[外電] Man who killed Sealy sentenced in new DWI case
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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The drunken driver convicted in the 2000 death of
Minnesota Timberwolves swingman Malik Sealy was sentenced Thursday to another
eight years in prison on a separate drunken driving charge and a probation
violation.
Souksangouane Phengsene, 51, of Minneapolis, was charged with first-degree
driving while impaired. He surprised prosecutors by pleading guilty at a
hearing that was just supposed to be an arraignment, Hennepin County Attorney
Mike Freeman said.
Appearing before Judge Steven Pihlaja, Phengsene admitted he had been
drinking beer before police pulled him over in Minneapolis on March 30.
Prosecutors said his blood alcohol level was 0.20%, or 2.5 times the legal
limit.
Pihlaja then sentenced Phengsene on the spot to the legal maximum of 54
months in prison for felony driving while impaired, plus another 42 months
for violating the terms of his probation on a previous drunken driving
conviction. The sentences will run consecutively for a total of eight years.
"This is an amazing message, not only to the public but I think it's a real
good message to the rest of the judicial system," said Diane Homa, a victim
advocate with Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
Freeman said that as far as his staff and Mothers Against Drunk Driving were
able to determine, Phengsene got the longest sentence for a straight drunken
driving case in Minnesota history.
"And it's well deserved," he added. "This man seems to be unable to
understand you can't drink and drive."
Freeman said Phengsene was not offered a plea deal, and that prosecutors had
planned to seek the maximum sentence.
Phengsene served four years in prison for criminal vehicular homicide in the
wrong-way crash that killed Sealy on Highway 100 in suburban St. Louis Park.
After he got out of prison, he was charged with drunken driving in 2006 after
he was stopped in suburban Crystal. In that case, he was given a one-year
sentence in the county workhouse and a longer stayed prison sentence with the
understanding that a probation violation could send him to prison. Phengsene
was also convicted of DWI in Iowa in 1997.
Freeman said it was fortunate that nobody was hurt in Phengsene's two most
recent cases.
"I don't know what more sobering lesson you can get than to kill someone,"
Freeman said. "And then to go to prison and do it all again after you get out
is unbelievable."
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