Rotterdam woman to prison for ninth DWI

A woman with eight prior drunken driving convictions over three decades now has nine.

And she’s going to state prison.

Heather Higgins, 52, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Schenectady County Court to one count of felony driving while intoxicated. In exchange for her plea, she is to receive a sentence of one to three years in state prison.

The maximum she would have faced, had she been convicted at trial, was 1 1⁄3 to four years.

Prosecutor Brian Gray later said the resolution, with state prison involved, was a good one. He noted Higgins’s breath measured a blood-alcohol content of 0.19 percent after her March arrest, more than twice the legal threshold for intoxication.

On top of that was Higgins’ lengthy record of eight prior drunken driving convictions, dating back to the late 1970s. Only one of those was within the 10-year time frame that bears on the severity of charges filed.

“There were a lot of aggravating factors in this case,” Gray said.

Higgins, of 1310 Palma Ave., Rotterdam, was arrested March 2, accused of driving drunk on Route 5 in Scotia. Police said Higgins narrowly missed slamming into the side of another vehicle before crashing into a telephone pole.

The driver of the car she narrowly missed hitting, and a passenger, witnessed the crash and called police. Higgins got out of the car on her own.

Schenectady County Court Judge Karen Drago ordered Higgins held without bail since her arrest, citing Higgins’ lengthy criminal history, including an incident in 2005 in which Higgins fled felony probation to Florida and wasn’t caught for two months. That flight led to Higgins serving time in state prison.

Higgins’ attorney, Paul Callahan, said afterward that incarceration impacted his client’s decision to plead guilty. In court, Callahan indicated he did not recommend the plea, but that it was Higgins’ decision.

Callahan declined to elaborate on that later.

“I believe I said to the court that she doesn’t want to be here anymore,” Callahan said. “She’s been incarcerated for 10 months with no bail. People tend to do things they really shouldn’t do.”

Tuesday’s plea was taken before acting Schenectady County Court Judge Polly Hoye.