A twenty-one-year-old Healdsburg man, notorious for a “Will Run” license plate cover, narrowly escaped an eleven-year prison sentence yesterday despite violating his probation.
Per the Press Democrat, Marcus Burton appeared in Sonoma County court after admitting to drinking alcohol, a direct breach of terms set following a high-speed Highway 101 crash that injured a family of three.
Judge Dana Simonds ordered Burton to serve one hundred eighty days in jail but declined to send him to state prison, sparking renewed debate over judicial leniency. Burton must wear an alcohol monitor upon his release and remains under a three-year driver’s license suspension.
The judge issued a stern final warning, noting that Burton’s past actions, which included driving over one hundred miles per hour on a highway shoulder, were treated like a “game.”
Any further slip-ups will likely trigger the full eleven-year prison term originally suspended by the court.
