MONROE - A Beloit man faces six felony charges alleging he crashed a van while drunk and high, causing a passenger permanent hearing loss from his injuries.
Deshaun Larail Easter, 35, has his initial appearance in Green County Circuit Court set for May 13 on three Class F felonies and three Class H felonies, including a fourth-offense charge of driving while intoxicated. He is also charged with a Class A misdemeanor charge of causing injury while driving without a valid license.
The charges stem from a rollover crash in the early morning hours of Dec. 22, 2011, on Wisconsin 81 in Spring Grove Township near the county line.
According to court records:
Easter was driving another Beloit man, David Winters, Jr., 27, to Freeport after Winters was refused entrance to a Beloit strip club because he was too intoxicated and allegedly brandishing a pistol.
Easter lost control of the white Dodge Caravan on a curve, and the vehicle skidded and rolled. Lab tests show he had a blood-alcohol contest of 0.133 percent and Delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, a chemical in marijuana, in his bloodstream.
Winters sustained a laceration across his forehead and ear that ultimately caused him permanent hearing loss and nerve damage. He was reportedly so disoriented after the crash he "thought it was 1999." Easter was uninjured.
Responding officers located drugs in the vehicle. A charge of possessing ecstasy with intent to deliver is still pending against Winters.
Easters continued driving after the accident, back toward Beloit, but the badly damaged vehicle broke down just across the county line in Rock County.
Easter has a record of intoxicated driving in Illinois, according to District Attorney Gary Luhman.
"He had three charges in Stephenson County in 2006 in one month. Two resulted in convictions," Luhman said. Of several more recent DWI charges, one was dismissed and another felony DWI resulted in a six-month sentence and three years of probation.
Deshaun Larail Easter, 35, has his initial appearance in Green County Circuit Court set for May 13 on three Class F felonies and three Class H felonies, including a fourth-offense charge of driving while intoxicated. He is also charged with a Class A misdemeanor charge of causing injury while driving without a valid license.
The charges stem from a rollover crash in the early morning hours of Dec. 22, 2011, on Wisconsin 81 in Spring Grove Township near the county line.
According to court records:
Easter was driving another Beloit man, David Winters, Jr., 27, to Freeport after Winters was refused entrance to a Beloit strip club because he was too intoxicated and allegedly brandishing a pistol.
Easter lost control of the white Dodge Caravan on a curve, and the vehicle skidded and rolled. Lab tests show he had a blood-alcohol contest of 0.133 percent and Delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, a chemical in marijuana, in his bloodstream.
Winters sustained a laceration across his forehead and ear that ultimately caused him permanent hearing loss and nerve damage. He was reportedly so disoriented after the crash he "thought it was 1999." Easter was uninjured.
Responding officers located drugs in the vehicle. A charge of possessing ecstasy with intent to deliver is still pending against Winters.
Easters continued driving after the accident, back toward Beloit, but the badly damaged vehicle broke down just across the county line in Rock County.
Easter has a record of intoxicated driving in Illinois, according to District Attorney Gary Luhman.
"He had three charges in Stephenson County in 2006 in one month. Two resulted in convictions," Luhman said. Of several more recent DWI charges, one was dismissed and another felony DWI resulted in a six-month sentence and three years of probation.