The scenario makes lawmakers — and those whose children and grandchildren have died at the hands of drunken drivers— furious, and they say Denis' case represents everything that is wrong with Utah's system of arresting, charging and punishing drunk drivers.

"This is ludicrous," said Art Brown, who lost his 4-month-old grandson to a drunken driver and represents victims of drunken driving accidents on the Governors Council on Driving Under the Influence.

"For public safety reasons, we expect that after the second conviction and on third arrest he would be charged with a felony," Brown said. "And that should carry with it some serious jail or prison time to get his attention along with the necessary treatment programs."

Lawmakers talk each session about getting drunken drivers off the road, tightening sanctions, improving public safety in this arena. They pass laws they think are making headway on the problem. The 2001 Legislature, for example, passed four new DUI laws.

"And yet we continue to see situations like this case," said Sen. John Valentine, R-Orem, who has studied DUI issues. The Legislature is concerned the courts are not following through on laws that are being passed, Valentine said.

"I would characterize it as a sense of frustration that the system seems unable to handle the problem," he said.

Denis, who is now in the Salt Lake County Jail, did not respond to a reporter's request for an interview.

Here are the details of his DUI history, based on court documents, police reports and interviews:

AUG. 16, 1992 — Drivers in Provo Canyon call police to report that a motorist is driving erratically down the canyon at 5:30 p.m. A Utah Highway Patrol trooper finds Denis pulled over on the side of U.S. 189, apparently asleep, according to a police report. His vehicle engine is running. There is a young child in the truck with him.

The trooper smells alcohol. Denis' speech is noticeably slurred and slow, and his eyes are partially closed. He tells the trooper he had taken a Carisoprodol tablet — a prescription muscle relaxant — 40 minutes earlier. "I knew I was too impaired to drive, that's why I pulled over. I value my life and my son's," Denis said, according to a UHP police report on the incident.

Denis fails field sobriety tests and is arrested on a misdemeanor DUI charge, to which he later pled guilty. The child is turned over to his mother, and Denis is taken to Utah Valley Hospital for a blood alcohol test.