By Khalida Sarwari
Robert Schiro, who was infamously embroiled in yet another DUI incident this summer, is a free man once again. The 75-year-old Saratoga businessman, who has had a difficult time staying off the road after imbibing, has been released from custody.
Schiro pleaded no contest to charges of driving while being under the influence of alcohol, driving with a blood alcohol content of 0.08 or more, hit-and-run causing property damage and driving while unlicensed, according to prosecutor Marina Mankaryous.
Schiro was sentenced to six months in county jail, which he has since completed, and five years of formal probation, which carries stricter terms and conditions than a court probation, Mankaryous said.
In addition, Schiro was instructed to wear a SCRAM bracelet, a device that is used to detect alcohol in the body, and ordered to abstain from alcohol. He was also required to install an ignition interlock device on every car he owns, or alternatively turn over his keys to his attorney, Robert Lyons. Schiro will have to complete a substance abuse program and pay restitution to the owner of the car he hit on Big Basin Way during the June 25 chain of events that resulted in his arrest.
Mankaryous said she was overall pleased with the outcome of the case.
“I think the terms ensure public safety because he is monitored basically 24-7,” she said.
Schiro completed an 18-month prison sentence in January for driving drunk, only to find himself facing yet another legal proceeding in June. He’d served only half of his three-year prison term for a 2009 hit-and-run near Highway 9 that left the victim, 29-year-old Ashley Nelson, permanently disabled, but was released early for good behavior. As part of his sentence, however, Schiro was placed on probation and had his driver’s license revoked.
Ignoring that directive, Schiro got behind the wheel of his white Cadillac Escalade on June 25 and peeled out of the parking lot behind Casa de Cobre, where he’d dined that evening. An intoxicated Schiro brushed off pleas from bystanders and restaurant employees to take a cab and rammed into a white Ford Explorer and then continued driving to his home, running over his wrought-iron gate. When deputies arrived at his house not long after, his front license plate remained entangled in the gate.
After initially denying any wrongdoing, despite appearing to have trouble standing or speaking without slurring, Schiro allegedly admitted that he’d been drinking and was not supposed to be driving and was taken to the county jail in San Jose.
His sentencing took place Sept. 24.
Link: Schiro a free man, but must wear a device for 24-7 monitoring
