Repeat Offender A No-Show Again In Latest Dui Case

EVERETT - Steven Miche, whose long history of driving drunk includes killing a 5-year-old boy, didn't show up in court yesterday on yet another drunken-driving case.

Authorities don't know where he is.

At the hearing yesterday, which was to review the deferred prosecution, Snohomish County District Judge Tom Kelly revoked Miche's deferred prosecution and issued an arrest warrant on charges of driving while drunk and with a suspended license.

Miche, 43, had been released from jail March 17 this year despite a new state law that says a person can have only one deferred prosecution in a lifetime.

Prosecutors seemed surprised when informed by a Seattle Times reporter of Miche's prior deferred prosecution on two drunken-driving charges in 1988. Those charges showed up as convictions on records they looked at, but those records did not mention the deferred prosecution, said John Stansell, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor.

"It would have made a difference" if prosecutors had known, Stansell said. The office will look into the completeness of its offender records, he added.

Everett probation supervisor Conrad Thompson said in court yesterday that Miche had lied in court papers, claiming he'd never had a deferred prosecution before.

Peggy Bishop, whose son Alexander was killed by Miche in 1992, had no idea Miche had even been arrested on another drunken-driving charge.

"Knowing that Miche's out, and being treated like this, it's almost like rubbing salt in my wounds," she said. "I'm not whole anymore. I'm not whole."

Miche's case isn't the first problem with deferred prosecutions. Susan West of Issaquah got two deferred prosecutions before she killed a woman while driving drunk in 1997.

Deferred prosecutions are aimed at helping drunken drivers get sober through a strict two-year program of treatment and monitoring. Advocates say it's more effective than jail time.

A 1993 study for the Washington Traffic Safety Commission found that those who participated in the program repeated their offenses only 22 percent of the time, compared with 48 percent for other drunken drivers.

"Quite frequently, a person with a bad record is the ideal candidate for deferred prosecution," said Jon Scott Fox, a Bellevue lawyer who has been defending people accused of drunken driving for 19 years. Thompson agrees the program can work - for some people. "Alcoholism is a very, very tough disease to beat. The people who make it have to be totally honest and have the right attitude," he said.

Miche hasn't been able to stay out of trouble with booze. He didn't successfully complete his first deferred prosecution. He has a history of skipping court dates, of misrepresenting his driving and conviction history to authorities, and of driving with a suspended license.

He was first arrested for drunken driving around 4 p.m. on May 9, 1988. About two hours later, he was arrested again. He said he'd drunk a case of beer because he was upset about fighting with his wife.

He was given a deferred prosecution on the two charges, and told they'd be removed from his record if he followed the two-year program.

He violated the program's rules, and the deferred prosecution was revoked.

Miche then violated probation when he was caught driving drunk in 1990. He said he had drunk four or five pitchers of beer after being served with divorce papers. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail and ordered to face a panel of victims of drunken drivers.

In April 1992, Miche smashed his car into another car while driving drunk. He misled a judge with an alias and was sentenced to five days in jail and two years' probation.

The next week, Miche violated his probation by driving with a suspended license. On Nov. 6, 1992, he was ordered to enroll in an alcohol-treatment program and go to Alcoholics Anonymous twice a week.

Two days later, Tom and Peggy Bishop drove their two children out to Kent to look at a car. They decided to buy it.

They drove back on the Kent-Kangley Road because Peggy Bishop thought it might be safer than the Maple Valley Highway. Everyone was wearing seat belts. Alexander, 5, was in a booster seat, because his parents thought he'd be safer. His sister, Lucy, sat next to him.

That day, Miche had fought with his girlfriend. He bought three 40-ounce bottles of malt liquor and drank more than two of them. He started driving to his girlfriend's house on Kent-Kangley Road. Miche said he bent down to change a CD.

Tom Bishop saw the truck cross the center line, and he tried to swerve. But the truck kept coming, striking the door next to Alexander.

