All three charges carry a minimum of five days or up to one year in jail. According to the charges, her blood alcohol content was 0.18, above the 0.10 legal limit for driving intoxicated. Kennedy, who is pregnant according to a note from a doctor in the court file, was ordered to take daily breath tests while free on bond. She has four previous convictions for driving while her license was suspended. The law stiffening penalties for driving drunk with passengers younger than 16 took effect in October along with a series of other measures targeting people who habitually drive drunk or with a suspended license.
New penalties allow police to disable vehicles of repeat offenders.
Even prior to the new law, Grand Traverse Prosecutor Dennis LaBelle said people who drove drunk with underage passengers were treated harshly - at least in this county. Kennedy is the second person in the county to be arrested under the law since it took effect. His blood alcohol level was 0.11, police said. LaBelle said it is unusual to have two cases in less than a month of endangering children while driving drunk. The Traverse City Record-Eagle.