CHARLESTON, W.Va. – House Bill 4712, also known as “Baylea’s Law,” is moving to the Senate as state lawmakers attempt to strengthen the penalties for DUI causing death.
The House of Delegates passed the bill by a vote of 95-0 with five members absent.
That bill would raise the penalty for DUI causing death to a prison sentence of 5-30 years, as well as increase fines and bar someone convicted of DUI causing death from receiving probation, suspension of sentence, home confinement, or youthful offender treatment if there is a finding that the individual acted with “deliberate disregard for the safety of others.”
Currently, someone convicted of DUI causing death can be sentenced to 3-13 years in prison.
The law is named for Baylea Bower, a 24-year-old Boone County woman killed in a DUI-related crash on State Route 121 in the early morning hours of Easter Sunday last year. Del. Josh Holstein, R-Boone, is the bill’s lead sponsor and called Bower a personal friend.
Speaking in favor of the bill prior to the House’s vote, he said he learned of the accident from his pastor as he sat in church that morning.
“He opened the service with prayer, and he said, ‘I’ve got an announcement to make,’ and he had his daughter turn off our livestream and all that, and he told us about the situation with Baylea, that she was killed earlier that morning by a drunk driver,” he said.
Destany Lester, now 19 years old, was convicted of DUI causing death after she hit Bower’s vehicle head-on around 12:45 am on April 20. Holstein laid out the circumstances that led to the crash.
“She was driving under the influence of alcohol and cocaine, was driving over 90 miles an hour, was in, I believe, the left-hand lane, went all the way to the right, hit the guardrail, crossed both lanes, went all the way through the median, and struck Baylea head-on on her way home from her in-laws’ house, back to her parents’ to spend Easter,” he said.
Last week, Raleigh County Circuit Judge Darl Poling sentenced Lester to six months of home confinement as she recovers from injuries suffered in the accident, followed by six to 24 months in a program at the Anthony Center for Youthful Offenders. Holstein believes the penalty does not match the crime.
“I think it’s outrageous. I think it’s ridiculous, and I’m hopeful that this rectifies it from happening to anyone else and anybody else’s family,” he said.
Holstein said he’s thankful for the way Bower’s family and friends have continued to support the bill as he tries to turn it into law. He hopes that it will deter West Virginians from driving under the influence and provide a harsher penalty on those who do.
“I’m hopeful that this law will do two things. One, that it will make somebody think twice before they get behind the wheel again. These penalties are stiff and then secondly, if that doesn’t happen, that families get appropriate justice and this doesn’t happen again,” he said.