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CARY DAVISTwo other 60-day sentences for possessing marijuana and making harassing phone calls will be served simultaneously.
NEW PORT RICHEY - A Moon Lake man likely headed to state prison for beating up his girlfriend and attacking her dog with a hammer was sentenced to county jail time this week on charges that he got drunk and allowed a 7-year-old boy to drive his car.
Barry Colbert, 40, pleaded no contest on Wednesday to five misdemeanor charges, including allowing an underaged person to drive. That charge earned him a 60-day jail sentence from Pasco County Judge Marc Salton.
Two other charges - possession of marijuana and making harassing phone calls - also brought 60-day jail sentences. All three 60-day sentences will be served simultaneously, Salton ordered.
On a charge of driving on a suspended license, the judge sentenced Colbert to one year in jail. The fifth charge, for drunken driving, brought a six-month jail sentence. But in those two cases, Salton gave Colbert credit for time served. Since Colbert has been in jail for 14 months awaiting trial, he has already done his time for those two charges.
Colbert's legal problems did not end with Wednesday's pleas. Now it's on to felony court, where he faces a July sentencing date for charges of animal cruelty and aggravated battery.
He previously pleaded guilty to those charges, which could bring up to 20 years in prison.
Prosecutors say Colbert attacked his girlfriend's pet boxer, Buster, with a hammer on March 15, 2002. Hours later, deputies responding to a neighbor's 911 call arrived to find Colbert repeatedly punching his girlfriend, Jacki Clever, in the head. Clever, who has since recovered, was airlifted to a St. Petersburg hospital.
Buster was found under a tree two days after he was attacked, malnourished and barely alive. The dog, then 10 months old, had a deep gash on his head, a broken jaw, and a left eye so severely damaged that veterinarians had no choice but to remove it.
A month before that, in February 2002, Colbert made headlines around Tampa Bay after he was accused of getting drunk and allowing Clever's 7-year-old son to drive his car, a manual transmission Mercury Tracer. The boy ran a stop sign in Moon Lake and wrecked. Colbert took the wheel after the crash and put the car in reverse just as authorities arrived.
Tests showed he had a blood-alcohol level of 0.12 percent. Florida presumes impairment at 0.08 or higher.
Days later, Colbert was arrested again when investigators went to his Moon Lake home to check on two children living there and found marijuana and drug paraphernalia.