Sentence 14 to 20 Years: DUI can get you jail time or worse Published Nov. 21, 2008 By 55th Wing Staff Judge Advocate OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. -- On May 6 2008, a Douglas County District Court sentenced a former Air Force member to 14 - 20 years in the Nebraska State Penitentiary and suspended his driver's license for 30 years. On July 14 2007, then-Tech. Sgt. Richard Burr took the lives of two innocent young men and changed his own life forever. Scheduled to PCS to Lajes Air Base the next day, Sergeant Burr, an air traffic controller with the 55th Wing, made a fateful decision to drink and drive. As he sped down 90th Street in Omaha, traveling in excess of 55 miles per hour in a 35 miles per hour zone, he ran a red light and struck another vehicle. The driver of that vehicle and one of his passengers were killed, and another passenger was seriously injured. An investigation by Omaha Police revealed that Burr's blood alcohol level was .158, nearly twice the legal limit. Burr subsequently pled guilty to two counts of motor vehicle homicide. Imagine how one bad decision could change so many lives. What if Sergeant Burr had chosen not to drive that night? What if his wingman, another active duty non-commissioned officer who was injured in the crash, had stopped him? Now, a valuable NCO has been discharged from the Air Force and is sitting in a Nebraska prison, and the lives of his family have been forever changed. Two young men in the prime of their lives are dead, their families devastated beyond belief. Certainly Richard Burr did not intend to set about this chain of events when he put the keys in his ignition that night, but every decision to drive drunk makes a horrific outcome such as this a possibility. Imagine, so many lives destroyed by one bad decision. Think about that the next time you drink. For some, the threat of a Driving Under the Influence charge is insufficient to stop them from driving drunk. However, as Richard Burr has discovered, the consequences of drunken driving might be greater than a DUI conviction.