New Jersey man gets 4.5 years in state prison after 16th DWI conviction
A New Jersey man was recently sentenced to 4.5 years in state prison after his 16th drunk driving conviction. The defendant is a 40-year-old East Rutherford man whose driver's license has been suspended 78 times. Based on this last conviction, the defendant must, in addition to the prison sentence, pay $9,000.00 in fines and has his license suspended for 39 years. The defendant plead guilty in June to a DWI crash which happened in April. At the sentencing, the defendant also plead guilty to leaving the scene of the accident of the April crash in which his SUV collided head on with a man and his four-year-old daughter. Fortunately, they escaped injury.
I must say, I have never heard of anyone being conviction of drunk driving 16 times. Further, this defendant is extremely lucky that the driver and passenger of the other vehicle were not injured. If they were injured, he would be facing additional prison time for aggravated assault or vehicular homicide depending on the extent of their injuries.
