On Monday, March 12th, 47-year-old Joseph Wayne Ingham was sentenced to serve 5 days in jail on an amended charge of 1st offense OWI, and a child endangerment charge was dismissed as part of a negotiated voluntary plea of guilty to the lesser amended offense.
The charges stemmed from a traffic stop conducted by the Iowa State Patrol in Cerro Gordo County on the evening of November 16th, 2010. As a result of the traffic stop Ingham was arrested and charged with 2nd offense OWI and an aggravated misdemeanor count of child endangerment.
Court records show a week before a scheduled trial in Cerro Gordo County District Court a plea change hearing was set for March 12th. Senior Judge Carlynn D. Grupp presided over that hearing on Monday and approved an application to amend the 2nd offense OWI Charge to 1st Offense OWI and dismiss the child endangerment charge. Judge Grupp then sentenced Ingham to serve 5 days in jail and imposed the mandatory minimum fines set by the state legislature for 1st offense OWI.
Court records show Ingham was found guilty of another 1st offense OWI in June of 2000 related to a traffic stop by a Cerro Gordo County Sheriff’s Deputy. In Iowa a defendant must go at least 12 years between offenses not to be charged with a consecutive offense, or as shown in this case have it amended to a lesser offense by the courts.
SUBJECT IS INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY.
