WAILUKU — A man who said he was lucky he didn’t harm himself or others was sentenced to five years’ probation after he had “near lethal levels” of alcohol in his system when he was arrested for habitually driving under the influence of alcohol last year.

Jason Archuleta, 50, was ordered to pay a $2,000 fine as part of the sentence imposed Feb. 2. He previously spent about four and a half months in jail.

“I was in a really bad time of my life,” Archuleta said in court. “I do understand the gravity of this . . . how lucky I am that I haven’t taken someone else’s life or my own. I think about that every day and I pray about it every day, thank the Lord I didn’t hurt somebody. Living after that would be even worse.”

He had pleaded no contest to habitually driving under the influence of an intoxicant and driving without a license.

Archuleta was arrested the night of April 16 after a clerk at a gas station on South Kihei Road called police to report that an intoxicated customer had bought cigarettes and driven away in a truck. The clerk provided the license plate number of the truck, and officers went to the owner’s address in Kihei, where police found Archuleta in the truck parked with the engine running in the driveway of his residence.

Police obtained a search warrant to draw his blood for testing.

Test results showed Archuleta was “approaching lethal levels of intoxication,” said Deputy Prosecutor Brandon Segal.

He said a plea agreement recommending probation and no additional jail was reached, in part, because of appellate decisions affecting the validity of blood draw results in court.

More importantly, he said it appeared that Archuleta would benefit from continuing rehabilitation in a faith-based sober living residence in Wailuku.

Deputy Public Defender Ben Lowenthal said he had seen change in Archuleta.

Second Circuit Judge Kirstin Hamman said she hoped Archuleta understands that “abstinence is your only choice.”

His latest arrest was the third within 10 years, following convictions for DUI in January 2021 and July 2018, leading to the felony charge, according to court records.

“If it happens again, you will end up in prison,” Hamman told the defendant.

She said the plea agreement was appropriate, as Archuleta was seeking sobriety.

“You could be an asset in the community by sharing your experience and helping others,” she told him.

His driver’s license was revoked for five years, to run at the same time as an administrative revocation for 10 years ending May 17, 2031.

* Lila Fujimoto can be reached at lfujimoto@mauinews.com.