Paul Pelosi was sentenced to serve eight hours of community service and three years of probation in connection with a crash in Napa County, Calif., in May.
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Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in Washington in March.
Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a single count of driving under the influence of alcohol in connection with a car accident in Napa County, Calif., in May.
As a result of the plea, which Mr. Pelosi, 82, entered in absentia in Napa County Superior Court, he was sentenced to eight hours of community service. He will also remain on probation for three years and was directed by the court to pay nearly $5,000 in restitution to the other driver, Jesus Lopez, for damage to Mr. Lopez’s Jeep.
Mr. Pelosi will also pay court fines of nearly $2,000. His insurance company had already paid the cost of replacing Mr. Lopez’s Jeep, prosecutors said in court.
The judge, Joseph J. Solga, also sentenced Mr. Pelosi to five days in jail, though Mr. Pelosi will not have to serve that time.
Several hours Mr. Pelosi spent in jail starting before midnight on May 28, the night of the crash, until early the next morning will count as two days. Two days were taken off the sentence for good conduct following the accident, and Mr. Pelosi will spend the remaining day doing his community service.
Mr. Pelosi will not lose his license, but for a year he will have to use an interlock ignition device, which requires drivers to provide a breath sample before the engine starts. He also will have to attend a three-month D.U.I. class.
The plea comes nearly three months after Mr. Pelosi was arrested in Oakville, Calif., among the country’s most exclusive enclaves.
The crash occurred around 10 p.m. on May 28 after he left a small dinner at the hedgerow-lined estate of Alexander Mehran, a longtime friend and Democratic donor.
Mr. Pelosi got behind the wheel of his black 2021 Porsche 911 to drive the six miles to the Napa Valley country house that he shares with his wife. He was making a left turn onto a highway when his car collided with Mr. Lopez’s Jeep. Ms. Pelosi was not with her husband at the time. She was in Providence, R.I., to deliver a commencement address at Brown University.
A blood sample taken from Mr. Pelosi more than two hours after the crash had a .082 percent blood alcohol content, the Napa County District Attorney’s Office said in June.
Both vehicles were total wrecks, according to a witness who previously spoke with The New York Times. Neither Mr. Pelosi nor Mr. Lopez was seriously injured, though Mr. Lopez, did ultimately seek medical treatment, including a visit to a chiropractor, according to prosecutors.
Source: nytimes.com
