Man sentenced for 5th DUI

A 48-year-old Columbia Falls man was sentenced July 26 to 10 years in jail for his fifth conviction of driving under the influence as well as violating his probation on two prior convictions.

Brian Colby was stopped by Flathead County Sheriff’s deputy on Feb. 4 after pulling out directly in front of him on U.S. 2. Colby refused a field sobriety test, instead telling the deputy: “How about if I just say I’m drunk?”

Colby was sentenced to five years in jail for the new conviction, consecutive to his revoked sentences in a 2008 case and a 2009 case.

In the 2008 case, Colby was convicted of criminal mischief and given a five-year suspended sentence.

The 2009 case was his most recent DUI case, in which he was sentenced to 13 months in jail and three years of probation.

Both of those sentences were revoked, and as part of Colby’s new conviction he received a five-year sentence and a three-year sentence, respectively, to run concurrent with one another. That total five-year sentence was added to his newest conviction for his total sentence of 10 years.