In a recent jury trial, Steven Lawrence Dixon was convicted of a felony driving under the influence (DUI) charge, after being arrested in October 2016. Dixon has had at least two prior DUI convictions, with one being in the past seven years, hence the felony level charge.
Dixon was reported by Deputy District Attorney (DA) Max Stovall to have been pulled over after a Nevada Highway Patrol (NHP) officer received information that the registration to the motorcycle he was driving was in a suspended status.
The trooper that stopped Dixon reported that he had observed Dixon on his motorcycle speeding while en route to another call. After that call was canceled, the trooper pulled Dixon over and said he observed traits of someone who had been drinking.
The trooper said he performed a field sobriety test and asked if Dixon had been drinking. Evidence was presented during the trial that Dixon had admitted to having 3-4 beers earlier that evening at a bar. An initial blood alcohol test was reported to be above the .08 legal threshold, at .095.
Humboldt County Public Defender Matthew Stermitz represented Dixon in the trial. Stermitz presented to the jury that the DA had failed to prove that Dixon had been driving while under the influence of alcohol. Stermitz also questioned whether Dixon actually failed the field sobriety test, referencing the footage of the test given shown to the jury.
After the evidence was provided by both sides, the jury returned a verdict of guilty for driving under the influence. Sentencing for the charge is tentatively scheduled on a stacked criminal court calendar in Sixth Judicial District Court on Feb. 12, 2019.
Dixon was previously sentenced to 12-34 months in prison earlier this year after a jury returned a guilty verdict to arson in the fourth degree for an incident in December 2017. He was found not guilty of a child endangerment charge at the same trial.
