Court: Sentence for man's 15th DUI too harsh

PITTSBURGH (AP) — An appeals court says a Pittsburgh man must be re-sentenced for what prosecutors say are his 14th and 15th drunken-driving convictions because the seven- to 15-year prison sentence he received in 2011 was too harsh.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports the Pennsylvania Superior Court found Judge David Cashman of Allegheny County Common Pleas Court didn’t give due consideration to whether 58-year-old Richard Caporal might qualify for a reduced sentence under the Recidivism Risk Reduction Incentive program.

Caporal pleaded guilty in June 2011 to a plea bargain including a 21⁄2- to 5-year sentence, which Judge Cashman rejected as too lenient. The judge called Caporal at “terrorist,” citing his 34-year history of drunken-driving offenses.

No matter what happens to his prison sentence, Caporal won’t be eligible for a driver’s license until the year 2043.