Man Sentenced to 13 Years After 8th DUI Conviction in Illinois

After being convicted of driving while intoxicated eight times, an Illinois man received a 13-year prison sentence Wednesday and was described by prosecutors as the "grim reaper to every driver on the road."

Timothy Morrow, 43, received his first DUI conviction when he was 17. Over the past two and a half decades, authorities have cited Morrow more than nine times for driving while intoxicated and boating while under the influence, the Chicago Tribune reported.

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Four of the cases ended with verdicts of not guilty or with charges being dropped or reduced, according to Lake County prosecutors.

"It defies logic that an individual that has been arrested for DUI 10 times continues to drink alcohol," Lake County Assistant State's Attorney Ben Dillon said. "It is clear this defendant just doesn't get it and doesn't care."

Morrow has been imprisoned twice for his driving; the first time in 1995 for DUI, and the second time in 1996 for driving with a revoked license, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Morrow, a self-employed carpenter, asked the court for 30 days to get his life in order before serving his 13-year sentence, however, the request was denied by Circuit Judge Brian Hughes.

His eighth DUI conviction came in October 2012 for being stopped in July of 2011 by a Round Lake Beach police officer who spotted Morrow swerving over the line repeatedly.

Ten days before Morrow's latest DUI arrest, he was charged with public intoxication.

The 13-year sentence was down from the 15-year sentence Dillon originally requested for Morrow, calling him an "absolute public safety risk."

Morrow's defense attorney Mike Norris requested a six-year prison sentence, adding that his client had just completed "intense probation" over the past two decades without violating it.

Prior to receiving his sentence, Morrow blamed his criminal behavior on his scarring, abusive childhood.

"I plead with the court," he said. "I have a 12-year-old son that I want to see grow up. I made a mistake and I apologize."

The judge acknowledged Morrow's troubled childhood but said it's no excuse, the Chicago Tribune reported.

"You say you made a mistake," Hughes said. "You've made mistake after mistake after mistake, for 25 years. You are still somebody that keeps making the same mistake."

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