In a courtroom filled with the somber relatives of her victims, the founder of a national movement that says problem drinkers can drink in moderation took responsibility yesterday for the drunken-driving accident that killed a man and his 12-year-old daughter.
Audrey Kishline of Woodinville, the 43-year-old author of the 1994 book “Moderate Drinking,” pleaded guilty in Kittitas County Superior Court to two counts of vehicular homicide in the deaths of Richard and LaSchell Davis of Yakima County.
In the courtroom, Kishline trembled, clutched her lawyer’s hand and said little, having already signed a statement admitting she was drunk March 25 when she drove onto the eastbound lanes of Interstate 90 heading west and struck the Davises’ car head-on.
Her blood-alcohol was .26, more than three times the state’s legal limit.
After the hearing, she gave a brief statement and answered questions from reporters, saying her moderate-drinking program had been nothing but a way for her to deny her problem drinking. Two months before the crash, she said, she dropped out of the program and joined Alcoholics Anonymous. But it wasn’t long before she was consuming so much wine at night she would drink herself to sleep.
On the night of the crash, she said, the last thing she remembered was pulling out of her driveway and heading for Spokane, “for a reason I don’t remember.”
As she spoke, Richard Davis’ brother Will and other Davis family members stood several feet away, staring. Kishline said she will always be haunted by the crash and will carry pictures of her victims even as she serves her prison sentence.
“I am going to prison to pay my debt to society,” Kishline said. “But I can never repay my debt to that family.”
Then she cut the session short, refusing to answer more questions about the program or her drinking or the accident.
“It’s not the right time, or the right place, to talk about that,” she said. Later, her lawyer, John Crowley, said it was hard for her to talk about what she’d done without causing the Davis family more pain.
Kishline is being treated for alcoholism at a western Oregon clinic and is due to complete the program July 8. Her sentencing has been set for Aug. 11.
Until then, she will be under house arrest, her movements monitored by electronic sensor. She may also be subject to periodic Breathalyzer checks, said Kittitas County Deputy Prosecutor Margaret Sowards.
Sowards said Kishline could face between 41 months and life in prison, but that she will ask for a term of 4 1/2 years.
Kishline, an admitted problem drinker since high school, began Moderation Management in 1994 after becoming dissatisfied with the abstinence program offered by Alcoholics Anonymous.
During her lifelong struggle with drinking, Kishline wrote in her book that she had been through two treatment centers and more than 30 doctors, social workers and counselors.
In her book, subtitled “The Moderation Management Guide for People Who Want to Reduce Their Drinking,” Kishline said the approach is for problem drinkers with mild to moderate alcohol-related problems, not alcoholics.
Kishline’s case has reignited a national debate over treating alcoholism.
With branches from Seattle to New York to Toronto, Kishline’s Moderation Management – or MM – offers a nine-step program that includes drinking limits and free literature. Supporters say Kishline’s case does not invalidate the program; rather, they say, the program was not right for Kishline.
Frederick Glaser, a professor of psychiatric medicine at Eastern Carolina University and a member of MM’s advisory board, said he still considers Kishline “an honest and courageous person.”
“It’s tragic what happened,” he said. “But it does not impact the power of our program. There are people who fail programs like AA, but you don’t hear anyone questioning their validity.”
In a statement posted on the Internet shortly after the crash, the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence – NCADD – called the moderate way of drinking a way of denying one’s alcoholism.
NCADD “hopes Ms. Kishline will finally achieve sobriety and recognize how high a price denial of her illness has exacted. But more significantly, we should all remember the names of Richard and LaSchell the next time a problem drinker claims to be able to `drink a little’ without harm.”
Crowley said Kishline would like to write a book or share her story in a way “that would help others like her who have battled drinking problems.” But for the Davis family, that may not be enough, Will Davis said.
“If it helps one person to stop, then go ahead, do it,” he said, as another family member clutched pictures of the two.
Will Davis, 47, said he cannot yet forgive Kishline for taking his brother or his niece, who was killed 10 days after her 12th birthday.
