MOUNT VERNON, MO : Aurora man pleads guilty in DWI-accident case on Tuesday, October, 10th 2017

A rural Aurora man charged with vehicular assault in a drunken-driving accident pleaded guilty this week to lesser offenses and received a suspended sentence with shock time in jail.

Michael W. Daniels, 35, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Lawrence County Circuit Court to misdemeanor offenses of driving while intoxicated and careless and imprudent driving in a plea agreement with the prosecutor's office that called for a suspended sentence. Daniels had been facing a felony count of second-degree assault by operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated resulting in an injury accident.

The charge stemmed from a two-vehicle collision June 9, 2016, on Route K in Lawrence County. Daniels was northbound on the highway and ran into the trailer of a vehicle being driven by Donald Duvall, 52. The defendant, who was found to have a blood alcohol level in excess of the legal limit for driving in Missouri, was treated for injuries after the accident.

A Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper wrote in a probable-cause affidavit that his investigation determined that Daniels struck the trailer deliberately in an effort to harm himself but no one else.

Circuit Judge Jack Goodman accepted the plea deal in the case and assessed Daniels 90 days in jail for the drunken-driving offense, with execution of the sentence suspended and the defendant placed on probation for two years. The judge further ordered that he serve six days of shock time in jail and pay a fine of $200 for careless and imprudent driving.

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Aurora man pleads guilty in DWI-accident case