Whitefish man gets 26 months

The Daily Inter Lake

A Whitefish man convicted Thursday of his eighth DUI was sentenced Thursday to 26 months in the custody of the Montana Department of Corrections.

Corrections officials will determine where to send 55-year-old Kirk Kenneth Denis. Possibilities range from prison to an inpatient alcohol treatment program.

Flathead County District Court Judge Ted O. Lympus also ordered Denis to serve a five-year suspended sentence to run concurrently with his commitment to the Department of Corrections.

Denis' most recent arrest for driving under the influence of alcohol came during a traffic stop on April 24. Whitefish police noticed Denis speeding on Edgewood Place and, after a short pursuit, took him into custody.

Denis' blood-alcohol level was .113, according to court documents.

When he was arrested in April, Denis was free on formal house arrest pending a sentencing hearing for a prior DUI conviction.

He had been released from jail after an April 3 change-of-plea hearing, in which he pleaded guilty to felony driving under the influence of alcohol - his seventh DUI conviction - and misdemeanor bail jumping.

Arrested by Whitefish police in August 2005 after he ran his car into a ditch, Denis registered a blood alcohol level of .32 - four times the legal limit.

He pleaded innocent to the DUI charge in October 2005, was released on his own recognizance, and then disappeared before the trial.

Authorities caught up with Denis in February 2007. In exchange for pleading guilty to his seventh DUI, prosecutors reduced the bail-jumping charge against Denis from a felony to a misdemeanor.

Denis previously was convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol in February 1998, July 2000, June 2001, July 2001, October 2003 and October 2004.

Some of those convictions came in Idaho and Utah.