A woman known for her stint on the “Real Housewives of Potomac,” will spend a year behind bars with five years probation for a DUI conviction stemming from a crash in Montgomery County, Maryland, last year.
Karen Huger (known on the show as the “Grand Dame of Potomac”) had one year of her two-year sentence suspended, but she will not be allowed to drive during that year.
“Filled to the gills” with alcohol is how Judge Terrance McGann described Huger on police body cam after she was arrested for DUI.
Huger was charged with drunken driving last March after crashing her 2017 Maserati in Montgomery County. Court records show she lost control and drove through a median, street signs and a crosswalk. Nobody was seriously injured.
A jury found her guilty in December of seven counts related to that DUI.
Before she was sentenced she apologized in the courtroom for her actions and said she would work to teach others about her mistake and the seriousness of driving while intoxicated.
Her defense attorney David Martella argued during the hearing for probation. She pointed to the fact that she had entered into a months-long rehab program and planned to enter more treatment for alcohol abuse and mental trauma.
But Judge McGann and the state’s attorneys office pointed to a harsher sentence because this was her fourth incident involving drunk driving.
Huger was also pulled over in 2006 for drinking and driving, and was given pretrial probation. A 2008 incident was knocked down to reckless driving. And in 2010 she was also charged with drunk driving in Prince George’s County.
McGann said during the hearing they should not wait for a fifth time to up the punishment.
The state only asked for six months in county jail but the judge went for the harsher sentence.
Huger was immediately lead from the courtroom by deputies to begin serving time.
In a statement to reporters Martella said, “She is at peace with this. She’s glad this part of the process is over. She has been working very hard on her recovery for the last few months, and that has allowed her to be the healthiest that she has been in years. And she told me she is fully prepared to get through this, and she will get through this, and she looks forward to a brighter day very soon.”
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