Elyria man gets 5 years in prison for his 16th DUI conviction

An Elyria man will spend the next five years in prison after pleading guilty to his 16th DUI. Duran Mims, 45, of Erie Street, was sentenced Tuesday by Lorain County Common Pleas Judge Melissa Kobasher, the same day his trial was scheduled to start on felony DUI charges. He received credit for three days served. Mims pleaded guilty to two counts of DUI, both felonies with repeat offender specifications, and driving under suspension, a misdemeanor. Hewas fined a mandatory $1,540 and his driver's license was suspended for five years. Messages seeking comment were left for his attorney. Mims' red 2006 Ford SUV was stopped by a state Highway Patrol trooper for multiple lane violations just after 2 a.m. April 19, 2025, on Interstate 90 in Avon, according to the Lorain County Prosecutor's Office. The trooper smelled alcohol on Mims and saw that he had red, watery eyes. Mims showed other signs of intoxication and wasn't able to recite the alphabet from letters D to Q when asked, Chief Assistant Prosecutor Chris Pierre said. Mims refused any chemical tests and was arrested on charges of DUI and driving under suspension and for a lane violation. The DUI sentence will run concurrent to Mims' current nine-month prison sentence for illegal conveyance of drugs, tampering with evidence and possession of drugs, all felonies. Kobasher sentenced him in that case in February. Mims was sentenced to one year and four months in prison in December 2022 for his 15th DUI conviction, a felony. He was charged in that case after he crashed a Ford Escape into a building on Lake Avenue in Elyria while intoxicated on June 18, 2020, Elyria police said. Mims is listed in the online state habitual DUI offender registry due to his record. His prior convictions in the last 20 years, all in Lorain County Common Pleas Court, include the one in 2022, two in 2017, one in 2013, two in 2009 and one in 2008. Seven of his prior convictions are more than 20 years old and not included on the registry, but they include two in 2005, one in 2001 and four others dating to 1999, according to police and court records and Chronicle-Telegram archives. Mims also has a long history of felony convictions in Lorain County, including drug trafficking, multiple drug possession charges, identity fraud and robbery, felonious assault and aggravated vehicular assault in 2001 in a case where he dragged an Elyria police officer with his car. He also was convicted of attempted escape in Cuyahoga County in 2007. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.