PORTLAND — Despite a prosecutor’s arguments that a drunken driver hasn’t learned his lesson after hitting a Gresham bicyclist in 2004 and leaving her to die, a Multnomah County Circuit judge Wednesday said she wouldn’t send the man to prison for driving drunk again.
The Oregonian reported that Judge Judith Matarazzo said she was astounded that Jonathan Michael Flesey had been released from prison in 2010 without being required to attend an alcohol treatment program, so when he was caught driving drunk again she gave him a chance.
Matarazzo sentenced Flesey to 90 days in jail and ordered him to enroll in the DUII Intensive Supervision Program, which will oversee his treatment.
The program is designed to help repeat intoxicated drivers stay sober and off the road.
“The taking of another human life wasn’t enough to stop you from ever drinking and driving again,” Matarazzo said. “That’s just inconceivable to me.”
If Flesey does not graduate from the DUII Intensive Supervision Program he will go to prison.
She said he can serve the jail time on weekends.
Flesey first saw prison after he drove drunk in 2004 and struck Kimberly Jo Stockwell, who died. He was released from prison in 2010. His driver’s license was revoked for life.
After his release he got a job and had a baby. But on Aug. 30, 2014, he was arrested again after a Gresham police officer saw him swerving past pedestrians. He had a blood alcohol level of .22 percent, well above the legal limit of .08.
Linda Luty, one of Stockwell’s two daughters, said she was astonished to learn that Flesey was asking for no jail time.
“My jaw just dropped,” Luty said. “What they’re asking for is not really a punishment.”
