"I exited my patrol vehicle and immediately was able to smell a strong odor of burning marijuana," Gutierrez wrote in his incident report. "As I approached the vehicle I noticed all four windows of the vehicle were lowered and the female driver was not wearing a jacket."
It is chilly in Idaho at that time of year, particularly at night, and it had seemed strange to Gutierrez that she would have all of the windows rolled down and not be wearing something to help keep her warm. Wells was handcuffed, arrested and charged with three misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a controlled substance. A second search of Wells’ car following her arrest allegedly turned up yet another half-smoked joint, as well as two small storage cases presumably used for stashing her pot supply. Wells was arraigned the next day and pled not-guilty to all of the charges. After posting $4,000 bond she was released, and a trial date was set for March 13, 2008.
In the meantime her attorney told a local newspaper that a friend of Wells’ had come forward and stated that he’d left a small amount of pot in her car after using her vehicle earlier that day, and that she had been unaware of it. The attorney also said that a number of witnesses would testify that Wells had not had much to drink at her birthday party, and that she was not intoxicated when she left the party that evening.
As Wells’ trial date approached, she agreed to plead guilty to one count of reckless driving. As a result, the three misdemeanor counts that she faced were dismissed and, on February 29, 2008, Wells was sentenced to five days in jail, fined $410.50, and placed on six months’ unsupervised probation.
One can only wonder what The Skipper would have thought!
