick up a food order.Shelley King, 51, formerly of Millard Avenue and currently serving a 5-year sentence at the women’s prison in Framingham, challenged the guilty verdict handed down at her Lawrence Superior Court trial on May 15, 2009.King was convicted of operating under the influence, fourth offense, as well as reckless and negligent driving and driving with a revoked license.King’s appeals lawyer, Deborah Bates Riordan, vowed Friday to take the case to the state Supreme Judicial Court. She argued on appeal the verdict was marred because Judge John Lu failed to limit the jury’s exposure to press coverage of the case, which might have influenced their decision.The attorney also claimed the judge exercised his personal feelings rather than rely on objective criteria when imposing the 41/2-5-year prison term with a consecutive – meaning one after another – term in the House of Corrections.”We just received the appeals ruling. She is still in Framingham where she will serve the remainder of her sentence,” Steve O’Connell, spokesman for Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett, said Friday. “She was credited 474 days of time served because she had been in custody since her arrest or shortly thereafter.”King also received a separate 21/2-year sentence to be served starting upon her release from state prison and another 2-year sentence that runs concurrently – or at the same time – with her present incarceration at MCI Framingham.The additional jail time stemmed from the fact she was operating the car with a revoked license when arrested for the fourth OUI offense. The concurrent sentence was related to her reckless and negligent driving.A mother of two, King had consumed four or five beers at her Lynn home before getting behind the wheel of her mother’s 2004 Mitsubishi on the day of her arrest, according to the Appeals Court decision.At approximately 6 p.m., she left her house to pick up a take-out food order at a neighborhood restaurant.She brought along another can of beer for the ride, popped the lid and stuffed the open can in her handbag.At a major intersection in Wyoma Square, after sipping on the beer, King made an unlawful turn across three lanes, drove up and over a median island and across two more lanes.She ultimately crashed into the front door of the Lazy Dog Restaurant & Sports Bar. Interestingly enough, the establishment was not the one from which she had placed the take-out food order, according to the court document.The bouncy turn and abrupt halt caused King to bump her chin, resulting in a bloody wound that required seven stitches.A passerby offered assistance, but King did not respond to his instruction to put the car into the park gear.Instead, the man reached into the car and turned off the ignition, according to the court record. Both he and a Lynn police officer at the scene said King smelled of alcohol. King’s eyes were bloodshot, her speech slurred.At the trial, King’s defense lawyer objected to a story in The Daily Item that reported the arrest of a local mother for a fifth OUI offense. The story should have stated it was King’s fourth drunken driving arrest.The judge asked the jurors if any of them had read the story or seen or heard any publicity about the case. No hands were raised. The jury’s response was recorded by the court.When the trial ended, the judge said, “This is a sad case. I understand that I have a limited amount of information about what happened and about the defendant, but it’s pretty obvious to me that, from what I have received, that Ms. King is probably a very nice person and she probably – it’s not hard to see that she’s probably had a difficult life. I am sensitive to these things. But the sentence I’m going to impose is necessary, in my view.”The sentence complied with M