Keysville Man Sentenced to Prison For Felony DUI

LUNENBURG – John Edward Rowe, a 51-year-old man of 6888 Cabbage Patch Rd., Keysville, Virginia was convicted recently in Lunenburg Circuit Court of a felony Driving Under the Influence and Driving on a Revoked License. He was sentenced to six years in prison with all suspended except one year. He was fined $1000, and his privilege to obtain a license was revoked indefinitely.

According to Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert Clement, the incident leading to Rowe’s arrest arose on June 12, 2017 about 8:30 p.m. when a witness called 911 to report a single car accident on Highway 360 in a section that runs through Lunenburg County near Meherrin in the area of Bruceville Road.

According to a report filed by State Trooper Josiah Montanye, Rowe had run off of the right side of the road into several small pine trees.

A witness had seen Rowe crawl out of the crashed vehicle and into the woods.  Trooper William Dean who arrived first on the scene found Rowe in the woods.  Rowe said a deer had run out in front of him and that a car was in the left lane, so he swerved to the right.  Montanye noticed the odor of an alcoholic beverage on Rowe who said he had only one glass of wine with dinner about one to two hours earlier.

The trooper said Rowe performed poorly on roadside sobriety tests.  He refused to take the breathalyzer test.  When placed under arrest, Rowe then stated that he was not the driver, but that his girlfriend was the driver, and that he had been dropped off at the scene by a friend.  However, while being transported to the Sheriff’s Office, he admitted that he was the driver in the crash.

Rowe has a prior felony conviction of driving under the influence in 2014.