NEWPORT-Cocke County Highway Superintendent John Brad Holloway entered guilty pleas on Tuesday in criminal court to two driving under the influence (DUI) charges and was placed on two years of probation.
Holloway, 47, of Huff Hollow Road, was accused by the Cocke County Grand Jury of DUI stemming from incidents in August of 2008 and February of 2009. He entered pleas of guilty to both charges of first-offense DUI on Tuesday before Circuit Judge Rex Henry Ogle.
Under the terms of the negotiated plea agreement, Holloway received consecutive sentences of 11 months, 29 days in jail with all but the state-mandated 48 hours suspended. But because the defendant has spent more than 30 days in an in-house alcohol rehabilitation program, Assistant District Attorney General Brownlow Marsh told the court the state has agreed to allow that time to serve as jail credit, and Judge Ogle gave his approval to that agreement.
Holloway will be under supervised probation for the first 11-month, 29-day term and the second term will be served on unsupervised probation, under the terms of the plea-bargain.
In addition, Holloway will lose driving privileges for one year and will pay fines totaling $700 plus court costs.
Judge Ogle accepted Holloway's plea-bargain, but cautioned the defendant that, even though he pled guilty to two counts of first-offense DUI, if he is arrested again for drunk driving, the state could choose to charge him as a third-offender and the penalties would be greater.
"I hope that doesn't happen," Holloway said.
"So do I," Judge Ogle said. "But I wanted to be sure you understand that."
In the first incident, the highway superintendent was taken to University of Tennessee Medical Center after an afternoon mishap just off Interstate 40 last August 9.
Authorities reported in August that Holloway was westbound on I-40 and was exiting onto Highway 25/70 at the 432 exit when the Chevrolet Tahoe he was driving slid on gravel lining the side of the cloverleaf exit ramp. The Newport Police Department investigated the first accident and Patrolman William Garber is listed as the prosecuting witness against Holloway.
A test taken after the first incident showed that Holloway had a .27 percent blood/alcohol content, more than three times Tennessee's legal limit of .08 percent, prosecutor Marsh told the court on Tuesday.
Holloway spent almost a month in the hospital as a result of the accident. He reportedly suffered injuries to an arm, five broken bones, broken ribs, and torn ligaments in his legs.
In the most recent incident, Holloway was again arrested by Newport police after a traffic accident on Cosby Highway on February 20.
Police arrested the highway superintendent after he allegedly drove his Chevrolet pickup through the McDonald's restaurant parking lot and struck the rear of a Cosby resident's Nissan Maxima. The vehicle then left the parking area, struck a mailbox, and traveled onto the curb and through a flower bed before knocking down a concrete safety post, police reported.
Holloway was found at the Cosby Highway Exxon station "in a heavily intoxicated state," according to investigators. In a warrant issued for Holloway's arrest, Newport Police Sergeant Stephen Higginbotham reported that "upon approaching the vehicle, I asked Holloway if he had a driver's license. He stated, 'no.' At that time I could smell a strong odor of alcohol. Holloway's speech was extremely slurred."
When Higginbotham asked Holloway to get out of the pickup, he "could barely stand on his own power," according to the warrant, and police had to assist Holloway "to keep him from falling over."
After his release from jail, Holloway reportedly checked himself into the alcohol rehabilitation program, which he has completed.