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Former county attorney’s OWI trial set for April

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January 24th, 2019 by Ric Hanson

OSCEOLA, Iowa (AP) — A former southern Iowa county attorney accused of driving while intoxicated is scheduled to begin trial April 8. Clarke County court records say 42-year-old Michelle Rivera pleaded not guilty Wednesday to the charge and a related crime. She’d been arrested last month in Osceola. Rivera lost her re-election bid in November after she was arrested in October on suspicion of being drunk on the job in a Clarke County courtroom. A sheriff’s deputy said in a criminal complaint that he noticed Rivera “slurring her words and stumbling on her feet” in the Osceola courtroom. He arrested her after she refused to take a breath test. She was charged with public intoxication. Rivera eventually pleaded guilty and was fined $65.