Published: June 09, 2008 11:27 pm      

Vanceburg chief cleared of DUI

Attorney: No prosecutorial merit to case

VANCEBURG — Vanceburg’s police chief has been cleared of driving under influence of alcohol.

Lewis District Judge Brian McCloud last week granted a motion by special prosecutor Michael Wilson to dismiss a DUI charge against Joseph W. Billman.

Wilson, who is the Greenup County attorney, told the judge that the case lacked prosecutorial merit and was not worth pursuing, and that neither he nor the arresting officer wanted to continue with it.

Wilson said he reached those conclusions after reviewing the results of blood and urine screenings performed on Billman at Meadowview Regional Hospital in Maysville following his arrest March 16 in Vanceburg.

The tests — results of which were provided by Billman to The Independent — showed that the chief’s blood-alcohol level was .038, less than half the level at which a person is legally presumed to be intoxicated in Kentucky.

Wilson also noted that there was no evidence that Billman was driving erratically or had violated any traffic laws. The only evidence in the case, he said, was the test results showing the chief well below the legal limit.

“We’re very pleased that the prosecutor and the judge did the right thing by dismissing this case,” said Billman’s attorney, Luke Bentley of Vanceburg. “Joe never should have been arrested in the first place, and to have his innocence proven by the chemical tests and acknowledged by the court is very satisfying.”

In an interview the day after his arrest, Billman, 48, acknowledged that he had been drinking prior to being confronted by a trooper from the Morehead post of the Kentucky State Police in the parking lot of the Vanceburg Super Quik. However, the chief denied being intoxicated.

Billman, Vanceburg’s police chief since 1984, said he’d consumed about six beers, but that he drank them over a course of six or seven hours. The chief said he drank four beers at card game early that evening, and one with each of his adult children later on that night.

He said hew knew he was well below the legal limit when he got into his truck to drive home. He was arrested after stopping at the convenience store to purchase milk.

Billman was arrested after the KSP post received a report from a caller of a drunk driver leaving a bar in Vanceburg. In the citation, the arresting trooper noted that he drove past the bar and saw Billman “pointing and saying something.”

The trooper then pulled in behind Super Quik and confronted Billman after he pulled into the store’s parking lot.