Records show previous DUI's reduced for former Hawks star

PIKE COUNTY, Ga. — Channel 2 Action News has obtained records that show DUI charges were reduced for former Atlanta Hawks star Mookie Blaylock even after officers said his blood alcohol level was registered .360.

That's more than four times the legal driving limit.

Pike County District Attorney Scott Ballard told Channel 2's Tom Jones the reductions helped keep Blaylock from facing felony charges.

"We could have had him with a possibility of prison time," Ballard said.

Ballard is reacting after news that some of Blaylock's seven DUI arrests were reduced to lesser charges. He said his November 2011 DUI case in Pike County should have never been reduced.

"It was a .272 blood alcohol content which is a DUI. Unless there is some difficulty getting into evidence the breath test results that's a DUI in anybody's book. It's not a reckless driving," Ballard said.

Jones found an April 2010 DUI arrest where Pike County officers say Blaylock blew a .360.

When he went to court the charge was reduced. Another Pike County DUI arrest a couple of months later was also reduced to reckless driving.

Records show the DA recommended reducing the charges in two cases. Ballard says he never made that recommendation. He showed Jones his copy of the record and that notation isn't there.

"We did not recommend reducing from DUI to reckless driving in any of those cases," he emphatically stated.

Frankie Murphy thinks his wife, Monica Murphy, would be alive if the courts hadn't kept reducing the charges against Blaylock.

Police said Blaylock crossed a median and crashed head-on into Murphy's minivan May 31 on Tara Boulevard, killing her.

Blaylock's attorney said he suffered a medical emergency and blacked out. But Murphy doesn't buy that, especially when he looks at Blaylock's DUI history.

"He's just totally too irresponsible to be in a vehicle," he said.

Jones tried to find out why the DUI charges were reduced, but a worker in the Pike County Probate Court said the judge who could answer his questions was gone for the day.

WSBTV