BY EMILY MIBACH
Daily Post Staff Writer
Former 49er Aldon Smith yesterday (April 7) was sentenced to one year in jail for his fifth DUI case.
Smith, 33, of San Jose, was facing up to 16 months in prison after taking a plea deal on Jan. 19, where he pleaded guilty to felony DUI.
District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe’s office and the probation department both suggested that Smith be sentenced to prison since he had failed previous stints on probation.
Smith’s attorney, Josh Bentley, urged Judge Kevin Dunleavy to sentence Smith to probation.
Judge Dunleavy ended up sentencing Smith to a year in jail and five years probation. His driver’s license was also revoked.
Smith has been arrested almost every year since 2012, according to various media reports.
Wagstaffe said the typical sentence for someone with three previous DUIs can go from prison time to state prison. It can depend on what the driver’s blood alcohol levels were or their prior record, he said.
In this case, Smith was arrested after he rear-ended a Recology pickup truck on the ramp connecting Farm Hill Boulevard and Interstate 280 on Dec. 6, 2021, at 1:28 p.m. Smith got out of his GMC Sierra pickup, asked the other driver if he was OK, offered him $1,000 not to call the cops, the DA said. But CHP was called and officers tested his blood-alcohol level, which was around .2 — above the .08 legal limit.
In Smith’s car were empty bottles of rum and vodka and he had marijuana in his pocket, the DA said. The other driver had injuries to his back, wrist, knee, leg and foot.
Smith was ordered to pay the other driver $3,819 in restitution and pay Recology $38,649 in damage to the truck, Wagstaffe said.
This was Smith’s fifth DUI arrest and he’s been arrested twice for domestic violence. Smith, who was drafted in 2011 by the 49ers, has also played for the Cowboys and the Seahawks, which released him in August 2021.
At one point, Smith didn’t show up to court in San Mateo County because he had a court order for a battery case in New Orleans. Information on that case was not immediately available yesterday.