Serial drunk driver sentenced to more than four years
Posted Mar 2, 2011 06:12:30 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A Dartmouth man with numerous drunk driving and driving while disqualified convictions has been sentenced to five years in prison for his latest offences.
Archibald Stevens received his sentence Tuesday afternoon in a Dartmouth courtroom.
He spent the better part of the more than hour-long sentencing staring blankly at the floor, occasionally looking up at the judge, Frank Hoskins.
Due to time served since his last arrest, he’ll only spend four years and eight months in prison.
Stevens was arrested three times in 2010, most recently in Brockville, Ont. He pleaded guilty in December to charges of refusing a breathalyzer, driving while disqualified and breaching court orders
Senior Crown Attorney Cheryl Byard was hoping Judge Hoskins would give a tougher sentence, like the one handed down to serial drunk driver Terry Naugle.
Naugle was recently sentenced to more than eight years behind bars for his 23rd drunk driving conviction.
“He did, in his analysis, probably look at the Naugle case which is under appeal,” said Byard. “I was hoping it would have come in around six but five years with four years eight months to serve, the Crown is fine with that.”
Hoskins said Stevens is a chronic and habitual offender and called his previous criminal record “unsettling.”
Stevens also received a lifetime driving ban and will have to submit a DNA sample.
