A judge on Thursday sentenced a nine-time drunken driver to some jail time, intensive treatment and probation.

The prosecutor urged Multnomah County Circuit Judge David Rees to order 42-year-old Steven Wayne Jones to seven years, arguing that removing him from the streets was the only way to keep the community safe.

Jones has failed to embrace alcohol treatment each of the eight times he's previously been ordered to undergo it and has repeatedly ignored a lifetime driving ban, said prosecutor Mike Botthof.

If Jones drives drunk again, he might kill someone, the prosecutor said.

"The treatment hasn't worked," Botthof said. "The treatment has resulted in him ... going out and getting more DUIIs, putting more people at risk."

But the judge said that a seven-year prison sentence would put the community at greater risk because it wouldn't allow Jones to take part in Multnomah County's DUII Intensive Supervision Program, which over the course of several years will require Jones to stay sober and attend treatment.

"I understand the visceral response ...'Wow, this guy has done it again and again,'" Rees said. "And that's true."

But, Rees said, he doesn't believe that Jones' history means he'll fail treatment this time.

"Sometimes it takes multiple attempts at treatments to get it right," he said.

He sentenced Jones to 1 1/4 to 2 1/4 years in jail. With jail-time reductions, Jones could be released in less than a year to an inpatient treatment bed.

Jones has been convicted of driving under the influence of intoxicants on average every two years for the past 18 years.

He has been caught passed out at the wheel of a car with the engine running and an open 40-ounce bottle of beer between his legs; careening across three lanes of traffic before striking a tree; behind the wheel with a blood alcohol content of at least .40 percent; and driving 80 mph while so drunk that he could barely walk after officers stopped him, according to the prosecutor.

Most recently, Jones crashed last June 16 into two parked cars at Southeast 32nd Avenue and Belmont Street in Portland. A witness followed him as he staggered away from the wreck, then alerted officers when they arrived.

Jones refused a breath test. Nearly four hours later, after police got a warrant, his blood alcohol was .26 percent, which is more than three times the legal limit of .08 percent.

Jones told police he thought he was "OK" to drive.

Jones pleaded guilty in March to DUII and hit-and-run driving, among other charges.

Steven Jones sentenced for 9th DUII conviction 4 Gallery: Steven Jones sentenced for 9th DUII conviction

Botthof said Jones has given various reasons for failing to stay sober: getting dumped by his girlfriend, getting laid off from his job, becoming a new parent and wanting to party with friends. The prosecutor said Jones also has stated: "I simply didn't care."

Jones has had three DUIIs in Multnomah County and the rest in Washington state.

The longest Jones has ever been sentenced came in 2013 in Multnomah County -- about two years in prison for his seventh DUII. Jones was last sentenced in 2016 to about 4 1/2 months in jail for his eighth DUII, in Clark County.

For his ninth conviction, Oregon sentencing guidelines recommended 2 to 2 1/2 years in prison.

Defense attorney Nedu Nweze asked for 90 days, plus entry into the DUII Intensive Supervision Program.

Nweze told the judge that Washington doesn't have the same treatment programs that Oregon does.

Jones, for his part, acknowledged that he's got a problem, but said he's done good things in his life, too. He said he once received an award for saving people from a burning car and that he works as an electrician.

"So I just ask, please just don't throw me away," Jones said.

Botthof told the judge that the DUII Intensive Supervision Program helps many people, but the only indication that Jones is a good candidate is that "he has a pulse."

In a memo to the judge, Botthof referenced sentences handed down to nine-time DUII offenders by judges in other states, including eight years to an Illinois defendant and life in prison to a Texas defendant who ended up injuring someone during as part of his DUII episode.

Last month, another Multnomah County Circuit judge -- Judith Matarazzo -- sentenced a nine-time DUII defendant to one year in prison and the treatment program. Because of jail-time reductions, that defendant will likely end up serving less than six months.

In Jones' case, after serving his jail time and finishing inpatient treatment, he must part in the DUII Intensive Supervision Program until 2022, which is when his probation is scheduled to end. If Jones violates the terms of his probation, he could be sentenced to five years in jail, Rees said.

Rees, the judge, said the prosecutor's recommendation for a longer sentence wouldn't have allowed Jones to be supervised after his release.

The judge told Jones: "You'd just be kicked to the curb."

-- Aimee Green