- NEWS RELEASE -

Date: January 30, 2006

Subject: Back-to-back Christmas DWIs bring felony charges

The holiday spirit may have been too much for a Platte City woman who has been charged with driving drunk on Christmas Eve and again on Christmas night.

Janna D. Goeckeler, 39, was arrested for DWI on December 24, 2005. Less than 24 hours later—on Christmas night—she was arrested for another DWI. Goeckeler now faces two felony counts of DWI and a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge.

Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd said, “Usually, even someone who just gets a speeding ticket slows down for a few weeks. But we have alleged this woman got a DWI on Christmas Eve and, instead of making sure she didn’t drive drunk again, did it again less than 24 hours later.”

According to court documents, at 10:47 p.m. on December 24, a motorist called the Missouri State Highway Patrol, saying a vehicle on I-29 was weaving between lanes and onto the shoulder.

A trooper located the vehicle and saw it drive onto the shoulder three times. The trooper stopped the vehicle driven by Goeckeler, and smelled alcohol and marijuana.

Goeckeler was arrested for DWI. When the trooper searched her car, he found eight marijuana cigarettes.

Less than 24 hours later, on December 25 at about 10:30 p.m., a Platte County Deputy Sheriff stopped a vehicle driven by Goeckeler in the parking lot of the northbound I-29 weigh scales.

The deputy indicated that Goeckeler appeared to be intoxicated, and there was a strong odor of alcohol coming from inside her vehicle. When the deputy contacted Goeckeler, she gave him papers related to her DWI from the night before.

Court documents indicate that Goeckeler failed a series of field sobriety tests and preliminary breath tests during both incidents. Goeckeler refused to submit to full breath tests after each of her arrests.

Goeckeler was issued summonses for DWI the night of the incidents. However, because of her prior drunk driving convictions, Zahnd’s office upgraded the charges to felonies on January 30. Court documents indicate Goeckeler pled guilty in Raytown Municipal Court in 1997 and 2002 to driving while intoxicated.

A warrant was issued for Goeckeler’s arrest, and bond has been set at $15,000 cash. If convicted of the current offenses, Goeckeler faces up to four years in prison on each of the DWI charges and one year in jail on marijuana possession charge.

Goeckeler’s case is being prosecuted by Assistant Prosecutor Rob Willard.

The charges against Goeckeler are merely accusations, and Goeckeler is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.