NBC Washington anchor Leon Harris will spend 10 days in jail, after pleading guilty to a driving under the influence charge in Montgomery County, Maryland.
Harris was arrested in January and charged with six misdemeanors. He pleaded guilty to a single count.
The judge sentenced Harris to one year in jail, but suspended almost all of the sentence. He will have three years of supervised probation and must use an interlock device on his vehicle.
Harris apologized before Tuesday’s trial in Montgomery County District Court.
“I admitted in court today something that I have come to fully accept,” Harris said in a statement. “I made a terrible decision to drink and drive. That is something I am grateful to have survived and something for which I will have to pay a debt to society,” Harris said, according to NBC Washington.
“My alcoholism will not be the end of me, but my acknowledging it is going to be a new beginning for me,” Harris said.
Harris offered an on-air apology to NBC4 viewers in March after taking time away from the TV station, following his January arrest.
