BILLINGS – A 46-year-old man who pleaded guilty to his ninth drunken driving charge has been sentenced to 10 years in prison with five years suspended.
District Judge Russell Fagg sentenced Mark William Haines on Tuesday for felony DUI and ordered him to pay a $2,500 fine. Haines was deemed a persistent felony offender, which carries a sentence enhancement of up to 100 years.
He was arrested in August for driving at night in Billings without his headlights turned on. Authorities found an open beer in Haines’ lap and an unopened beer on the console. His blood-alcohol level was 0.267 percent, more than three times the legal limit.
Haines acknowledged his ninth DUI offense in a plea agreement that called on prosecutors to dismiss an alternative DUI charge and a misdemeanor count of driving without insurance.