Ninth drunk driving charge nets six years prison

Drinking and driving for the ninth time netted a Lake Nebagamon man a six-year prison sentence.

Norman Everett Erickson, 73, pleaded guilty to one count felony operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, ninth offense, in January in Douglas County Circuit Court.

Monday, Erickson was sentenced to six years imprisonment with three years confinement and three years extended supervision.

Conditions of supervision include maintaining absolute sobriety, providing a DNA sample, paying court costs and undergoing an alcohol assessment.

Erickson was behind the wheel of a pickup truck that a Douglas County Sheriff’s Department deputy found in the ditch near County Highways B and P in the village of Lake Nebagamon on Dec. 17, 2010. The Lake Nebagamon man told the deputy that he did not know how he ended up in the ditch and admitted to drinking earlier that day.

A preliminary breath test showed Erickson had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.128.

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