The first court hearing in the DWI case of Parkville Mayor Nan Johnston has been rescheduled for March.
A hearing was on the docket for last Wednesday, Jan. 13 in the courtroom of Judge Dennis Eckold. But according to court records, Johnston’s attorney, Mark Ferguson, requested a rescheduling of the hearing. A new date of March 10 at 9 a.m. has been set.
Johnston, age 60, was arrested early Saturday morning, Sept. 26, for allegedly driving while intoxicated.
The arresting deputy from the Platte County Sheriff’s Department observed a vehicle being driven by Johnston southbound on Hwy. 9 in the area of Eastside Drive, which is a short distance north of Hwy. 45 near the edge of the Parkville city limits. The deputy was also southbound on Hwy. 9.
According to the sheriff’s department, after noting erratic driving that authorities say included crossing the center line, the deputy conducted a traffic stop at Eastside Drive around 1:18 a.m.
Authorities say after sobriety testing conducted roadside in which Johnston’s blood alcohol content (BAC) measured .110 on a portable breath test, she was arrested for DWI at 1:34 a.m.
The mayor was taken to the Platte County Jail for booking.
In all DWI cases, the portable breath test number is not admissible in court. The court-admissible test is always conducted on what is known as a DMT, a high tech breath testing machine, at the jail.
Johnston’s blood alcohol content test taken at the jail at 2:23 a.m., a little more than an hour after the car stop, showed Johnston’s BAC at .098.
In Missouri, the legal limit for driving is .080.
Johnston, who was found by the Missouri Ethics Commission last March to have committed four campaign finance reporting violations, is again under investigation by the MEC. The new investigation, as reported in last week’s Landmark, deals with fees for legal services that allegedly went unreported on Johnston’s campaign finance reports.
Mayor of Parkville arrested for DWI