Kane judge raises bail on DUI suspect  with 25 previous revoked license charges

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Updated: August 16, 2011 12:27AM

A Chicago man arrested earlier this month on a drunken driving charge in Montgomery tried Thursday to have his $20,000 bail reduced to get out of Kane County Jail.

Instead, a judge raised it to $75,000 after prosecutors detailed Paul Woodard’s history of driving illegally and other criminal convictions.

Woodard, 34, is being held on aggravated drunken driving and aggravated driving with a revoked license in connection to the June 2 traffic stop in Montgomery when an officer recorded Woodard’s vehicle going 44 mph in a 30 mph zone. Woodard eventually pulled into a driveway and then took off on foot before being caught a short time later.

During a Thursday hearing — during which Woodard’s public defender asked to have the bail reduced to $10,000 because, in part, that amount was excessive — Assistant State’s Attorney Andrew Whitfield told Judge Marmarie Kostelny that Woodard had 25 other charges of driving on a revoked license since 1999. Those arrests occurred around the Chicago area.

Whitfield, who sought a bail increase to $150,000, argued that raising the bond was necessary for the protection of the public. In this case, the aggravated driving with a revoked license is a Class 2 felony because of the number of previous convictions, Whitfield said.

Woodard also has drug and other felony convictions, which makes him eligible for an extended sentence if convicted in the new case.

In Kane County, since 2002, Woodard has been convicted of driving while license suspended at least three times and, in 2003, of delivery of cocaine, records show. He is scheduled to be in court again in July.