Paul Pelosi, husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), avoided jail time after pleading guilty on Tuesday to a drunk driving charge from earlier this summer.
Napa County Superior Court Judge Joseph Solga sentenced Paul Pelosi to five days in jail and three years of probation. He will get credit for the two days that he already served and will receive credit for two more days due to alleged good behavior.
In lieu of having to spend the final day of the sentence in jail, Paul Pelosi will complete an an eight-hour court work program.
Paul Pelosi will have to pay thousands of dollars in fines, attend a three-month drunk driver class, and install a breathalyzer device in his car that will only allow the car to start after he has blown into it and the device confirms that he has not been drinking.
Pelosi, 82, was arrested on May 28 after a drunk-driving crash in which he smashed into a Jeep after dining at an area restaurant. Pelosi tried to pass off a police courtesy card when state Highway Patrol officers arrived, then blew a blood-alcohol level of .082% after failing a field sobriety test.
Pelosi was driving back to the couple’s St. Helena vineyard home when the crash occurred on State Route 29. The driver of the 2014 Jeep, Jesus Lopez, 48, was injured in the crash and complained of having pain in his upper right arm, right shoulder, and neck when seen by investigators the following day. In the complaint, Lopez says he began experiencing severe headaches following the crash.
Both vehicles were totaled.
Highway Patrol officers said the VIP spouse’s eyes appeared “red and watery,” and he was obviously drunk.
“He was unsteady on his feet, his speech was slurred and he had a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage emanating from his breath,” the complaint states.
Pelosi was booked at the Napa County Jail and released at 4:30 a.m. the next day. His wife was in Rhode Island at the time.
Napa County District Attorney Allison Haley charged Pelosi on June 23 with one count of DUI causing injury, and another of driving with .08% blood alcohol level or higher causing injury.
In 1957, Pelosi, who was then a 16-year-old high school student, was involved in a car crash that killed his brother David. A neck brace the 19-year-old sibling wore was blamed for strangling him as he lay in the wreckage, and manslaughter charges were dismissed against Pelosi.
A previous version of this article incorrectly stated Pelosi received a prison sentence. He received a jail sentence.