Spartanburg, S.C. ? Jerry James Carruth was indicted in 1984 on a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol, but he wasn’t prosecuted because, a note written on the indictment says, he was “severely handicapped and paralyzed. He will not be able to drive a car again.”

But the injuries didn’t prevent Carruth from getting back behind the wheel. He continued driving and has been convicted of drunken driving a half-dozen times in the past 11 years.

Now a prosecutor has taken the unusual step of charging Carruth with murder in a fatal auto crash in an effort to keep the 55-year-old off the streets for good.

Today, Carruth goes on trial for the April death of Tony Howard, a 42-year-old father of three whose pickup truck was hit head-on by Carruth’s Buick.

If convicted of murder, Carruth faces 30 years to life in prison. He also is charged with felony DUI, which carries a maximum 25-year sentence.

“I just thought they (jurors) should have the option of saying this is not an ordinary felony DUI case,” prosecutor Trey Gowdy said.

He said Carruth’s “gross indifference to human life” prompted him to seek the murder indictment.

Murder charges in an auto crash are unusual but not unprecedented. There have been cases this year in Alabama, New Mexico and California. In North Carolina, a jury convicted a man of first-degree murder in a drunken driving trial, though the state Supreme Court later overturned the verdict.

Court records show Carruth, of Spartanburg, has been convicted of driving under the influence six times in the past 11 years in North and South Carolinas, although he has never faced felony charges until now. Although court records are unavailable for at least two of his arrests, he appears to have spent no more than a week in jail and 60 days under house arrest.

In his mug shot for his latest arrest, Carruth is pictured in a wheelchair. However, the only restriction on his driver’s license requires him to operate a car with an automatic transmission and mentions nothing about having to use hand controls.

“From what the South Carolina Highway Patrol has told me and other sources as well, his car is not modified,” Gowdy said.

Jerry James Carruth, seen here in an undated police mug, is scheduled to stand trial this week. on murder charges stemming from a fatal crash in April. Carruth has been convicted of drunken driving six times in the last 11 years.

Carruth has avoided harsh penalties because of his disability and the failure of authorities to check his records in other states.

In one case, a Polk County, N.C., a judge allowed Carruth to plead guilty to the state’s least-serious drunken driving offense in 1994. If authorities there had known about Carruth’s DUI conviction in South Carolina less than two weeks earlier and another DUI in 1991, he could have been charged with a more serious crime.

“There was no cross check between North and South Carolina. He slipped through the cracks that way,” said Kay Leitner, victim service coordinator for the South Carolina chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

South Carolina Public Safety spokeswoman Sherri Iacobelli said the state now uses a new system to exchange drivers’ information with other states.

Carruth’s driver’s license was suspended at the time Howard was killed, Iacobelli said, but there is little authorities can do to stop an unlicensed driver.

Carruth said his lawyer, John White Jr., advised him not to agree to an interview. White also won’t talk to reporters.