A Logan County man who caused injuries during a 2004 drunken driving incident finally made it to prison after walking free for nearly two years in what officials called a “paperwork snafu.”

On March 29, 2004, Roger Myers, 55, of Lake, was involved in a traffic accident in Danville that injured a motorist. When the officer got to the scene, he discovered that Myers was drunk, and furthermore, this wasn’t his first DUI arrest. In fact, the man had been arrested for drunken driving on June 23rd, 1997 and June 9, 2000. A third offense drunken driving arrest is considered a felony charge in West Virginia law.

Later that year, Myers was indicted by a Boone County grand jury for eleven counts in the case.

The following year, Myers entered into a plea agreement that allowed him to plead guilty to five counts of third offense driving while intoxicated and the same number of charges of driving revoked for DUI.

However, Myers had previous legal obligations. At the same time, the man was facing similar charges in Kanawha County, and had to serve a lengthy prison term before he could serve his sentence on the Boone charges. That is where the problems began.

Myers served his prison sentence on the Kanawha charges, and was reportedly released in late 2008. Normally, such a defendant would then begin to serve his sentence, not having been released from prison. While walking free from his Kanawha charges, the man reportedly committed other crimes, including an armed robbery.

At some point, the family of the victim injured in the 2004 crash noticed that Myers was out of prison, and asked Cpl. Eddie Arthur of the Boone County Sheriff’s Department why Myers wasn’t still in prison.

Eventually, a warrant was issued for Myers’ arrest, and he was back in court. Boone County Prosecutor Sam Hall said the reason Myers walked free was due to an unsigned court document, which would have kept the man in custody.

On May 13th, Judge Will Thompson was able to settle the situation. He sentenced the man to six back-to-back 1-3 year prison terms in the case. This means Myers could serve as little as six years, or as much as eighteen.

Myers may never serve his entire sentence, however. He is reportedly suffering from severe liver disease, and doctors suggest the man may not survive through the summer.