Little indiced

Little gets two years probation

by RamWraith

By William C. Lhotka
Of the Post-Dispatch
05/06/2005

A judge sentenced Rams defensive end Leonard Little to two years of probation for driving 78 miles an hour on Highway 40 last year in Ladue.

St. Louis County Circuit Judge Emmett M. O'Brien rejected a request today by prosecutor Mark Bishop that Little get 30 days in jail as shock time. The judge told the Pro Bowl athlete that he is barred from consuming alcoholic beverages as a special condition of probation and a violation would result in a six-month jail sentence.

On April 1, a jury of 11 women and one man convicted Little of speeding, a misdemeanor, but acquitted him of driving while intoxicated, a felony. Prosecutors had charged Little with the felony because he pleaded guilty in a manslaughter case six years ago in which he admitted he was drunk, In his Lincoln Navigator, he ran a redlight downtown and collided with a car driven by Susan Gutweiler, 47, of Oakville, who was killed.

Little's 2003 Mercedes was stopped at 3:44 a.m. April, 24, 2004 on Highway 40 near Lindbergh Boulevard. Ladue police officer Gregory Stork said he clocked Little at 78 miles per hour in a 55-mph zone.

Stork alleged that Little flunked three field sobriety tests. At Little's trial, defense attorney Scott Rosenblum put the officer on trial during three hours of cross-examination on March 31 and in closing arguments on April 1. Rosenblum said a back-up police officer contradicted Stork about Little's actions at the time of his arrest and Stork failed to follow proper procedures in administering the tests.

Bishop had argued that Little refused to take a breath analysis test at the Ladue police station because he was drunk. Little used ``the two beers defense'' that night, Bishop said. Whenever drunks are stopped by police, they, like Little. always say they had two beers, Bishop told the jury.

In sentencing Little, O'Brien told the football player: ``I'm told you do not intend to drink and drive, or consume any alcoholic beverages. If you fulfill your promise, you will have no problems.''
- Channel: RAMS NATION TALK
-05-06-2005, 02:28 PM
Missouri Supreme Court refuses to throw out charge against Little

by RamWraith

Dec. 21, 2004
SportsLine.com wire reports

ST. LOUIS -- The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected Leonard Little's request to have a felony drunken driving charge thrown out, declining comment on his claim that the law behind the count is unconstitutional.

Attorneys for the Rams defensive end argued that under Missouri law, a jury, not as a judge, should have decided whether Little is a persistent offender, given his previous conviction in a 1998 drunken-driving wreck that killed a woman.

The prosecutor, Mark Bishop, countered in legal filings that a St. Louis County judge and the Missouri Court of Appeals have rejected Little's claims, and that Missouri's high court should do the same.

Among other things, Little argued that U.S. Supreme Court rulings since 2000 relating to a defendant's constitutional right to a jury trial applied in his case.

Little is scheduled to go to on trial March 28 on charges that he was driving under the influence and speeding when stopped by police early on the morning of April 24 in the St. Louis suburb of Ladue. Police said he was traveling 78 mph in a 55-mph zone.

Police say he failed three field sobriety tests.

In 1998, Little pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in a St. Louis crash that killed Susan Gutweiler. Little's blood-alcohol level was nearly twice Missouri's legal limit.

Little completed a three-month jail sentence, 1,000 hours of community service and four years of probation. He also was suspended without pay for the first half of the 1999 season.

Little went to his first Pro Bowl after last season, when he was fifth in the NFL with 12 1/2 sacks. This season, Little leads the Rams with 5� sacks and his 61-yard fumble return accounted for the Rams' only score in Sunday's 31-7 loss at Arizona.

The NFL has said Little, if convicted, could face another suspension under terms of its substance-abuse policy.
AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service
- Channel: RAMS NATION TALK
-12-21-2004, 06:42 PM
AP Reports Little innocent

by Guest

Little Found Innocent of Drunken Driving
The Associated Press
Friday, April 01, 2005
St. Louis Rams defensive end Leonard Little was found innocent of drunken driving Friday by a St. Louis County Circuit jury.

Jurors ruled that Little was speeding at the time of his arrest April 24 on Interstate 64 in a St. Louis suburb. He will be sentenced on that charge May 6.

The verdict assures Little that he will not be considered a persistent offender, which had been a possibility under the charges. Little pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in 1999 in the death of 47-year-old Susan Gutweiler. His blood-alcohol level was nearly twice Missouri's legal limit at the time of the crash.

Little served three months in jail, completed 1,000 hours of community service and four years of probation for the earlier crime. He was also suspended without pay for the first half of the 1999 season.

