Editor’s note: The following statement was issued by District Attorney Jeff Hunt on Wednesday after Chris Abril was sentenced in Polk County District Court.

During the July 26th Polk County term of Criminal Superior Court, former Sheriff Chris Abril withdrew his appeal of his District Court conviction, of Driving While Impaired. As part of that process Abril, through his attorney, requested the imposition of the sentence he received when he was originally convicted of DWI in the Polk County Criminal District Court earlier this year.

Today he appeared in Polk County Criminal District Court with his attorney and his original sentence entered upon his conviction was re-imposed. This follows the normal procedure when a criminal defendant withdraws his appeal into Criminal Superior Court and seeks to remand his case back to Criminal District Court for re-imposition of the original sentence, and is tantamount to a guilty plea by the defendant.

Wednesday morning Abril was re-sentenced per the normal sentencing grid enacted by North Carolinas State Legislature as follows:

He was sentenced to a 60 day incarceration in the Polk County jail. This sentence (per the sentencing grid) was suspended for 18 months, and his probation was ordered to be unsupervised. Abril was further ordered to obtain a substance abuse evaluation, and to pursue all educational and treatment recommendations. He was further ordered to surrender his drivers license and not operate a motor vehicle until his driving privileges were restored by the Department of Motor Vehicles (normally after a period of a year has elapsed). Under North Carolina law he can obtain a limited driving privilege to travel to and from employment, church and grocery store, or for emergencies.

Finally, Abril was ordered to perform 24 hours of community service within a 30 day period and to pay the community service fee as well as $455.00 to the Clerk of Court covering fine and court costs.