Man Must Put DUI Sticker on Car

WICHITA, Feb. 20 – Ever since Sedgwick County District Judge Eric Yost started his rotation through traffic court, he’s been making headlines. First he exercised a little used option to send first-time DUI offenders to jail, now he’s hit a repeat offender with a modern day version of the Scarlet Letter by making him publicly identify himself every time he gets behind the wheel .

Curtis Mollinelli, 36, was sentenced Friday afternoon for his fifth DUI in the last five years and his eighth DUI conviction in his 20 years of driving. Yost sentenced Mollenelli to jail time, fined him, ordered him into alcohol treatment and gave him a window sticker identifying him as a DUI offender. Mollenelli will have to display the sticker in any car he drives for the two years he’s on probation. The sticker comes off easily so Mollenelli can move it with him from car to car, and so anyone else who drives Mollenelli’s car won’t be branded as a DUI offender.

Mary Ann Khoury, who runs the DUI Victim Center in Wichita, says the sentence is about safety and education. “I think the community wants to know who the drunk drivers are on our roads.â€

Mollenelli agrees he should pay for what he’s done, and calls his sentence “fair.†He says he hopes it will help other people learn from his mistakes. Yost wouldn’t comment on the sentence, but from the bench he said Mollenelli would benefit from a daily reminder of his probation. If Mollenelli doesn’t use the sticker when driving, his probation will be revoked and he’ll serve a year behind bars.