House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband pleaded guilty to a DUI charge in California on Tuesday and was sentenced to five days in jail — although he's unlikely to serve any further time behind bars, authorities said.
Paul Pelosi, 82, pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury, the Napa County district attorney's office said in a statement.
He was sentenced to five days in jail and three years of probation stemming from a May 28 crash in Napa County, north of San Francisco.
Pelosi was not in court Tuesday, and his lawyer entered the guilty plea on his behalf.
The DUI misdemeanor didn’t require the defendant's presence unless ordered by the judge, and Pelosi "was not ordered by the court to personally appear," according to the DA's statement.
Pelosi has already served two days and received two more days of credit, Assistant DA Paul Gero told NBC News in a statement.
That leaves one more day to be served, and Napa County Superior Court Judge Joseph Solga said it could be served in a court-approved work program, Gero said.
In addition, as part of his probation, Pelosi will have to "immediately enroll in, pay for, and successfully complete a licensed DUI program for 3 months," according to the DA's statement, and pay almost $7,000 in fines.
He will also be limited, for one year, to driving a car equipped with an ignition interlock device that would require him to provide a breath sample before the engine starts, prosecutors said.
A blood sample taken after the collision found Pelosi had a blood alcohol content of 0.082%, prosecutors had said. The legal limit in California is 0.08%.
The accident happened at 10:26 p.m. on the final Saturday in May as Pelosi crossed State Route 29 in unincorporated Oakville, and the 2021 Porsche he was driving was struck by a 2014 Jeep, according to a California Highway Patrol collision report.
Amanda Bevins, an attorney for Pelosi, declined to comment.
Hours after the court action on Tuesday, the California Highway Patrol released video footage of the arrest, showing Pelosi struggling to maintain his balance as officers weighed their options with their "high profile" suspect.
As Pelosi is being told he's being arrested and will be subject to a blood test, he asked about procedures.
"I'll discuss with my supervisors to see what they're willing to do just because we know you're a high profile person," an officer could be heard telling him in the dashcam footage.
In a field sobriety test that called for Pelosi to raise one foot, stand on the other one and count, the motorist couldn't do it without keeping his hands on the CHP vehicle.
"You can't grab on to the patrol car," the officer told Pelosi. "That defeats the whole purpose of the test."
The officer then tells Pelosi to stop: "Based on what I'm seeing, I don't feel comfortable having you perform this test. I don't want you to have the potential of falling over and hurting yourself."
Pelosi said he lives a short distance away and just wants to go home, but the officer explained his duty to complete these tests and possibly make an arrest.
"You got to understand from my stand point, you're involved in a crash, I smell alcohol coming from your breath (and) I can see you're very unsteady your feet," the officer patiently explained. "So you see where it's concerning to me?"
