A Philo man was sentenced Wednesday morning following what would be his eighth conviction of operating a vehicle while impaired.

Shane Harris, 44-years-old, appeared in court to plead guilty on reduced charges following a plea agreement between his attorney, Amy Otto, and prosecutors.

According to Assistant Muskingum County Prosecutor Gerald Anderson, the incident occurred on July 4 last year when a trooper with the Ohio State Highway Patrol (OSP) observed Harris’s vehicle, a grey Jeep, passing and driving erratically along State Route 555.

After the trooper initiated the traffic stop, he observed Harris to have slurred speech, dilated pupils and bloodshot eyes.

The trooper then conducted a field sobriety test on Harris who quickly failed and admitted he had just consumed Vicodin.

Following a search of the suspect’s vehicle, a tenth of a gram of methamphetamine was discovered, determined to have belonged to Harris.

Following the incident, Harris was formally charged with the following six counts in March of this year:

• Count 1: Possession of Drugs, a felony of the fifth degree
• Count 2: Possession of Drugs, a felony of the fifth degree
• Count 3: Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, a misdemeanor of the fourth degree
• Count 4: Operating a Vehicle while Impaired (OVI) with five priors in the previous 20 years, a felony of the fourth degree
• Count 5: Operating a Vehicle while Impaired (OVI) with a drug specification, a felony of the fourth degree
• Count 6: Operating a Vehicle while Impaired (OVI) with a drug specification, a felony of the fourth degree

As part of a plea agreement between Harris’s defense attorney and prosecutors, counts 1, 3, 5 and 6 were dismissed in lieu of his plea of guilty to counts 2 and 4.

Anderson said that Harris has a history of operating a vehicle while impaired, totaling over eight cases throughout the state during his lifetime.

Otto asked Judge Mark Fleegle to skip a presentencing investigation (PSI) and to proceed with sentencing.

Fleegle agreed and ultimately sentenced Harris to 12 months in prison on count 2 and 18 months on count 4, for a total aggregate consecutive sentence of 30 months in prison, with 44 days of jail time credit.

He was also ordered to pay $1,350 in state-mandated fines and have his driver’s license suspended for a period of five years.