Convicted in absentia, a man facing his 6th
DUI has surrendered and been sentenced to 18 years in prison by a DuPage County jury, as reported by the Daily Herald.
R.N., 46, was facing up to 30 years in prison for a long record of convictions, and for driving without the benefit of a valid license.
Judge Kathryn Creswell, in handing down the sentence, said to R.N., "The only thing that will stop you is keeping you locked up for a very long time. You think the law doesn't apply to you."
At approximately 1 a.m. on May 16, 2010, R.N. refused to stop for a Glendale Heights police officer after he had executed an improper turn. Later, after submitting to a blood alcohol test, R.N.'s proved to be above the legal limit of .08 percent - his test came back registering a .127 blood-alcohol.
R.N. fled the courtroom the day of his trial, after he had already sought several delays, and left his attorney, Joe Colsant, alone to defend him. Creswell issued an arrest warrant for R.N.
Since the 1980's, per Creswell, there were 22 other bench warrants served on R.N., 10 license suspensions, six license revocations as well as convictions for possession, battery, driving with open alcohol and possession of alcohol in public.
Creswell also noted that R.N. had been convicted for other offenses as well: 11 for driving without a license, suspended license or revoked license; driving his vehicle 75 mph in a 40 mph zone on a sidewalk where children had gathered to play; and two DUIs in 1989.
R.N.'s blood alcohol was .31 and .26 in his prior DUI convictions.
Creswell told R.N., "When people read about this case in the newspaper they may wonder how it is you continued to drive. The answer is ... having a driver's license that's valid isn't something that matters to you."
Colsant had argued that his client be given a six-year prison term. He explained to the court that R.N., in witnessing his father's suicide in 1993, had turned to alcohol for solace. He further explained that R.N., a legal resident for approximately 30 years, was expelled from high school and never obtained a formal education.
Colsant told the judge, "He wasn't running from this trial, he didn't know any better. He was scared."
R.N.'s statement to the court included a missive to his mother: "I feel sorry not for me but for my mother. I just hope I'm out someday to do what my father told me to do: take care of her."
Prosecutor Shanti Kulkarni, the state's assistant attorney, said that R.N. was a "threat to everybody who has to drive on the roads" and asked that he receive a 28-year sentence.
Citing his family's failure in getting R.N. to treat his alcohol problem, Kulkarni said, "What is the likelihood of the defendant in any way will be rehabilitated? Frankly, the record shows that likelihood is minimal if not nonexistent."
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