Repeat DWI offender faces loss of driving privileges for life, Nassau DA's office says

A motorist convicted of drunken driving for the eighth time faces a "lifetime loss" of driving privileges, the Nassau district attorney's office said Monday.

After a three-day trial, a jury on Friday convicted Morgan Smith, of upstate Kingston, of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol in a Nov. 3 crash in Long Beach, prosecutors said.

Smith was injured after he lost control of his Mitsubishi, which careened onto a sidewalk and into a tree on Long Beach Boulevard near East Market Street, authorities said.

When Smith is sentenced Nov. 19, his license is expected to be revoked for a year and he faces 1 1/3 to 4 years in prison, prosecutors said. Under state Department of Motor Vehicles rules, if he reapplies for a license, he will not be granted a new one because he has at least five prior drunken-driving convictions, prosecutors said.

"This defendant will be held accountable for his actions even though he refused to submit to a blood-alcohol test," District Attorney Kathleen Rice said in a statement. Smith's attorney could not be immediately reached late Monday afternoon.