The tires blew out. The car spun around. Lucy screamed. "Is everybody OK?" Tom Bishop asked.

But Alexander was slumped in his seat. Miche got out of his car, handed his keys to a passer-by and walked away.

Alexander was taken by helicopter to Harborview Medical Center. When Tom and Peggy Bishop showed up, a doctor told them their boy was dead. Tom Bishop started to scream.

"I don't believe you," Peggy Bishop said. But she saw Alexander on the gurney, and she hugged him goodbye.

Miche was picked up a half-hour after the accident, walking down a road.

King County Superior Court Judge Laura Inveen sentenced him to 7 1/2 years in prison, three years longer than the standard sentence. She still has his court file, including 3 inches of letters from Alexander's grieving friends and relatives.

Inveen also has letters from Miche.

Miche blamed his alcohol problems on a history of sexual and physical abuse. In one letter, he said he was truly sorry for what he did, and that a part of him died with the little boy. "I know in my heart that I woun't pick up another drink," he wrote.

Miche asked Inveen at least twice if he could get out of prison early because he wanted to go into treatment. He said he'd gone through a program in prison. He said he'd found God.

Inveen said she couldn't let him out early. She didn't know he was released in October 1997.

Miche was arrested six months later in Everett for driving drunk and with a suspended license. Five months after that, he was arrested in Sedro-Woolley for driving with a suspended license and with an open container of malt liquor in his car.

"I could easily say that makes my blood run cold," Inveen said.

Miche was sentenced to 10 days in jail and fined $1,100 in the Sedro-Woolley case.

Despite missing two court appearances, he was offered deferred prosecution and fined $425 in March in the Everett drunken-driving case.

Miche probably should never have been offered a second deferred prosecution, said Dick Van Wagenen, policy adviser to Gov. Gary Locke, who helped to push the state's tough new drunken-driving law.

Though the law doesn't say so explicitly, the intent was to make it retroactive, Van Wagenen said. So Miche's 1988 deferred prosecution should have counted against him, even though the new law didn't go into effect until January of this year.

After being granted deferred prosecution March 17, Miche was released from Snohomish County Jail after promising to report immediately to the probation office one block away.

He never showed up, and authorities haven't seen him since.

Deputy Prosecutor Mark Garka asked the court yesterday to issue a no-bail warrant for Miche's arrest. Judge Kelly said he didn't have that authority and set the maximum allowable cash-only bail of $10,000.

But until that warrant is served, Miche could be out on the roads, a thought that disturbs Peggy and Tom Bishop, who helped to push for a new drunken-driving law in 1994.

"What do you do to make this not happen to somebody else?" Peggy Bishop asked. "Or us? I swear to God."

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Arrest record of Steven Miche

-- May 1988 - Arrested twice in one day for DUI, first in Whatcom County, then in Ferndale. Given deferred prosecution, which was later revoked because he failed to follow through on the prescribed treatment program.

-- January 1990 - Arrested for DUI in Renton. Sentenced to 90 days in jail.

-- April 1992 - Arrested for DUI and reckless driving in South King County. Sentenced to five days in jail and two years' probation. The next week, he violated his probation by driving with a suspended license. On Nov. 6, 1992, he was ordered to enroll in an alcohol-treatment program and go to Alcoholics Anonymous twice a week.

-- November 1992 - Arrested for vehicular homicide and hit-and-run in an accident that killed 5-year-old Alexander Bishop. Sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison. He served about 5 years, released in October 1997 for good behavior.

-- March 1998 - Arrested in Everett for DUI and driving with a suspended license.

-- September 1998 - Arrested in Sedro-Woolley for driving with a suspended license and for having an open container of alcohol in his vehicle. Sentenced to 10 days in jail.

-- March 1999 - Despite missing two court appearances, he was offered deferred prosecution and fined $425 in the Everett drunken-driving case. Fails to show up at probation office.

-- April 7, 1999 - Skipped a court hearing to review the second deferred prosecution. Arrest warrant issued.