“Drinking has been her lifestyle for a while now,” he said. “That’s what her lifestyle is. I don’t know if she can change that.”
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Copyright © 2000 The Seattle Times Company
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Friday, August 12, 2000
4½ years for deaths by ‘moderation drinker’
by Andrew DeMillo, Seattle Times staff reporter
In a morning marked by calls for forgiveness and justice, the founder of a national movement that believes problem drinkers can drink in moderation was sentenced yesterday to 4½ years in prison for killing two people while driving drunk.
Audrey Kishline of Woodinville, the 43-year-old founder of Moderation Management, was allowed for the first time to speak to the family of her victims.
Kishline, who pleaded guilty in June to two counts of vehicular homicide for the deaths of Richard Davis and his 12-year-old daughter, LaShell, had been forbidden from communicating with the family.
“I am so very, very sorry for the pain I have caused you, and I know that my words are utterly powerless,” Kishline said before being sentenced by Kittitas County Superior Court Judge Michael Cooper.
“I know my remorse and punishment cannot undo the pain I have caused you.”
Trembling and crying as she addressed the court, Kishline said she remembered little about the March 28 accident and had blacked out after drinking for most of the evening.
Kishline had a blood-alcohol level of .26, more than three times the state’s legal limit, when she drove the wrong way on Interstate 90 near Cle Elum and crashed into Davis’ car, killing the 38-year-old man and his daughter.
“It was like a dream where you cannot believe what you’re doing,” she said. “The fact that I have caused these deaths is beyond my comprehension.”
Kishline faced a sentence of between three years and five months and 4½ years. Cooper gave her the maximum.
Kishline started Moderation Management in 1993 as an alternative to Alcoholics Anonymous. She has removed herself as president of the organization, and she has undergone treatment for alcoholism at an Oregon facility.
In January, Kishline said the Moderation Management approach of limiting rather than abstaining from alcohol consumption had not worked for her.
Kishline had been the group’s primary voice and had written “Moderation Management,” the 1994 book used as the organization’s guide. The book outlines the nine-step program participants follow to control their drinking.
Kishline, who has battled alcoholism and has said she had gone through more than 30 doctors and two previous treatment centers before entering the one in Oregon for her drinking, should have been more alert about the power alcohol had over her, Kittitas County Deputy Prosecutor Margaret Sowards said.
“We have a woman who legimitized drinking rather than deal with her problem. She intellectualized it and turned it into a movement,” Sowards said.
Kishline’s sisters, Nicole and Tina Conn, agreed with Sowards and said after the hearing that they think she was given an inadequate sentence.
“It’s hard for me to say this, but I don’t think it’s stiff enough,” said Nicole Conn, 40, who is also a recovering alcoholic.
“I believe that she never really got her drinking under control.”
Two dozen members of the Davis family attended the hearing, many wearing buttons displaying a picture of Richard and LaShell Davis. Several relatives urged the court to give Kishline the maximum sentence.
Most relatives said it will be hard to forgive Kishline for taking the lives of Davis and his daughter, who was killed 10 days after her 12th birthday.
“She knew all along her problem was a choice. She could have prevented this,” said Richard Davis’ older brother, Will. “Because this woman would not and could not follow her own guidelines, our family has had to suffer.”
After completing her sentence, Kishline will be placed under community supervision and will not be allowed to consume alcohol or even enter a bar for two years. Her attorney, John Crowley of Seattle, said she hopes to write a book about the accident and her break with Moderation Management.
“She’s going to use her time wisely in prison. She’s going to take advantage of this,” Crowley said. “She wants others to learn from this tragedy.”
As she was led out of the courtroom, Kishline was approached by Connie Thorndike, Richard Davis’ girlfriend, and another friend of the Davis family. The three held hands and talked.
“We said a prayer together,” Thorndike said. “I know she is seeking forgiveness, and I know the Lord will give it to her.”
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Copyright © 2000 The Seattle Times Company
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