Attorney says repeat drunk driver who killed friends ‘is human’

A woman who killed two of her friends in a drunken driving crash a decade ago and now heads a nonprofit to help inmates avoid going back to prison was charged with felony DUI Wednesday.

Dawn H. Vrentas, 31, of Edmonds, appeared before a judge in King County District Court. She faces a standard sentencing range of 22 to 43 months in prison if convicted, said Amy Freedheim, a senior deputy prosecutor for King County.

According to court documents, Vrentas was pulled over by a Washington State Patrol trooper for speeding on Interstate 5 near 145th street at 1:17 a.m. Saturday. The trooper detected a “strong odor” of intoxicants and a breathalyzer test determined her blood alcohol level was .14. The legal limit is .08.

Vrentas told the trooper she had just found out her husband cheated on her, according to the documents. Her defense attorney, Kimberly Gordon, also told a judge that Vrentas was the victim of domestic violence.

“I think it’s important for the judge to understand the context in which this happened and that was why we brought it up,” Gordon told KIRO Radio outside the courtroom Wednesday.

Vrentas’ criminal record includes a DUI conviction in Spokane County in 2000 and two convictions for vehicular homicide from an incident in Pend Oreille County three years later.

On August 2, 2003, Vrentas, whose maiden name is Dawn Wiltzius, was drunk when she drove her vehicle off Highway 211 near Davis Lake on the way home from a family party, according to prosecutors. The car landed in a pond and her two passengers – 20-year-old Kyle J. Hutchinson, of Mead, Wash., and 21-year-old Walter F. Corman, of Spokane – drowned.

According to court documents, her blood alcohol level at the time of the accident was .16.

Vrentas was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison and was released from the Washington Correctional Center for Women in September 2007, according to the Department of Corrections.

She completed her community supervision in July 2009 and began work as a math tutor with the Post-Prison Education Program, a nonprofit organization that aims to reduce recidivism. Vrentas was appointed to the position of managing director six months ago.

The felony DUI charge against Vrentas comes almost exactly a decade after the death of her friends.

“From the time she was convicted for those offenses she has tried to live her life in a way that would best honor the memory of those that died,” Gordon said of her client. “Even though she has tried to do that with her life, she is human. She is just as subject as the rest of us to mistakes and errors in judgment.”

Under state statute, a person can be charged with felony DUI if they have four prior DUI convictions, a prior conviction for vehicular homicide, or a prior conviction for vehicular assault.

“Once you’ve been convicted of driving impaired and killing someone, forevermore after that if you commit a DUI, it is a felony DUI,” Freedheim said.

Vrentas has been released on bail. Under the conditions of her release, she is not allowed to consume alcohol or drive any motor vehicle.

Arraignment is set for August 14.