Drunk driver gets deferred sentence

A former Kalispell probation and parole officer received a deferred sentence Thursday for a drunken-driving incident last summer.

Flathead District Judge Ted Lympus sentenced Gina Janet Gonstad, 23, to 3 1/2 years of probation and 24 hours in the Flathead County Detention Center.

Three years of that sentence are deferred, which means the charge of criminal endangerment can be removed from her record provided she doesn’t violate her probation, since she has no prior felonies.

She also was ordered to attend a chemical dependency treatment program and pay a fine of $1,250.

Gonstad pleaded guilty in November 2009 to felony criminal endangerment and misdemeanor DUI. 

The sentence was recommended pursuant to her plea agreement.

Lympus said his sentencing decision was based on Gonstad’s attitude, her efforts toward treatment and her lack of prior history. He said the sentence seemed appropriate under the circumstances.

Police reports indicate that shortly after 10 p.m. on July 4, 2009, approximately 20 motorists called 911 to report a sport-utility vehicle traveling north in the southbound lanes of U.S. 93 between Kalispell and Somers.

Gonstad was driving very slowly and without her headlights on, according to court documents.

Witnesses reported that the SUV was running other vehicles into the ditch as they attempted to avoid head-on collisions. Eventually, the other motorists were able to block Gonstad’s vehicle and bring it to a stop before law enforcement arrived.