Ryan will serve time
Published: July 16, 2009
Updated: July 16, 2009
Culpeper Town Councilman Bobby Ryan has withdrawn his appeal of a DUI conviction and is expected to begin serving a 30-day jail term Friday.
During a brief hearing Wednesday morning, Circuit Court Judge F. Ward Harkrader Jr. accepted the motion to withdraw and denied a motion that would have delayed until August Ryan’s reporting date to jail.
Harkrader then remanded the case back to General District Court. Defense attorney T.C. Lea then informed Special Prosecutor Amy Harper a few minutes later that Ryan was choosing not to pursue the case and would report to jail this weekend.
Ryan, 64, was sentenced to 90 days in jail with 60 days suspended and will serve the time on weekends, in accordance with a plea deal in May. He must also pay $816 in fines and costs, will lose his license for three years, must serve one year on probation and must complete substance abuse classes.
Charged with DUI second offense, a misdemeanor, Ryan appealed his own plea about a week later. He was set to have a jury trial Wednesday and did not speak during the hearing. Ryan could not be reached for comment after court.
The DUI charge stems from an incident Feb. 26 in the town of Culpeper. An off-duty Virginia State Police special agent stopped Ryan on Sunset Lane after observing his car repeatedly drift over the center line.
In a warrant, the officer wrote that when he approached Ryan, the councilman “had slurred speech (and) a strong odor of alcohol” and that Ryan was too intoxicated to “understand the questions I was asking him.”
A separate court document indicates that Ryan’s blood alcohol level was 0.17, more than twice the legal limit. Ryan was held in jail overnight and released on $2,000 bond.
Lea told Harkrader that Ryan entered the appeal and needed the additional time to deal with health problems that required surgery.
However Harper argued that Ryan’s health issues hadn’t been brought to the court’s attention until after the original plea agreement had been reached. She also argued that adequate time had been allowed for Ryan to get his personal affairs in order and that further extensions were unnecessary.
In 2004, Ryan was convicted of DUI. He paid a $250 fine, $166 in court costs and lost his license for a year in that case.
Harper, an assistant commonwealth attorney for Spotsylvania County, was assigned to represent the state. Special prosecutors are usually appointed in cases where there is an actual or perceived conflict of interest.
A Culpeper native and lifelong area resident, Ryan was elected to Town Council in May 2008. He also served as a councilman from 1994 to 2002, including a stint as vice mayor during the final two years of his term.
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Reader Reactions
Everyone is different. For some, jail is a real deterrent, for some community service is quite enough.
Personally I’d rather see the focus on how to keep people from drinking and driving in the first place. I’ve offered some suggestions. Any others?
The problem with jail terms, community service, etc. is that once the person starts legally taking another drink or two, they often tend to forget the potential penalty they are facing. I just think there needs to be a LOT less drinking period. Relatives of those lost to drunk drivers get scant relief from seeing the drunk driver go to jail.
BSmith05- I suppose it’sdifficult to have compassion on someone when you’re as perfect as you oviously are. I notice that your expert ‘opinion’ shows up on many articles in the Star Exponent. The point being made is that 30 days in jail is not going to have much impact on Mr. Ryan’s rehabilitation as opposed to providing some community service. I don’t care if they put him in an orange jump suit and make him pick up trash for a year. But you continue to miss the point. You, and your ilk, always use the ‘what if’ scenario to attempt to make your point. Good one. Is that all you’ve got? Doing something productive in society is what improves civil society. Yes, the fact is that what you proclaim could have happened did not. Thank God! So if you’re going to accuse someone of being moranic at least offer something more than criticism regarding what one learned in school. By the way, if I’m licensed to carry a loaded gun in public and have a couple of drinks and get caught, should I be buried under the jail? I mean, I could have shot someone you know!
It doesn’t matter if he did not hurt someone THIS time. So your logic is to let him give some lectures and roam free to do it again?! It seems to me you are saying he didn’t hurt anyone and until he does just let the man be. Your education must not have taught you much! So let me get off of here to get back to my job as well…by the way you must get free time at work as well being that every comment you posted before this one was during the working day…oh you must have been at lunch from your blackberry or on a vacation day right? 
My point is simple. His time is better served educating the community about his mistake. All I hear is what if this, what if that. Last time I checked the law deals with what happened (fact), not what if. Someone could have been injured. They were not. Had they been there would be no doubt a severe punishment was warranted. Since he did not, we don’t need to chastise him.
As to the issue of my limited education. I have a degree in Corporate Finance from one of the top institutions in this state and the country. I am making a point, not being moronic. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to my job. I don’t have all day to sit around in my underwear, making comments on a computer from the basement of my mom & dad’s house (as it appears some of you do).
Jenkins- please just reserve your comments for yourself if they will continue to be moronic. What if this man had killed or injured an innocent person while driving drunk! Just because he has given to the community ....he also puts the community in danger by driving DRUNK! Wake up!
(jenkinrj51) I can now understand your perspective on the Ryan situation. Your limited education, which is reflective in your lewd insult towards a person with a different opinion, explains it all. You should serve as Ryan’s campaign manager next time. Good luck.
cs2020-You’re gay
(jenkinrj51) He probably could use your shirt. Your not allowed to bring outside clothes to jail, so maybe you can send it by mail. So Ryan has helped some old ladies across the street’s of Culpeper. Doing a good deed does not excuse his criminal behavior. Driving drunk, and how many times during his adult life has Ryan been caught DUI? Maybe five? If he is your friend you should help into a detox center for sixty days. He should in no way be on town council reporting to jail on weekends. Sorry, but that’s crazy!
Turn him loose! This guy has done more for this town than any of you northern Va transplants! He’s helped this town grow into what it is today through civic service, church participation, etc. Maybe instead of hanging him in the town square you Yankee a**holes should pack up and head north if you don’t like how we do things down here. I’m proud to call Bobby a great friend and would give him the shirt of my back if he needed it.
I live in the county, thank god! However, someone in the town of Culpeper should petition for a re-call immediately. Ryan, or anyone else, should not be allowed to serve in a public office and be reporting to jail on weekends. Surely Culpeper has change this much?
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