As long as it's a baby or a child . . .

Drunken driver gets jail term

Man was drunk, speeding with his baby girl in SUV

By MIKE JOHNSON
mikejohnson@journalsentinel.com

Posted: Jan. 17, 2008

Waukesha - For driving drunk with his month-old baby in his sport utility vehicle and roaring past a sheriff's deputy at more than 100 mph, a Milwaukee man will spend 30 days in jail with work release privileges.

Matthew L. Kucharski, 22, was told Thursday by both Assistant District Attorney Michele W. Hulgaard and Waukesha County Circuit Judge Ralph Ramirez just how fortunate he was to come away from his May 13 crime with only a month in jail.

He's fortunate no one - his daughter or the Waukesha County sheriff's deputy who pursued and stopped Kucharski - was killed or injured while he was driving with a blood-alcohol level of 0.138, well above the 0.08 level considered evidence of intoxication, they said.

Kucharski could have been sentenced to 10 years in prison for his conviction for second-degree recklessly endangering safety by racing along I-94 through the City of Pewaukee.

Hulgaard told Ramirez that as the case wound its way through the system, Kucharski and his attorney sought to have the felony charge reduced to a misdemeanor because Kucharski had no criminal record.

But Hulgaard said she would not agree to a lesser charge because of the circumstances.

Hulgaard told Ramirez that as a mother, she was horrified that Kucharski drove drunk and fast with a child in the vehicle, behavior that she said was "just inexcusable."

Kucharski apologized and asked the judge for leniency, saying he did not want to be away in prison and miss his daughter's "first step, first tooth, first word."

"You don't have to worry about me doing something like this again. . . . You'll never see me in your courtroom again," Kucharski said.

According to a criminal complaint, the baby was in a child's car seat in the rear passenger area when Kucharski's vehicle was stopped. Kucharski told the deputy that the girl was his daughter; that he had just had a quarrel with her mother, his fiancée; and that he was hurrying to a relative's house.

Although Kucharski is a first-time offender and understands the gravity of his offense, Ramirez said, jail time must be imposed "to make sure you never do this again" and to send a message to others that there will be a loss of freedom for such crimes.

"You endangered the thing most precious to you in your life. There's no doubt . . . that you get how serious this was, how close you came to hurting your child," Ramirez said.

The headline is very misleading. Yes, this dirtbag got jail time. But it's akin to standing in the corner for 15 minutes, or going to bed without any dessert. One month? No, he doesn't deserve 10 years. He probably doesn't deserve 5 years. But 30 days? What's particularly funny (not ha ha) about the story is that is that Ramirez makes himself sound like he's being really hard on the guy. What a load of crap. This guy should have received about a year or two. That would send a message.

I don't mea to make light but I swear this guy would have gotten more time if he'd of had his dog in the car with him.

Sad. Sad. Sad.