WARREN - A Niles man sentenced to five years in prison for his ninth driving while under the influence conviction was given a chance to hug his newborn baby before he was taken away.
Trumbull County Common Pleas Court Judge John Stuard said he asked sheriff's deputies to accommodate 42-year-old John Buck of Mahoning Avenue in Niles, who was indicted in October for the charge after he was arrested driving 91 mph on state Route 11 by troopers from the Warren Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
Stuard told Buck that he needs to clean up his alcohol problems because of his family.
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John Buck appears in court Thursday.
''I would hope you get things straightened around at some point,'' Stuard told Buck. ''You have a wife and child and you're not being very fair to them.''
Buck received a three-year sentence for the DUI charge and an additional two years for a repeat offender specification. He was given an additional sentence of one year for a child endangering charge because his 15-year-old son was in the pickup truck he was driving when he was arrested. That sentence will run concurrent to the five-year term.
Buck was driving his wife's vehicle at the time he was arrested. Instead of forfeiting the vehicle a fine of $250 must be paid.
Buck's license also was suspended for life.
According to Trumbull County Common Pleas Court records, Buck was indicted on a felony charge of driving under the influence in March 2003, to which he pleaded guilty. He failed to show up for sentencing until he was apprehended and sentenced in 2006.
He was sentenced to six months in prison, fined $800 plus court costs and was ordered to attend a drug and alcohol rehabilitation program. His driver's license also was suspended for five years, court records show.
Buck's attorney had asked that Stuard instruct deputies to allow Buck to see his baby. Stuard said he would not give an order because he did not feel it was appropriate to delve into security issues, but he said he talked to the head of the security detail who assured him that Buck would get to see the baby before he is transferred to the Lorain Correctional Institution to serve his sentence.