A 49-year-old man who has been convicted of 11 drunken driving offenses has been sentenced to 50 years in prison.
The Independent Record reported District Judge Kathy Seeley sentenced Shawn Kevin Smaage, of Helena, Mont. Man, last week, saying he would have to serve at least 25 years.
Court records show Smaage was convicted of driving under the influence three times while he was a juvenile and five times as an adult, along with felony criminal endangerment in a 1994 drunken driving case.
More shocking, he was convicted of negligent homicide for a 1988 crash in which a 15-year-old Helena girl was killed.
Smaage was on parole in December 2013 when he was arrested on his latest DUI.
Smaage asked the court for help, saying he didn’t want to hurt himself or anyone else. Judge Seeley agreed, saying she didn’t see any chance for rehabilitation.
A study of the worst cities in the United States for impaired drivers was recently released (see ‘Top cities for impaired driving’). In Canada, according to Maclean’s magazine Most Dangerous Cities survey, Grande Prairie Sask. Had 945 impaired charges per population of 100,000.
The next closest city was Red Deer, Alta., with 847.
