Antabuse Program Rejected By New Judge

A new Kosciusko County Judge says he will not accept plea agreements in which offenders are required to participate in the county's Alcohol Abuse Deterrent Program.

Judge Joe V. Sutton of Kosciusko County Superior Court III informed county prosecutor David Kolbe Thursday that he opposes the use of Antabuse, which has been used in county court case for the past year as a deterrent to further use of alcohol.

"I am not against anything that would prevent people from drunk driving," said Sutton.

Judge Sutton believes that drunk driving is what most endangers area families. And he has personal experience with being the victim of a drunk driver - while traveling in Michigan his wife's family was hit head-on by a drunk driver.

But that is not what led Sutton to his decision.

Antabuse is given to offenders in alcohol related cases as a detrent. Offenders are required to take the drug regularly, and any ingestion of alcohol results in the victim becoming physically ill.

Sutton's concern is that court-ordered chemical ingestion could endanger someone's health. "I'm not comfortable with that risk," said Sutton. And he is not alone in his hesitancy to order offenders into the program.

According to Sutton, only one other Indiana county has an active antabuse program. Allen County has had an active program for seven years. That program is administered by the same company working with Kosciusko County.

Kolbe said he may challenge Sutton by entering a plea agreement and seeing if the judge accepts it.

"It looks like Superior Court III is going to be a busy one," said Kolbe.

The decision not to continue approving the AADP plea agreements will probably affect Sutton's case load. Since the cases won't be plea bargained they may have to go to trial.

If the prosecutor's office continues to file third offense drunk driving cases as felonies and the prosecutor's office does not come up with a new plea agreement, the cases will go to trial.

Last year, 21 offenders were placed on the antabuse program.

The changes in policy will not affect offenders already on the proram.