On Wednesday, Scott Sheak of Berne was sentenced before Judge Peter Lynch in Albany County Court, to one to three years in state prison.

Sheak, 42, had pleaded guilty before Lynch in January to four felonies — one count each of aggravated driving while intoxicated, driving while intoxicated per se, driving while intoxicated, and first-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a vehicle  — and circumvention of an ignition interlock device, a misdemeanor.

Sheak’s case was prosecuted under Vince’s Law by Vehicular Crimes Unit Bureau Chief Mary Tanner-Richter.

Vince’s Law extended the period of time in which multiple drunk-driving convictions can occur in order to be considered a felony.  Under Vince’s Law, a person convicted of three or more DWIs within 15 preceding years is charged with a Class D felony, punishable by up to seven years in prison and/or up to a $10,000 fine. 

According to a statement by the New York State Senate after it passed the bill in June 2014, Vince’s Law is named for Vincent Russo, an 82-year-old Onondaga County man, who was killed in 2011 by a drunk driver while Russo was on his way to Sunday morning Mass. The intoxicated driver, Michael Iannettoni, had five prior DWI-related convictions, including four in the previous 17 years before the crash that killed Russo.

The governor signed the bill into law in August 2014 and it took effect in November of that year. The first conviction under Vince’s Law was this past August.

On Aug. 13, 2015, at about 8:45 p.m., Sheak left the scene of a car collision that caused damage in a parking lot near the corner of Sand Creek and Wolf roads in Colonie, according to a release from the Albany County District Attorney’s Office.

Colonie Police saw Sheak driving the same vehicle, the release said, and, when they stopped him, they saw signs he was drunk; he failed field sobriety tests and registered a blood alcohol content of .23 percent, nearly three times the legal limit of .08.

At the time of the incident, the release said, Sheak was driving while knowing his license had been revoked as a result of multiple prior convictions for drunk driving.