The drunken driver who killed Minnesota Timberwolves player Malik Sealy in 2000 got a stiff, eight-year prison sentence Thursday for two drunken driving violations committed since then.
Advocates praised the sentence as substantial for a case in which no one died and as a sign of the impact of a recent change in state law.
As Hennepin County District Judge Steven Pihlaja delivered the sentence, two anti-drunken driving crusaders in the audience turned to each other and said, "Wow."
Souksangouane Phengsene, 51, was sentenced after pleading guilty to drinking and driving in March on Interstate 35W near 36th Street in south Minneapolis. Through an interpreter, Phengsene said he drank 10 to 12 beers. His blood-alcohol level was above .20 percent. The legal limit is .08 percent.
Pihlaja sentenced Phengsene to the maximum 4 1/2 years on that felony. He also said Phengsene must serve at least two-thirds of the time and spend an additional 5 years on probation.
By pleading guilty, Phengsene also admitted to violating his probation for a 2006 drunken-driving arrest in Crystal, in which he had a 0.21 percent blood-alcohol level. He served less than a year in the workhouse on that offense and was given 3 1/2 years probation with the understanding that a violation could lead to prison.
Pihlaja had the option of having Phengsene serve the sentences at the same time or one after the other.
Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Julie Allyn asked that Pihlaja give him more time in prison. "No case is more compelling than this case," she said. "There is no better argument than this case for when defendants should receive consecutive sentences."
