Man Sentenced to Three YearsProbation and 20 Days in the County Jail

Defendant John William Garretson, 36 years old of Sebastopol, was sentenced on Monday, June 4, 2018, by the Honorable Nancy Case Shaffer to three years of probation and 20 days in the county jail with jail alternatives after pleading no contest on April 17, 2018. Garretson pled no contest to charges of driving with a 0.08% blood alcohol content. He admitted the enhancement for having a blood alcohol concentration in excess of 0.20%.

District Attorney Ravitch stated, “As the summer months approach it bears repeating that driving impaired is incredibly dangerous and puts the safety of everyone on the roads at risk. If you make the choice to drive impaired you face the prospect of losing your license and going to jail.”

The charges resulted from an incident on September 12, 2017, at approximately 8:00 p.m. in which Garretson was driving a Dodge Ram 1500 pickup truck southbound on Stony Point Road. Witnesses observed that the Dodge Ram 1500 pickup truck failed to stop and caused a three car collision by rear-ending another vehicle that was stopped at a red light. Garretson displayed signs of impairment and eventually was determined to have a blood alcohol concentration of 0.35%. Mr. Garretson was a first offender but due to the incredibly dangerous conduct of driving with such a high blood alcohol content and causing a collision the Court sentenced Mr. Garretson to 20 days in jail.

The case was prosecuted by DDA David Kim of the District Attorney’s Vertical DUI Unit. Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The California Highway Patrol headed the investigation.