After being arrested this month on allegations that he’d driven drunk for a fourth time in four years, a Cody man was ordered not to drive for any reason.

But last week, just days after his release from jail, Chad J.B. Hotler was reportedly spotted behind the wheel in Cody.

“I’m not supposed to be driving,” Hotler reportedly told the officer. The 42-year-old was ultimately taken into custody for driving without a license, marking his fifth arrest in Park County in just over a year.

“I don’t know what to do other than to beg the court to have him stay in jail,” Deputy Park County Attorney Laura Newton said at a Friday circuit court hearing, asking for bail to be set at $25,000 cash.

However, Hotler’s defense attorney, Brigita Krisjansons, sought to have bond set at a more modest level. While Hotler was driving last week, he was headed to her office, she said, and there was no alcohol involved.

Park County Circuit Court Judge Joey Darrah ultimately set bail at $25,000 cash or surety, which is on top of two other bonds Hotler posted in two still-pending cases.

The most serious allegation is that Hotler drove a semi-truck and trailer loaded with hay while under the influence of alcohol on March 14. Because it would be his fourth DUI offense in a decade — charging documents say he was convicted in June 2020 and April 2021 in Montana and in Park County last year — the charge is a felony.

Hotler made bail and was released on Friday, again with orders to not drive and to submit to random breath tests on a portable device that tracks his location.

A third offense

His legal trouble in Park County began shortly after midnight on Feb. 5, 2023, when Sheriff’s Deputy Ryan Lawler saw Hotler’s truck swerving on U.S. Highway 14A. 

Hotler was stopped between Ralston and Powell, where he was living at the time. When Lawler approached the truck, Hotler acknowledged he’d been drinking and said, “take me to jail,” the deputy recounted in an affidavit.

Hotler was released on a $2,000 cash bond, but was arrested again in May following an improper turn on Cody’s Big Horn Avenue. After noticing potential signs of intoxication and administering sobriety tests, Cody Police Officer Tanner Wichern arrested Hotler on a felony count of a fourth DUI in 10 years.

At the jail, a breath test reportedly put Hotler’s blood alcohol content at 0.129% — above the 0.08% level where a person is considered to be too impaired to drive.

However, prosecutors temporarily dropped the case months later.

An incorrect sentence

Last fall, Hotler pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors related to his February 2023 arrest: driving while under the influence of alcohol for a third time in 10 years and driving with a suspended license for a second or subsequent time; additional counts of driving without auto insurance and failing to maintain a single lane were dismissed.

Under state law, a third DUI conviction carries a minimum 30-day jail
sentence. However, in an apparent error by the parties and the court, Hotler instead received a seven-day sentence.

A review of the Nov. 3 hearing indicates there was some confusion about the charge, as Hotler’s then-defense attorney initially described it as a second offense DUI. Judge Darrah, however, was clear in pronouncing it as Hotler’s third, warning that a fourth would be a felony.

Darrah said he was emphasizing the seriousness so that “maybe there’s some motivation for you to maybe get some help or whatever you need to do so you don’t have to drink anymore.”

Hotler was allowed to wait until Dec. 15 to serve the final three days of his jail time, but court records say he failed to turn himself in. Instead, he was arrested on new charges on Dec. 28. 

Another arrest

According to charging documents, Officer Wichern pulled Hotler over on Wyo. Highway 120 and arrested him on misdemeanor counts of driving with a suspended license and improper turn.

Hotler adamantly denied drinking any alcohol. Charging documents allege a breath test at the jail put his blood alcohol content at 0.11%, but he was not charged with DUI.

Hotler was released on a $3,000 surety bond, but Newton soon filed a motion seeking to hold Hotler in contempt for missing the jail check-in and refiled the felony DUI charge from May.

Warrants were issued for Hotler’s arrest in January. He was taken into custody on March 14, when he was arrested on the new drunk driving charge.

Charging documents say a sheriff’s deputy spotted Hotler exiting a downtown Powell bar and driving off in a semi-truck pulling a trailer of hay. Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper Brett Tillery then pulled Hotler over on Road 19.

The trooper concluded Hotler was impaired — a preliminary breath test put his blood alcohol level at 0.117% — and placed him under arrest for DUI and driving with a suspended license, charging documents say.

Arguing bond

At a hearing the following day, Newton requested a $10,000 cash bond.

“I can’t stress enough what a public safety hazard he [Hotler] is with the record he has and his clear inability to stop getting new offenses,” she said.

However, Krisjansons recommended bail be set at $15,000 cash or surety, saying her client needed to take care of business. She agreed that “obviously he [Hotler] shouldn’t be driving” and recommended a GPS alcohol monitor while the case is pending, calling it “fairly standard when you have this many DUI charges.”

In adopting the defense’s recommendation, Judge Darrah cited the effectiveness of the monitoring devices.

Hotler made bail later on March 15, but was rearrested March 19, after Cody Police Officer Thomas Wilshusen clocked him going 28 mph in a 20 mph school zone and  learned he wasn’t supposed to be driving.

At Friday’s initial hearing on that arrest, Newton said Hotler apparently believes there are “no consequences” to breaking the law. When he had a turn to talk, Hotler mentioned that he’s attempting to get into Park County drug court.

Between bond revocations and pending charges, Hotler had five different cases discussed at Friday’s hearing, which led to some confusion.

“I don’t want to miss something and have him sit in jail all weekend,” Darrah remarked at one point; Hotler was ultimately able to post bail later in the day.

The docket should be more manageable going forward: Newton has permanently dropped the charges from last May’s arrest and Hotler has now completed his sentence on the February 2023 DUI. That leaves two misdemeanor driving under suspension cases from December and last week, plus this month’s felony DUI case, which is punishable by up to seven years of prison time.