YAKIMA -- A repeat drunken driver from Yakima who wanted his second conviction for vehicular
assault overturned now faces an even lengthier prison sentence than the one he's already
serving.

An appeals court in Spokane on Tuesday brushed aside Alfred Earle Brown's evidentiary complaints about his conviction stemming from a 2006 drunken driving crash in the West Valley that left a buddy with serious facial injuries.

Instead, the court sided with prosecutors who argued that Brown's prison sentence of 68 months was improperly calculated and that he should be looking at a range of up to 84 months.

The dispute over Brown's sentence stems from the language of Washington's vehicular assault law. Motorists can be punished for causing injury crashes for any one of three reasons: drunkenness, recklessness or "disregard for the safety of others."

In Brown's case, a Yakima County jury in January 2007 found him guilty of all three theories. The verdict was unanimous.

However, the penalty is not the same for all three theories. The third theory, disregard for the safety of others, is calculated a notch below drunkenness or recklessness.

At sentencing, prosecutors argued that Brown's sentence should be calculated at the more serious level. Brown has an atrocious traffic record that includes seven drunken driving convictions as well as prior convictions for vehicular assault and hit-and-run. Based on his record, that would have meant a sentence under the state's guidelines of 63 to 84 months.

But Superior Court Judge Ruth Reukauf sentenced Brown, 43, to the top of the lesser range of 51 to 68 months.

In a 3-0 ruling, the appeals court remanded the case for resentencing, saying it was clear from a special verdict in the case that the jury's decision was unanimous on all three theories.

The fact that the sentence of 68 months happened to be within the higher range was immaterial, the court said.

"The State argues that the sentencing court must impose a penalty from the higher standard range because to do so otherwise would disregard the jury's finding on the higher crime," Justice Philip James Thompson wrote. "We agree."

Deputy prosecutor Therese Murphy said she plans to ask for the top of the higher range -- 84 months, or seven years -- because of Brown's terrible driving record.

As for the relatively trivial difference of 16 months between the two maximum sentences in the case, Murphy said more time could make a big difference in someone's life.

"It's a year and a half that he's not on the road," she said of Brown, adding, "He's gonna kill somebody at some point."