Did wrong way driver slip through DMV records?

Medford, Ore.– Judge Timothy Barnack sent a strong message Thursday and set bail at $1,000,000 bail for Richard Webster Scott. Prosecutors said Scott had at least five DUI’s out of California and said he was drunk again when he got behind the wheel back in March. That’s when he drove the wrong way on I-5 and hit 911 dispatcher Karen

The Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles told NBC 5 news Thursday that Scott does have a valid Oregon drivers license.

Scott is facing charges including first degree manslaughter and DUII.

But Medford Attorney, Garren Pedemonte said it is possible for DMV’s to miss information and issue a valid license.

“There are times an individual can slip through the cracks and can get a drivers license in another state even though they’ve been revoked from a different state.”

Pedemonte is not involved in Scott’s case but specializes in DUI defense.

“You can’t guarantee that those agencies like the California Department of Motor Vehicles and the Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles are going to communicate because we have so many states. If someone got revoked in Tennessee or Texas that’s sometimes going to be hard to track,” said Pedemonte.

But a worker at the Oregon DMV said Scott’s record was clean when the license was issued in April 2011.

Pedemonte said an Oregon driver with three DUI’s will lose a license forever but after ten years can ask a judge to get it back.

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