Cunningham
A Butte man with five prior drunken-driving convictions pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to a felony charge that could lead to his sixth.
Alfred Blaine Cunningham, 47, pleaded not guilty to a fourth or subsequent DUI offense before District Judge Robert Whelan, who set the next hearing for March 24.
If convicted this time, Cunningham can be sentenced up to five years in prison and fined up to $10,000.
According to charging documents, a man called Butte police and said he had followed Cunningham’s vehicle from Butte to Rocker the afternoon of Jan. 26 and it was swerving all over the road. The man said he spoke to Cunningham in Rocker and could not understand him.
An officer spotted the vehicle and pulled Cunningham over on South Montana Street. He was taken to jail and consented to a breath test that showed his blood-alcohol content at 0.238 percent — nearly three times the legal limit of 0.08.
Cunningham appeared for Wednesday’s arraignment via computer video from another location and remains free on bond.
Mike Smith
Government and Politics Reporter
Mike Smith is a reporter at the Montana Standard with an emphasis on government and politics.
