Man Sentenced to 12 Years after Fifth DUI

By Marianne Madden

Published on November 03, 2006

The sentence reflects 40-year-old Christopher Crandall’s long history of drug and alcohol abuse. In 1991, he lost his brother in a drunken driving crash, and killed 35-year-old Luanne Kraugh in a 1994 DUI accident.

After killing Kraugh and injuring her son, Crandall was charged with second-degree manslaughter with a motor vehicle, second-degree assault with a motor vehicle, and operating under the influence. He served nine years in prison before being released in March 2005. Soon afterward, he obtained a driver’s license despite a court order not to drive.

In July 2005, Crandall was drunk and high on drugs when he stole a pickup truck and ran it off the road. Officers found him with a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.22 and cocaine and opiates in his system.

Superior Court Judge Joan Alexander described Crandall as “a disaster waiting to happen" and emphasized that his latest sentence was necessary to keep him out of the community, where he would most likely strike again.

Because Crandall accumulated no DUI convictions during his time in prison, Connecticut law mandated that his latest offense be treated like his first. Therefore, his DUI charges netted him only a six-month term; the other time was for stealing the truck and violating his probation.

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