Repeat Drunk Driver Receives Maximum Sentence

A repeat drunk driver was sentenced to the maximum sentence allowable under state law after DUI prosecutors in General Charme Allen’s office obtained a conviction following a February trial in a case against a man who crashed his vehicle into a parked car while intoxicated. Jeremy Ledyard Nathan, 37, was sentenced to serve eleven months and twenty-nine days in jail for Driving Under the Influence Third Offense.

At trial, Assistant District Attorney Joe Welker presented evidence that Nathan crashed into a parked car at 508 Surrey Road on March 16, 2014. Knoxville Police Department Officer Nicolas Ferro responded to the wreck and found that Nathan was under the influence of alcohol. Nathan was unsteady on his feet, admitted to drinking vodka, but refused field sobriety tests and a blood alcohol test. After he was arrested and placed in the back of a police cruiser, Nathan vomited multiple times. When officers asked if he was ill, Nathan denied vomiting in the cruiser.

“”My Office went to trial last year on more DUI cases than any other class of offense, and we will continue to agressively prosecute these cases,”” said DA Charme Allen.””We have shown time and again that you cannot avoid a DUI conviction by refusing field sobriety tests or refusing a blood alcohol test.””

Nathan was convicted of DUI Third Offense because he has two prior convictions for DUI in Indiana. DUI Third Offense carries a minimum punishment of one hundred and twenty days in jail, but Judge Scott Green imposed the maximum sentence due to the egregious nature of the offense.

If you have any questions, please contact Sean McDermott at 865-215-2515 or Sean.McDermott@knoxcounty.org. For more information about the District Attorney’s Office, visit our website at dag.knoxcountytn.gov and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.