By: Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A repeat drunk driver, who was released from prison three years ago, was arraigned Wednesday by video from the Payne County Jail where he remains held on $50,000 bail pending an April 5 court appearance on a new charge of driving a truck under the influence of alcohol on a revoked license, transporting an opened container of beer, and obstructing an officer at VFW and Rose roads in Glencoe at 1:38 am on March 2.
Franklin D. Walls, 62, of Alex, was arrested by Payne County Sheriff’s Deputy Dalton Ross following a traffic stop on his truck for having no operational lights on a small trailer with a motorcycle on the back, according to the officer’s affidavit.
“I observed an open bottle of Budweiser in the center cup holder…I asked him how much he had to drink. He stated, ‘I would tell you two beers, but that’s bull….” the deputy alleged in his affidavit.
“I noticed as he walked, he staggered and struggled to maintain a normal balance,” according to the deputy, who said Walls refused to take the state’s test for the presence of alcohol in his system.
After Walls gave the deputy a false name and date of birth, the deputy was not able to find him in the system, the affidavit alleged. Walls “informed me he lied to me because he didn’t want to get in trouble,” the deputy alleged in his affidavit.
According to court records and the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, Walls, who has also been known as Frank D. Wallis, was released from prison in June of 2018 after serving about 15 months of five concurrent five-year prison terms for drunk driving in 2016 in Payne and McClain counties, as well as drunk driving on three occasions in Grady County, once in 2016 and twice in 2015.
Walls had been placed on 10 years of probation in 2019 for being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, DOC records show.
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