Lawmakers Advance DUI Penalty Bill in Memory of Columbia Falls Man
House Bill 267, known as “Bobby’s Law,” would establish the crime of aggravated vehicular homicide under the influence with a three-year minimum sentence
By Denali Sagner
A bill strengthening Montana’s penalties for driving under the influence is moving through the Legislature with strong support from the Flathead Valley.
House Bill 267, known as “Bobby’s Law,” creates the crime of aggravated vehicular homicide while under the influence, a charge that currently does not exist in Montana. The charge will apply to anyone who causes the death of another human being while operating a vehicle with a blood alcohol content of .16 or higher, which is twice the legal limit. The charge comes with a mandatory minimum sentence of three years in prison, which cannot be suspended.
Per Rep. Braxton Mitchell, R-Columbia Falls, the bill’s sponsor, Montana’s drunk driving laws are notoriously weak, allowing for offenders to get away with light sentences and, often, reoffend.
Most poignantly for Mitchell is the case of Bobby Dewbre, a 21-year-old Columbia Falls man who was killed by a drunk driver while crossing the street in 2023. The man who killed Dewbre received 18 months in county jail, the maximum sentence that could be awarded for one count of misdemeanor careless driving involving death or serious bodily injury and one count of aggravated driving under the influence. Mitchell, who grew up with Dewbre, called the sentence “unfathomable.”
Flathead County Attorney Travis Ahner explained that in order to bring a felony charge for a drunk driving death, his office must be able to prove that the driver was acting negligently. Per Montana code, negligence is defined as when a person “consciously disregards” that a risk will occur in a case where ignoring the risk involves a “gross deviation from the standard of conduct that a reasonable person would observe.” In fatal drunk driving cases such as Dewbre’s, the county attorney’s office often cannot bring a successful felony charge if, for example, the driver was intoxicated but was obeying traffic laws and following the speed limit when the fatality occurred. The inability to prove negligence resulted in a slim sentence for the driver who killed Dewbre.
Bobby’s Law, Ahner said, removes the requirement that prosecutors prove negligence to bring a felony charge, essentially establishing that “being behind the wheel at that level, that kind of is negligence.”
Ahner worked with Mitchell to draft the legislation.
During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last week, the Capitol was filled with proponents of Bobby’s Law, including members of Dewbre’s family and representatives from Montana Bar Fairies, a Kalispell-based drunk driving prevention nonprofit started by the Dewbres after Bobby’s death. The nonprofit now has chapters in the Flathead Valley, Missoula, Bozeman and Seattle.
Dewbre’s mother, Elizabeth McBride, delivered impassioned testimony to lawmakers, citing Montana’s high drunk driving statistics and recounting the painful experience of losing her son.
“These kinds of senseless deaths rock our communities, and it is time to put a stop to it,” she said.
Speaking about his own history of drunk driving, Dewbre’s father, Robert Dewbre, said, “Drinking and driving was and is a part of the culture in the state of Montana.”
Montana ranks as the worst state in the nation for drunk driving. The state has reported 8.57 drunk drivers involved in fatal crashes for every 100,000 licensed drivers, the highest rate in the U.S., according to Forbes. More than 44% of traffic deaths in Montana are caused by drunk drivers, the highest in the nation. The state also has the highest rate of drunk drivers under the age of 21 involved in fatal crashes.
In Flathead County, 42% of the 166 roadway fatalities that occurred between 2013 and 2022 involved an alcohol-impaired driver, per the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT).
Bobby’s Law is backed by MDT, the Montana County Attorneys Association and Montana Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association.
Testifying in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on March 27, MDT Director Chris Dorrington said, “Enforcement does make a difference, and this bill enacts a stricter enforcement, a stricter punishment, and I think it’s a great bill.”
The bill passed the House with broad support, with all Republicans and 36 of 42 Democrats voting in favor.
Some Democrats expressed concerns that the mandatory minimum sentence would hamstring the ability of judges to sentence offenders based on the individual facts of the case.
During a January meeting of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Tom France, D-Missoula, said “taking away the discretion that prosecutors have to look at the facts of an individual case” could result in “a real miscarriage of justice.”
An original version of the bill was amended to include certain exemptions to the mandatory minimum, specifically for minors and those with impaired mental capacity. France and other Democrats during a committee meeting said the change, while a step in the right direction, did not do enough to address the shortcomings of a mandatory minimum.
Speaking to the Beacon last week, Mitchell said, “If you kill somebody, I just don’t see where a judge would need discretion.”