Monday, April 21, 2025

Jasper County Prosecutor charges Kansas man with four previous DWI convictions with misdemeanor DWI


It wasn't the recommendation of the Missouri State Highway Patrol officer who arrested him, but the Jasper County Prosecuting Attorney's office charged Matthew Charles Burkholder (DOB 1982), Neodesha, Kansas, with misdemeanor driving while intoxicated, despite Burkholder's four previous drunk driving convictions and a blood alcohol test that registered at more than twice the legal limit.

(Note: Two of the convictions came from the same incident as Burkholder's drunk driving caused two people to be injured.)

According to the probable cause statement, the Highway Patrol trooper recommended a felony driving while intoxicated- chronic offender charge against Burkholder.







Burkholder's vehicle was stopped in the roadway on County Road 138 north of Highway D when he was located by a Highway Patrol trooper who was following up on a report of a careless driver on I-49.

From the probable cause statement:

The driver, identified as Matthew C. Burkholder, said he was driving to Branson and ran out of gas. A computer check of Burkholder's operator status revealed his Missouri driver's license was revoked. He admitted to driving the vehicle. His eyes were bloodshot and watery. His speech was slurred. I detected the strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath. I administered field sobriety tests revealing clues of impairment. He provided a preliminary breath sample with a breath alcohol result in excess of 0.08 percent.

Based on the totality of the circumstances and all my observations, I determined Burkholder was intoxicated and unable to operate a vehicle safely. At 1744 hours, I placed him under arrest for driving while intoxicated. I read him Missouri implied consent and he agreed to provide a sample of his breath for analysis. At 1821 hours, he provided a breath sample with a breath alcohol result of 0.198 percent.







A computer inquiry of Burkholder's criminal history revealed four prior driving while intoxicated convictions.

1. Arrested April 11, 2004 by the Missouri State Highway Patrol in Taney County, Missouri, for assault second degree, operated vehicle while intoxicated resulting in an injury (count one) and convicted on July 7,2005.

2. Arrested on April 11, 2004, by the Missouri State Highway Patrol in Taney County, Missouri, for assault second degree, operated vehicle while intoxicated resulting in injury (count two) and convicted on July 7, 2005.

3. Arrested on June 7, 2015, for DWI by the Baxter County Sheriff's Office (Arkansas) and convicted June 18, 2015.







4. Arrested July 8, 2015 for DWI- Persistent Offender, by the Greene County Missouri Sheriff's Office and convicted May 17, 2017.

Despite the charge being a misdemeanor, bond was set at $20,000 cash or surety.

On the arrest warrant, Judge Dean Dankelson checked the boxes that Burkholder "will not appear on a summons" and "is a danger to the crime victim, the community or another person."

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Catch and Release Dankelson!

Anonymous said...

Another trash,lame duck, no balls judge FM this is ridiculous

Anonymous said...

The judge set a $20,000 bond, he didn’t set him free. Not sure what you want, it’s not a life sentence crime.
What you need to watch is the prosecutor pleading this out to a misdemeanor. That’s the real possibility.

Anonymous said...

Another, Drunk-Ass Criminal, Matthew Charles Burkholder, needs to spend a few Decades Locked Up and out of Society.

Anonymous said...

Dankleson set a higher bond than normal for the the charge. It was the PA who decided what crime to charge the suspect with.

Anonymous said...

What you need to watch is the prosecutor pleading this out to a misdemeanor.


HELLO!

The prosecutor has already charged this as a Class B Misdemeanor.

So maybe next thing you see in a year or so it will be reduced to a defective equipment violation maybe a horn violation before it's all done?!

Thanks for all the hard work enforcing the laws Prosecuting Attorney Theresa Kenney.

https://www.courts.mo.gov/fv/c/Information_FINAL.pdf?courtCode=29&di=4962310

Anonymous said...

Ok just so we are clear they are both trash, lame duck. no balls
Prosecutors should have charged him with Felony DWI
Judge should have said WTF is going on here

Anonymous said...

Judge probably knows what's going on.

It's not like this is a 'I have never seen this before!' moment.

Anonymous said...

What's the latest on the Carl Junction golf cart death?

Still no charges?

Anonymous said...

We need M.A.D.D. back in this area bad.

Anonymous said...

No we just need to follow the law problem solved