A 62-year-old man who struck and seriously injured a woman walking through a Palm Springs intersection because he was driving under the influence was sentenced Wednesday to three years’ felony probation.
Mark Gerald Blanchette of Palm Springs pleaded guilty on June 4 to DUI resulting in great bodily injury and felony DUI under a plea agreement with the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office.
During a hearing at the Larson Justice Center in Indio Wednesday, Superior Court Judge Susanne Cho imposed the stipulated sentence, which included a jail term of four years, nine months. However, the judge ordered that sentence suspended, while directing Blanchette to enroll in a first-time DUI offender awareness program, according to court minutes…