Colorado Springs resident Richard Littrell did not start drinking alcohol until he was 23 years old, anxious about inheriting the addictive behavior of his alcoholic father. As he himself admits to the Colorado Springs Gazette, though, the disease eventually took hold, until years of drinking beer and hard liquor led to a fatal traffic accident with Littrell behind the wheel.
According to the Gazette, on May 21, 2005, Littrell had been driving his two sons and a cousin to Pueblo Reservoir when he ran a red light at the intersection of Tutt and Stetson Hills Boulevards and crashed into a Honda. The collision killed the Honda's driver, seriously injured his passenger (the driver's fiancee) and sent Littrell's sons flying out of his car, one of whom was ejected as far as 20 feet away. Littrell didn't even realize until later that day he had actually killed someone.
Charged with vehicular homicide, vehicular assault and DUI, Littrell was sentenced to 10 years in prison. His first day in jail, he began making a list of everything he had wanted out of life — and how the "series of compromises" he had made along the way about drinking caused him to miss out.
"When I went to prison, it was time to get a hold of my life," Littrell tells the Gazette. "I knew I had to pay for what I'd done, and I wanted to do that."
Over the next seven-and-a-half years, Littrell set out to do exactly that, reading hundreds of books, completing an associate's degree in business management and joining the self-help program, "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People," through which he aimed to improve his life and the lives of his inmates. Now released on parole, Littrell has started his own motivational speaking company, Legacy521, to share his story at area schools and offer a cautionary tale for others to avoid in their own lives.
For an expert Colorado DUI attorney that can defend your case in court and help you turn your own life around after a DUI charge, contact The Orr Law Firm.