Posted: Thursday, September 24, 2015 11:39 pm | Updated: 11:43 pm, Thu Sep 24, 2015.
A man arrested for driving a lawn tractor in the wrong lane of traffic while talking on his phone shortly after midnight June 23 was sentenced to four years in prison in Henry County Circuit Court Thursday.
Scott A. Hansen, 33, of Kewanee, declined defense attorney Scott Clemens' offers to look into the case further and took the state's offer on Class 4 felonies of aggravated driving under the influence and driving on a revoked license.
“I wish you would allow him the time, but if you're insistent, if you liked it so much you're in a hurry to get back there?” asked Judge Norma Kauzlarich. Mr. Hansen answered he felt the sentence was the best deal he could get. He had been eligible for extended terms of one to six years.
In addition to four years on the June charge, Mr. Hansen's probation on a 2014 case for Class 4 felony violation of an order of protection was revoked and he was given a concurrent three-year prison term and four years' mandatory supervised release or parole as well as outstanding fines, fees and costs.
His blood tested at an alcohol content of .253—three times the legal limit—for the June charge, but in court Thursday he also declined any recommendation for substance abuse treatment within the Department of Corrections. Judge Kauzlarich told him that success in such a program counts towards good time credit.
“That saddens me sir, because you need it,” she said. “One of the dumbest reasons for you to go to prison is for driving drunk and driving revoked.”
