LACONIA — A Gilford man will spend at least three years in prison after pleading guilty Wednesday to being under the influence of drugs when he crashed his car, causing serious injuries to his passenger.
Steven Conkey, 38, of 7 Sargent’s Place, No. 7, Gilford, pleaded guilty in Belknap County Superior Court to a felony charge of second-degree assault.
Judge James D. O’Neill III sentenced Conkey to 3½ to seven years in State Prison and also ordered him to pay $26,941.44 in restitution.
Conkey was facing multiple charges stemming from a May 23 crash on Route 104 in New Hampton in which his passenger sustained a ruptured spleen, multiple fractures, and a bruised lung, and he suffered a fractured vertebra. The indictments allege that Conkey was under the influence of methamphetamine and amphetamines at the time of the crash.
O’Neill suspended six months of the sentence on the condition that Conkey completes an intense program for inmates with addictions or dual mental health and substance abuse disorders. The suspended sentence also requires Conkey to show good behavior for six years after he is released from confinement.
Conkey also pleaded guilty to two counts of driving after having been deemed an habitual offender. On one count, O’Neill sentenced him to a consecutive two- to four-year suspended sentence, with a consecutive 1½- to three-year sentence on the other, with all the time suspended on condition of six years' good behavior.
On a charge of aggravated DWI related to his passenger’s injuries, O’Neill sentenced Conkey to 12 months in the House of Correction to be served concurrently with his prison sentence, and fined him $1,240, suspended on condition of six years' good behavior.
As part of the negotiated plea, the Belknap County Attorney’s Office chose not to prosecute charges of possession of methamphetamine and fentanyl with intent to distribute, being a felon in possession of a dangerous weapon, and aggravated DWI, related to Conkey’s own injuries.
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