Repeat offender in trouble with the law again

(ABC 6 News) – Corwinn Thurman had an active warrant when he was arrested last week for drinking and driving with kids in the car.

That warrant stemmed from another drunk driving case from just four months prior – where he also had two kids in the car and crashed into another vehicle. His record shows he had a long list of driving offenses and fines he simple seems to ignore.

Corwinn Thurman has history of DWI offenses. In his most recent DWI’s he had his kids in the back seat but has not been charged with child neglect or endangerment.

Olmsted County Attorney Mark Ostrem says in some cases this can be an aggravating factor. But in cases where he was convicted of DWI he has had other charges dropped.

In 2015, Thurman was convicted of 4th-degree driving while impaired and had another 4th-degree charge dropped. In 2016, his second offense he was convicted of 2nd-degree driving while impaired but has the 3rd-degree charge dropped. Ostrem says this is pretty common.

“If an officer believed they are impaired, that can be a charge. If that person is arrested and refuses to test, that could increase the level of the charge. So, we would charge it both ways. Perhaps a second and third degree and if we them on a second degree, we would dismiss the 3rd degree because it comes out of the same set of facts,” said Ostrem.

Thurman has been convicted of 27 crimes since 2013. All but two are in Olmsted County. Nine times he has been convicted with driving without a license.

“Unfortunately, we just can’t keep them away from vehicles. We use the interlock sometimes for most people for what I’ll call chronic drinking and driving. So, that can’t even operate the vehicle without blowing into the machine. Then we fine them for going out and using a friend’s car,” said Ostrem.

In seventeen of those crimes, he has yet to pay his fine. Ostrem says when crimes continue to add up, it can be hard for the person to keep up.

“In the case of DWI, there is often license revocation. There’s also a fee to get their license reinstated. So, certainly a probation officer will look at and say, ‘what is the most import thing this person needs to do?’ well, we need them to drive legally, so paying their reinstatement fee probably should take priority overpaying a fine.”

Thurman is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday for a pretrial hearing on his 2022 DWI and CVO charges. He is also scheduled to appear on the 2023 DWI charges on April 5.