Little had 46 tackles, 6 1/2 sacks and recovered four fumbles last season. He was a Pro Bowl selection in 2003.
- Channel: RAMS NATION TALK
-04-01-2005, 06:16 PM
Little trial sure to spark debate

by RamDez

Little trial sure to spark debate
By William C. Lhotka
Post-Dispatch
Saturday, Mar. 26 2005

The trial of Rams defensive end Leonard Little on allegations of drunken
driving and speeding in Ladue is set to begin Monday with jury selection that
may take as long as the presentation of evidence and arguments.

To the sports fan, Little is the stalwart who has anchored the left side of the
Rams' defensive line and made the Pro Bowl.

Beyond the sports pages, Little was the obscure rookie linebacker who in
October 1998 drove his Lincoln Navigator through a red light downtown and
collided with a car driven by Susan Gutweiler, 47, of Oakville, who was killed.

In June 1999, Little admitted he had been drunk that night and pleaded guilty
of involuntary manslaughter. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail, 1,000 hours
of community service and four years of probation. That prompted a public debate
over whether the penalty was enough - and whether Little got favored treatment.

It is the Gutweiler death that makes this week's prosecution of Little in St.
Louis County Circuit Court a major case.

A Missouri law passed in 2001 says a person accused of drunken driving can be
charged as a persistent offender if there is a prior manslaughter conviction.
So instead of facing a municipal ordinance violation or a state misdemeanor
charge, which are common in DUI cases, Little is charged with a felony that
carries a maximum sentence of four years in prison.

While the charge is a felony only because of the prior conviction, prosecutor
Mark Bishop cannot mention the Gutweiler case in court. Judge Emmett M. O'Brien
barred it in an order sought by defense attorneys Scott Rosenblum and John
Rogers.

"Defense motion to exclude references to prior bad acts, uncharged conduct and
inflammatory hearsay . . . specifically any reference to defendant's arrest,
plea and sentence in St. Louis . . . is sustained," O'Brien wrote in an order
issued Wednesday.

Legal experts say Bishop has one way around the order. He could use the
conviction to attack Little's credibility, if Little testifies.

Little, 30, of St. Charles, pleaded not guilty of the charges at his
arraignment.

Questioning of prospective jurors is expected to follow two main themes - how
much each knows about the prior case and how much each knows about Little's
football prowess - and whether either would stand in the way of a fair verdict.
In high-profile cases, potential jurors often are questioned individually at
the judge's bench, outside the earshot of the others. The process in this case
is expected to be lengthy.

The key prosecution witness in the trial...
- Channel: RAMS NATION TALK
-03-26-2005, 06:10 AM
Post-Dispatch Article - Little Acquitted

by ZigZagRam

Leonard Little is acquitted of DUI
B Y WILLIAM C. LHOTKA
Of the Post-Dispatch
Friday, Apr. 01 2005

A jury in St. Louis County Circuit Court acquitted Rams defensive end Leonard
Little on Friday of drunk driving Highway 40 last year in Ladue.

Little cried as the verdict was read in St. Louis County Circuit Court. He
hugged his attorney, Scott Rosenblum, before collapsing to the floor.

Rosenblum helped him up joking, "You're too big to pick up," as Little got back
to his feet.

Little was convicted on the lesser charge of speeding. Had he been convicted of
the felony charge of driving while intoxicated, he would have faced up to four
years in prison.

Little's 2003 Mercedes was stopped at 3:44 a.m. on April 24 on Highway 40 near
Lindbergh Boulevard. Officer Gregory Stork said he clocked Little at 78 mph.
Little flunked three field sobriety tests, Stork claimed.

Stork was the main prosecution witness against Little - and Rosenblum put the
officer on trial during three hours of cross-examination on Thursday and in
closing arguments on Friday.

Prosecutor Mark Bishop told the jury of 11 women and one man that Little put on
"the two beers defense. He drank so many beers that night, he doesn't remember
how many."

Whenever a police officer stops someone who is drunk and asks that person how
much they had been drinking, they usually get the answer: "two beers," Bishop
said.

In an audiotape, Little first tells Stork he had two beers, and later he says
he doesn't remember. Little refused a breathalyzer test at the Ladue Police
Station that would have shown his blood alcohol content.

In alleging Little was drunk and noting that a refusal to take the test means
an automatic revocation, Bishop said: "He would rather give up his drivers
license for a full calendar year than take the test."

Rosenblum portrayed Stork as a "sheep in wolf's clothing," who appeared to be a
nice guy but had an agenda of making as many DWI arrests as he could.

In his testimony Thursday, Stork admitted that the sobriety tests he
administered to Little varied from established police procedures. Using Stork's
testimony in a license revocation hearing 19 days before Little's arrest,
Rosenblum impeached Stork's trial testimony at least four times.

On Friday, the only defense witness that Rosenblum called was Ladue Officer
Keneth Andreski who was Stork's backup when Little was arrested and was
standing five feet from the defendant when Little was given the sobriety tests.

Stork had testified that Little was windmilling his...
- Channel: RAMS NATION TALK
-04-01-2005, 06:30 PM

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