We told you in March about the DUI charge brought against Orange County sheriff's deputy Mark
Wayne Hewlett, who got drunk while off duty, lost
control of his personal vehicle and crashed into a planter in the front yard of
Orange County Supervisor Bill Campbell's
Villa Park home.
Hewlett can at least drink to this: prosecutors were originally seeking a one-year jail sentence, but the 30-year-old Orange resident instead got probation.
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He consumed several alcoholic beverages at a
friend's house before driving
home in the early morning hours of Dec. 13, 2009.
At about 1:45 a.m., Hewlett's car went up over the curb and across the grass in front of
Campbell's home. A teen-ager driving by saw the spectacle and contacted his father, who
called 9-1-1.
When
police arrived, Hewlett had a strong odor of alcohol, watery
eyes and a lack of balance. His
blood alcohol
level of .13 percent at 3:30 a.m., an hour and 45
minutes after the crash.
Hewlett also had Xanax on him, but no prescription for the
anti-depressant.
He pleaded guilty yesterday to a court offer to one misdemeanor count
each of driving under the influence of alcohol, driving with a blood
alcohol level over .08 percent, and possession of a controlled substance
without a prescription.
His sentence was the mandatory minimum
terms for the driving under the influence conviction, which includes being
ordered to pay restitution and attend mandatory drug and alcohol
rehabilitation classes.
If Hewlett successfully completes drug diversion classes, his misdemeanor for possession of a controlled substance without a
prescription will be dismissed.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.