Pahrump woman gets jail for DUI

KINGMAN, Ariz. -- It's 20 days in jail in Arizona and three years of probation for a Pahrump woman who guzzled mouthwash and became legally intoxicated before leaving the scene of a traffic accident she caused in mid-June in downtown Kingman.

Betty Cotner, 64, was sentenced Thursday by Mohave County Superior Court Judge Steve Conn. Cotner pleaded guilty to driving while under the influence and leaving the scene of an injury accident. A Henderson man suffered a back injury in the wreck.

Defense attorney Billy Sipe said Cotner doesn't know why she drank nearly a full bottle of mouthwash with an alcoholic content in excess of 26 percent. There was no dispute that the mouthwash consumption pushed her blood alcohol content to 0.17 percent, more than twice the legal limit for driving in Arizona.

"I'm ashamed and horrified that I would do this," Cotner told Conn before she was escorted to jail to begin serving her sentence.