Last Thursday Matt Roloff, patriarch of the Roloff family made famous by their four seasons on the The Learning Channel (TLC) television show Little People, Big World, was found not guilty of drunken driving by a Washington County judge. (link) The judge had to take over the much publicized trial of Roloff, local celebrity and owner of Roloff Farms, after finding jury misconduct. According to a report by The Oregonian, “jurors disobeyed [the Judge’s] order not to look up anything about the case.” (link) Evidently it was exposed that jurors went to the internet to find out additional information beyond what was submitted in the case.
For those of you not familiar with the show or the case, Little People, Big World follows the daily lives of the six member Roloff family who live on a 30+ acre pumpkin farm outside of Portland, Oregon and are gradually transforming the land into an adventure land type theme park with giant tree houses and other play sets being constructed on the property. (link) Matt and his wife Amy have four children, twins Zach and Jeremy (16), Molly (13) and Jacob (9). What makes the show unique is that Matt, Amy and Zack have the condition dwarfism while the Roloff’s other three children are average height. Matt and Amy attempt to “dispel stereotypes of dwarfism and show a wholesome, loving environment” by inviting the audience to view their everyday lives. (link)
As for the case, Roloff was “was stopped shortly before midnight June 19 on a rural Washington County road after a sheriff's deputy followed his van leaving a bar and weaving over the lane lines. Roloff testified…that he had one beer at home the night he was arrested, only dropped off a friend in the Rock Creek Cafe & Pub parking lot and was not drunk. He said he was tired from a cross-country RV trip that was taped for the show and had trouble driving his wife's van because her pedal extensions fit differently than his.” (link)
I for one hate hearing stories of drunken driving and believe after reading The Oregonian article that more likely than not Roloff was driving while intoxicated. If I’m wrong and Roloff is innocent, then I’m very glad he was acquitted. But “the judge found Roloff guilty of refusing to take the breath test and not staying in his lane of travel, and fined him $742 for the violations and $103 in court fees.” (link) Also, because of “Oregon's 'implied consent' law, Roloff's driver's license was suspended for three years because he refused to take a breath test after his June arrest and had gone through a previous drunken-driving diversion program within the past five years. Even though he was found not guilty in the current case, Roloff cannot get his license back any sooner.” (link) All of these items combined make me very skeptical of whether Roloff was actually drunk that night. In the end, if he was driving while intoxicated that evening then he got very lucky and I hope he has finally learned a lesson from this public battering of his image. Regardless of guilt or innocence, his reputation has taken a big hit. Unfortunately, it’s nothing another season of Little People, Big World can’t clean up for him.
At the conclusion of season 4 of Little People, Big World, TLC announced that season 5 will focus on Matt’s drunken driving arrest, the subsequent trial and its verdict. Tune in sometime in 2008 for the newest seasons of Little People, Big World to find out more!
