Pennsylvania Judicial Center

The Pennsylvania Judicial Center

A Cumberland County man whose blood-alcohol level was pegged at more than 5 1/2 times the legal limit after he was found passed out in his running car won't get a new trial on his drunken driving convictions.

The state Superior Court rejected Steven Keith Kuhn's appeal of his convictions, and his 2- to 3 1/2-year state prison term, in a ruling issued Tuesday.

Kuhn, 51, of Mount Holly Springs, claimed in his failed appeal that county prosecutors never proved he actually had driven while he was drunk. He also contended that an improper statement by the borough police chief denied him a fair trial.

According to the state court's opinion by Judge Anne E. Lazarus, a neighbor saw Kuhn drink three beers, then get into his car for a drive around his apartment complex on Aug. 22, 2011.

At 4 p.m. that day, the same neighbor saw Kuhn, obviously drunk, sitting in his car behind the complex with the engine running and his foot on the brake pedal. An hour later another neighbor saw Kuhn passed out in the car with the engine still running and the shift lever in reverse, Lazarus wrote. That neighbor put the car in park, switched off the ignition and called 911.

Borough police Chief Darrell Goodhart said he arrived to find Kuhn "drooling, slobbering and literally unresponsive," according to Lazarus. The chief reported finding 10 beer cans, three of them full, inside Kuhn's car.

Testing showed Kuhn's blood-alcohol level was .446 percent. A motorist is considered too drunk to drive with a blood-alcohol level of .08 percent or higher.

A county jury convicted Kuhn of DUI and driving while under license suspension charges in March. His license suspension was DUI-related, Lazarus noted.

On appeal, Kuhn argued that Goodhart prejudiced his trial when, while testifying, the chief told the jury that "twice I was told that [Kuhn] was pleading guilty." That error was remedied when county Judge Albert H. Masland ordered the jurors to ignore Goodhart's comment, Lazarus wrote.

She found that Kuhn's other contention that he wasn't actually driving the car while he was intoxicated was proven false by the evidence and witness testimony prosecutors presented in the case.

Court records show that Kuhn was convicted in another DUI case 11 days before being arrested for the August 2011 incident. Records also show that he has been convicted or has pleaded no contest in six drunken driving cases in Cumberland County since 1996.

He is serving his current sentence in the state prison at Rockview.