MONROE - A Monroe man was sentenced Tuesday, March 19, in Green County Circuit Court to 18 months in prison and two years of parole for his fifth conviction of driving while intoxicated.
Gregory Richard Stevens, 46, pleaded no contest in January to driving with a blood-alcohol content of 0.234 percent. He was arrested for the offense in Albany in January 2012, just six months after an arrest in Rock County for his fourth offense of driving while intoxicated.
He was also sentenced Tuesday on convictions of battery and bail jumping stemming from a domestic abuse incident last July involving his ex-wife. The sentences are concurrent.
Judge Thomas Vale ordered Stevens to stay in prison longer than the sentence recommended by the defense and prosecution. Stevens doesn't have the record of a "career criminal," Vale said, but his failure to stay clean indicates a need for closer supervision.
"He also needs to do some domestic violence training," Vale said.
Stevens' main problem is an "extreme, extreme, extreme issue" with alcohol and an inability to remain sober, said Assistant District Attorney Jeffrey Kohl.
"I don't know how more bottom he can hit," Kohl said.
Vale followed the recommendation of Guy Taylor, assistant state public defender, that Stevens not be fined to the full extent of the law. Stevens could have been fined $2,400 due to his high blood-alcohol level at the time of his arrest, but Vale fined him the minimum of $600.
The higher fine would have buried Stevens in unpayable debt and undermined his chance at rehabilitation, Taylor argued. Stevens lost everything in recent years, including his wife and job at Swiss Colony, and has been jailed for the past eight months.
"I fail to see how an impossibly high fine would benefit Mr. Stevens or society. He has no assets whatsoever. He's going to have to build his life from the ground up," Taylor said. Stevens' money would be better spent on a vehicle to get to work than on a fine, Taylor argued.
When given the opportunity to speak, Stevens unfolded a page of notebook paper and read aloud a handwritten statement. He apologized for driving under the influence and said he's been attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and reading daily from the program's "Big Book."
"I've not had a drop of alcohol since this incident," he said, referring to his fifth-offense DWI arrest in January 2012. "I'm asking for just one more chance."
Gregory Richard Stevens, 46, pleaded no contest in January to driving with a blood-alcohol content of 0.234 percent. He was arrested for the offense in Albany in January 2012, just six months after an arrest in Rock County for his fourth offense of driving while intoxicated.
He was also sentenced Tuesday on convictions of battery and bail jumping stemming from a domestic abuse incident last July involving his ex-wife. The sentences are concurrent.
Judge Thomas Vale ordered Stevens to stay in prison longer than the sentence recommended by the defense and prosecution. Stevens doesn't have the record of a "career criminal," Vale said, but his failure to stay clean indicates a need for closer supervision.
"He also needs to do some domestic violence training," Vale said.
Stevens' main problem is an "extreme, extreme, extreme issue" with alcohol and an inability to remain sober, said Assistant District Attorney Jeffrey Kohl.
"I don't know how more bottom he can hit," Kohl said.
Vale followed the recommendation of Guy Taylor, assistant state public defender, that Stevens not be fined to the full extent of the law. Stevens could have been fined $2,400 due to his high blood-alcohol level at the time of his arrest, but Vale fined him the minimum of $600.
The higher fine would have buried Stevens in unpayable debt and undermined his chance at rehabilitation, Taylor argued. Stevens lost everything in recent years, including his wife and job at Swiss Colony, and has been jailed for the past eight months.
"I fail to see how an impossibly high fine would benefit Mr. Stevens or society. He has no assets whatsoever. He's going to have to build his life from the ground up," Taylor said. Stevens' money would be better spent on a vehicle to get to work than on a fine, Taylor argued.
When given the opportunity to speak, Stevens unfolded a page of notebook paper and read aloud a handwritten statement. He apologized for driving under the influence and said he's been attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and reading daily from the program's "Big Book."
"I've not had a drop of alcohol since this incident," he said, referring to his fifth-offense DWI arrest in January 2012. "I'm asking for just one more chance."