KOMO Staff

Dwight Benson has racked up 18 reckless driving and alcohol-related convictions in the past 25 years. But he has been able to avoid jail time until Thursday.

SEATTLE -- He could be one of the state's most chronic DUI offenders.

Dwight Benson has racked up 18 reckless driving and alcohol-related convictions in the past 25 years.

And on Thursday, he was sentenced to a total of 39 months for his latest convictions stemming from a hit-and-run crash while driving under the influence.

The courtroom is a place Benson knows all too well. Since 1984, Benson has been convicted of 11 DUIs, five reckless driving charges amended from DUIs and two other reckless driving charges. Benson has also been convicted of driving with a suspended license nine times, and driving without a valid license 11 times.

But he has been able to avoid jail time until Thursday as all of his previous DUI convictions were misdemeanors since no one else was hurt in the incidents.

Before he received his sentence for his 11th DUI, Benson pleaded his case on Thursday, citing his status as a war veteran and claiming he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.

"I want and need treatment for this disease, and I declare that I will never drink and drive again," he said.

But prosecutors argued Benson was given too many second chances over the years, and the judge agreed.

"I can't be assured that you won't go out and do those things you have consistently done over the past 25 years," said Seattle Municipal Court Judge Ron Mamiya.

Benson's latest crash occurred just a few yards from his house on on Sept. 13, 2009. A neighbor who heard the crash told investigators she looked out her window and saw that Benson had crashed into the driver's side mirror of another neighbor's car.

The woman said she watched as Benson, who looked intoxicated, sat behind the wheel for several minutes before pulling into his own driveway, detectives said.

The woman notified the owner of the damaged car, Sheryl Raqueno, who went to confront Benson. Raqueno said she found him sitting in the driver's seat of his car, apparently drunk.

"He couldn't talk to me straightly. He couldn't look at me. He was wobbly. He was stuttering. He just wasn't very cooperative," she said.

Raqueno called police, who arrived to find Benson "unsteady on his feet,' according to the sentencing memo. Benson admitted he'd been drinking, but denied having been in an accident, prosecutors said. He refused to take a breathalyzer test and as a result, his license became ineligible for reinstatement, the document said.

Citing Benson's lengthy criminal record, Seattle City Attorney Peter Holmes asked the judge for the maximum sentence allowed under the guideline.

"Mr. Benson does not have a valid driver's license and is not supposed to be driving. Not only does he ignore the fact that he does not have a license, but he also continues to drive after drinking," Holmes wrote in his memo. "He likely has the most convictions for alcohol-related driving offenses that this court will ever see."

The judge sentenced Benson to 365 days for the DUI, 365 days for driving with a suspended license and 90 days for hit and run. The three sentences were to be served consecutively.

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