Bus driver may face lesser drunk driving charge

BROWNSTOWN, Ind. – A school bus driver accused of being drunk while transporting 13 high school cheerleaders and their coach could escape the most serious charge against her because of paperwork errors by the Jackson County pros-\necutor’s office.\nThe mistakes could reduce Sylvia Cooke’s maximum possible sentence from three years to one year, depending on a Jackson Circuit Court judge’s decision after a hearing set for Thursday.\nCooke, 61, had a blood-alcohol level of 0.19 percent, more than twice the state’s legal limit to drive of 0.08 percent, when she was tested Sept. 1, 2006, court documents said.\nAuthorities say she was driving erratically on Interstate 65 with a dozen New Albany High School cheerleaders returning home from a football game in Jennings County when their coach persuaded her to exit the highway and pull over at Uniontown in Jackson County – about 40 miles north of Louisville, Ky.\nCooke was charged with a felony count of drunken driving with a passenger under the age of 18 and a misdemeanor count. She pleaded not guilty and is free awaiting her trial, set for Nov. 14.\nCooke’s trial was originally set for Aug. 15, but Prosecutor Richard Poynter, who took office after the charges were filed, discovered in July that his predecessor, Steve Pierson, had made a mistake in writing up the felony charge.\nPoynter found that Pierson had not included in the felony charge the allegation that the bus was driving “in a manner that endangered a person.” He filed new charges inserting that language into the original felony count, and changed the misdemeanor charge’s language to boost it to the level of a felony.\nCooke’s defense attorney, Bart Betteau, objected to the amended charges and filed a motion arguing that the change came too far after the date of her arrest – and too close to trial.\nA judge granted his motion, but the prosecutor asked the judge to reconsider.