Former KUTV anchor Shauna Lake to report to jail Tuesday for DUI

KUTV news anchor Shauna Lake

(Tyler Tate, File)


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SALT LAKE CITY — Former KUTV news anchor Shauna Lake will report to the Salt Lake County Jail Tuesday to serve 10 days there for driving under the influence earlier this year.

"I'm so sorry that I did this. I did seek treatment," Lake, 50, said Monday in Salt Lake City's 3rd District Court. "It's been a really challenging eight months — I was eight months sober on Friday — and I'm just anxious to serve my time and pay my penalty and move forward with my life."

She pleaded guilty to DUI, a class B misdemeanor.

Lake had admitted to the same charge in municipal court in July but later appealed her sentence to the district court after a judge ordered her to serve five days in jail and time on home confinement.

Instead of continuing with her appeal, Lake agreed to serve the longer jail stint so she could put the case behind her, according to her attorney Scott Williams.

The 10-day term falls in line with Utah sentencing guidelines for a repeat offense. Lake has a 2017 impaired driving conviction.

Williams had previously argued against incarceration for his client, contending judges can suspend mandatory minimum requirements in DUI cases because of the coronavirus.

"We're not making that argument anymore," Williams told KSL. "She just wants to serve her sentence and be done."

Williams said the sentence she had decided to appeal also carried 30 days of home confinement, while the new order allows her to serve 10 days and then move on.

Additionally, Salt Lake County had paused her probation for about four months while her appeal was pending, Williams said, prolonging the end date for her supervised release.

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In the courtroom Monday, Williams said his client was waiting for her significant other to arrive at the Salt Lake City International Airport on March 14, drank while she waited and drove with a blood alcohol content over the legal limit. Williams said his client has since completed inpatient treatment and is continuing with an outpatient program.

"It's a very significant testament to her resolve," Williams said. "She had a problem, obviously, and she lost everything she had, everything she worked for. And she nonetheless took her problem on with a regimen of treatment that is at the highest level."

KUTV Ch. 2, confirmed Lake's departure from the station in May but didn't provide details on the end of her time there.

Judge Richard McKelvie ordered Lake to report to the jail by 3 p.m. Tuesday.

He also imposed the other terms of her earlier sentence, requiring her to attend a Mothers Against Drunk Driving victim impact panel, pay a $1,610 fine and to have an ignition interlock device installed in her car. Lake will remain on probation for a year.

Lake's blood alcohol level was 0.21% when she was cited at the airport, according to court records. That's more than four times the legal limit of .05% in Utah.

An airport employee noticed Lake drive to the pickup area and struggle to maintain her balance as she got into the back seat, prosecutors said. The employee stopped her from driving when police said she took the wheel again.

A Salt Lake police officer arrived and reported that Lake staggered as she walked, slurred when she spoke and her breath smelled of alcohol, court records say. She was released to someone else who drove her home.

Lake admitted to a similar charge in 2017. She made a tearful on-air apology to viewers after her arrest and pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of impaired driving, a class B misdemeanor, after being pulled over on I-215 by a Utah Highway Patrol trooper. A judge at the time said her blood alcohol level was 0.10%.

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