Orcas Island man gets 13 months in prison for felony DUI
An Orcas Island who caused the death of his older brother while driving drunk a decade ago is headed back to prison after pleading guilty to felony DUI.
On Sept. 11, Michael Clarence Silves, 44, was sentenced in San Juan County Superior Court to 13 months in prison and ordered to pay $2,025 in fines and fees. Silves, who pleaded guilty in late July to one count of felony DUI, was also ordered to have an ignition-interlock device installed on whatever car he might drive for a period of five years following his release.
A Class C felony, felony DUI carries maximum penalties of five years in prison, a $10,000 fine, or both; however, the standard range of sentencing set by the state is 13-17 months in prison.
According to court documents, Silves’ attorney, Mark Kaiman of Bellingham-based Lustick Law Firm, argued in favor of an “exceptional sentence” below the state standard in which his client would serve 150 days in jail and pay several thousand dollars in fines. The 13-month sentence recommended by prosecutors, according to Kaiman, would be an excessive penalty for what’s typically a misdemeanor crime and that generally results in fines and a two-day jail term following a conviction.
Silves was charged with felony DUI following a late-night traffic stop in February in which he reportedly failed to signal while making a turn at the intersection of Enchanted Forest and North Beach roads. His blood-alcohol level at the time was more than twice the legal limit, according to authorities.
Judge John Linde conceded there was “nothing unusual” about the incident that led to Silves’ arrest. However, he noted in backing the prosecution’s recommended sentence that Silves did not qualify for an exceptional sentence based on criminal history and his so-called “offender score.”
Silves served a 31-month prison term following a deadly crash on Horseshoe Highway in 1999 in which his older brother, Matthew, 31 at the time, was thrown from the vehicle that the two were traveling in and died at the scene. Silves, intoxicated and behind the wheel at the time, was pinned under the vehicle and seriously injured as a result of the crash. He pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide and was sentenced to 31 in prison following the conviction.
Orcas man faces deportation following burglary conviction
An Orcas Island man who broke into a couple’s home after he had been hired to mow their lawn will face deportation proceedings after serving three month in jail for felony burglary.
On Sept. 4, David Rey Guerra-Navarro, 24, pleaded no-contest, also known as an Alford Plea, in San Juan County Superior Court to one count of residential burglary, a Class B felony. He was sentenced to three months in jail and ordered to pay $850 in fines and fees.
According to court documents, Guerra-Navarro will be handed over to U.S. Immigration officials at the conclusion of his jail term and will face deportation hearings following his transfer to federal custody.
By pleading no-contest, Guerraa-Navarro does not admit that he committed the crime, but acknowledges that he would likely be convicted if the case went to trial. A defendant who pleads no-contest can be sentenced as if he or she had been convicted of the crime of which they’ve been charged.
According to court documents, Guerra-Navarro broke into a home in the Rosario Road neighborhood in mid-July, about three weeks after he had been hired by the homeowners to mow their lawn. He was discovered inside the home, reportedly kneeling behind a bed in a partially ransacked room at that time, by the couple’s daughter, who had gone to her parents home with a young child and family dog in tow to feed their cat while they were traveling off-island. He was tracked down and later arrested on burglary charges.
