facebook-pixel

Ex-Salt Lake City Council member pleads guilty to lesser charge stemming from DUI arrest

Amy Fowler resigned her part-time council position last summer.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Former Salt Lake City Council member Amy Fowler says a few words after taking the oath of office in January 2022. Fowler, who left the council after her DUI arrest last year, has pleaded guilty to impaired driving.

  | Jan. 17, 2024, 12:46 a.m.

The court case for the DUI arrest that wrecked then-Salt Lake City Council member Amy Fowler’s political career has come to an end.

On Jan. 3, Fowler pleaded guilty to impaired driving in her May 3, 2023, arrest. She initially pleaded not guilty to a count of driving under the influence and was set to go to trial this week in Springville Justice Court before pleading guilty to the lesser charge.

Under the plea deal, Fowler was required to provide proof of taking a DUI class and attending a victim impact panel. She also agreed to pay a $1,400 fine and was sentenced to 12 months of probation. If she violates her probation, she could spend 180 days in jail.

The plea brings a close to a case that has dogged the former council member for eight months. Fowler’s lawyer said neither she nor her client would be commenting on the case.

The Utah Highway Patrol arrested Fowler last spring in Springville. The agency said the former council member had been involved in a collision about 40 miles away, in Murray, and didn’t stop to exchange information with the other driver.

“She stated another vehicle struck her vehicle in Salt Lake [County],” a trooper wrote in a report, “but she did not stop because she did not think they stopped.”

According to that report, Fowler initially refused to submit to sobriety testing before ultimately agreeing to do so. Her breath test, according to the report, registered 0.111. Utah’s legal limit is 0.05.

Less than a week after her arrest, Fowler vowed to stay in her part-time role as the council member representing the east side’s Sugar House area. Then-council Chair Darin Mano later announced that Fowler would be stepping down from her role as vice chair of the Redevelopment Agency and stepping back from some of her public duties for 30 days.

(Sarah Young) Salt Lake City Council member Sarah Young replaced Amy Fowler.

By the end of May, however, Fowler announced she would resign her District 7 seat come early July. The City Council appointed Sarah Young to fill the vacant position.

In November, Young beat challenger Molly Jones to retain the seat and serve the remaining two years of the term.