Cedar City man pulled over for speeding winds up in jail on felony DUI charge

File photo of a Utah Highway Patrol vehicle, Parowan, Utah, May 24, 2022 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

CEDAR CITY — A Cedar City man who was pulled over for speeding in mid-November is facing a felony DUI charge.

File photo of Utah Highway Patrol vehicle near Cedar City, Utah, March 12, 2022 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

Jason Lee Stratton, 46, was booked into Iron County Jail following the incident, which reportedly occurred a few miles south of Cedar City just before 10:30 a.m. on Nov. 17.

Stratton, who has been incarcerated since the afternoon of his arrest, appeared in court at a preliminary hearing on Monday, Dec. 5, before 5th District Judge Matthew L. Bell.

During the hearing, Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Brian Bairett testified that he clocked the gray Ford Mustang that Stratton was driving at 93 mph on Interstate 15 near mile marker 52. 

After pulling Stratton’s car over near mile marker 51, Bairett said he suspected impairment after speaking with him and smelling alcohol on his breath.

“I could see that he had red, glassy eyes and I could smell the odor of alcoholic beverage coming from him,” Bairett testified.

Bairett said that after performing poorly on two field sobriety tests, Stratton interrupted a third test by stating, “What’s the purpose of this? Just give me the breath test.”

Stratton’s blood alcohol level was subsequently measured at approximately .27, Bairett said. Utah’s legal limit is .05.

Bairett said he checked Stratton’s identification and driver information during the traffic stop and found him to be listed as an alcohol-restricted person.

Fifth District Courthouse, Cedar City, Utah, April 15, 2021 | File photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

Prosecutor David Hill noted during the hearing that Stratton has two prior DUI convictions in Iron County, one in 2013 and one in 2017. Both were class B misdemeanors; however, the current charge is a third-degree felony under Utah law, since it marks the third such offense within a 10-year period.

In addition to the felony DUI count, Stratton also faces an alcohol-restricted driving violation, a class B misdemeanor, and one count of speeding, an infraction.

At the end of the 20-minute hearing, Bell ruled that there was sufficient evidence presented to bind the defendant over for trial.

“I find that the state has carried their burden of proof here today,” Bell said. “It is a probable-cause standard.”

Defense attorney Jack Burns then entered not guilty pleas on all charges on his client’s behalf. Stratton’s next scheduled court date is a pretrial conference the afternoon of Jan. 9.

This report is based on statements from court documents and law enforcement officials and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!