Sixth DUI conviction nets man 5 years in jail

Committing DUI six or more times in 20 years bumps the offense up to a felony.

STAFF REPORT

WARREN — Judge Peter Kontos sentenced a Niles man to five years in jail for his sixth conviction for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Ronald McCauley, 42, of Sheridan Avenue, appeared before Judge Kontos in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court on Monday. McCauley also will pay an $800 fine and have his driver’s license suspended for 15 years. He will be ordered to undergo drug and alcohol treatment at his own expense.

McCauley was found guilty during a jury trial Nov. 18-23 in Judge Kontos’ courtroom.

Mike Burnett, assistant county prosecutor, said he believes it’s the longest prison sentence a county common pleas court judge has handed down for DUI since the law was changed in Ohio in the 1990s making it a felony offense.

Ohio law calls for a DUI offense to be upgraded to a felony whenever someone is charged with DUI after five or more previous convictions within a 20-year period.

“I think Judge Kontos was very appropriate in his sentence,” Burnett said, adding that McCauley has a long record of criminal offenses and traffic violations, in addition to the DUI offenses.

In 1999, McCauley was convicted of assault on a peace officer and vandalism and sentenced to six months in prison.

McCauley was charged with felony DUI after he was involved in a single-car accident in which his car went into a ditch on Feb. 15, 2009. He also had been convicted of DUI in April 2007 in Campbell Municipal Court; January 2003 in Portage County Muncipal Court; in August 2001 in Niles Municipal Court; in October 1995 in Portage County Municipal Court; and in January 1994 in a Mahoning County area court.

Judge Kontos could have taken McCauley’s license away for between three years and the rest of his life.

McCauley also could have received between 18 months and 7 1‚Ñ2 years in prison and could have been fined between $800 and $10,000.