On Tuesday, an attorney appeared in Summit County Justice Court on behalf of Olympic gold medalist Steven Paul Holcomb, 30, who is charged with driving under the influence of alcohol.
Holcomb was pulled over on Ute Boulevard at about 2:30 a.m. in October 2009. He was arrested and booked into jail on charges of DUI and failure to obey a traffic control device, which are both misdemeanors.
Holcomb, a bobsledder, won a gold medal for the United States in the Vancouver Olympics. He is from Park City and graduated from the Winter Sports School in the Snyderville Basin.
According to investigators, Holcomb’s breath alcohol content at the time of his arrest was about .19 grams, in excess of the legal limit of .08.
Court documents indicate that Holcomb has pleaded not guilty in the case.
Holcomb’s attorney, Jason Schatz, told Judge Shauna Kerr if Holcomb is convicted it could jeopardize his ability to travel to competitions in Canada, according to Summit County Attorney David Brickey.
“Mr. Schatz said that if [Holcomb] had a conviction of any type involving alcohol and driving, he is denied access to Canada I don’t have any say over that,” Brickey said in a telephone interview. “That’s unfortunate, but it has nothing to do with the United States, Summit County or the allegations here.”
A trial for Holcomb was scheduled March 17.
“[Holcomb’s] attorney wants a resolution that I just am not comfortable giving so we set a trial date,” Brickey explained. “You can be assured that I am not going to just flat out dismiss it, because of the nature of the facts involved. That is a decision I’ll leave for a judge or jury to decide.”
Schatz could not be reached for comment.
Prosecutors filed the charges against Holcomb last May.
Brickey insisted that his office did not wait to file the charges until after last February’s Olympics.
“He was arrested and his attorney filed a motion to dismiss based on some inadequacies of the initial information,” Brickey said. “Because of the timing, we couldn’t cure the problem prior to the Olympics. We just simply fixed the problem and re-filed it.”
USA Bobsled and Skeleton Federation spokeswoman Amanda Bird said the organization will consider Holcomb innocent unless he is found guilty in court.
“We’re still waiting to find out what exactly they will be doing before we make a decision on our end I know our coaching staff, our CEO (and) high performance director have been discussing it and we’re just waiting to see exactly what unfolds,” Bird said. “Right now our focus is not so much on Steven Holcomb, it’s on Team USA. What’s going on with [Holcomb] right now is not really distracting from what the team as a whole is doing.”
Holcomb’s sports agent, Brant Feldman, said “[Holcomb] understands that this is a serious issue and he is apologetic to his fans and his teammates that this is a distraction right now.”