Mesa City Councilman Ryan Winkle pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of extreme DUI and will serve six days in jail and 49 days of home detention.

Winkle will begin his jail time Friday at Lower Buckeye Jail, according to his attorney. After the weekend, he will have a 12-hour work release for the remaining days.

"I feel relieved, very relieved because we've been kind of in a holding pattern just waiting to see what's going to happen and now finally we can kind of move on with things," Winkle said in an interview with The Arizona Republic after he accepted the plea agreement.

Winkle was arrested in May after Tempe police officers saw him nearly hit three pedestrians about 1 a.m. May 7.

In body-camera footage of his arrest, Winkle told officers multiple times that he hadn't been drinking. But he failed multiple sobriety tests.

His blood-alcohol level was later found to be 0.22 percent, a "super extreme" level, but his plea was for a lesser charge of "extreme" DUI.

Winkle's plea technically includes 110 days of jail, but 55 days will be suspended as long as he completes all other elements of the plea deal, which includes substance-abuse screening and $3,800 in fines.

"Just to be clear, this is no special treatment," Winkle's attorney, John Phebus, said, noting his plea actually includes more jail time than is minimally required. "He has accepted responsibility, accepted a stiffer punishment than the law actually requires as a mandatory minimum."

DUI attorney Russ Richelsoph agreed that Winkle's plea agreement is much harsher than normal.

"He did not need to agree to that much jail time," Richelsoph said.

Richelsoph said usually a DUI offender pleading guilty to extreme DUI would get nine days of jail, with five of those served through home detention.

"It's definitely an odd offer," Richelsoph said.

Phebus said Winkle could have secured a lesser punishment if he had dragged out the legal process, but "he accepted a higher punishment to bring closure to the folks of Mesa and to his family."

Tempe City Court Judge Mary Jo Barsetti told Winkle before his guilty plea that if he gets another extreme DUI in the next seven years, he will face a minimum of 120 days in jail. Another one after that would be a felony, she said.

Winkle pleaded guilty to an extreme DUI charge in 2009 and spent a month in jail. Because the incident was more than seven years ago, it did not impact his sentencing in this 2017 case.

Winkle, who is a first-time councilman, has been on a voluntary suspension from the council since May 17.

Winkle said he hopes to end his suspension "as soon as possible," after his six days in jail are completed.

"It's been torture to not be able to ... do things for the community because I've been doing that for so long. It's hard to get out of that routine," Winkle said in an interview.

The council voted last month to move forward with disciplining Winkle for his arrest. The council will decide in late August from a range of disciplinary options, from censure to removal from office.

Winkle said he hopes the council realizes he's owned up to his mistake and allows him to continue serving.

"I hope they see, 'Hey, this guy's been put through the wringer. Let's give him a punishment and move on and get some work done.' "

Dozens of Mesa residents have voiced support or criticism of the councilman since his arrest.

The most vocal critic has been the Arizona Republican Party, which launched an online petition in May asking the City Council to oust "Wasted Winkle."

In a statement Thursday, Arizona Republican Party spokeswoman Torunn Sinclair said, "Our position on Councilman Winkle hasn't changed. Even one extreme DUI is too many — this was his second. His behavior was irresponsible and reckless. The city of Mesa deserves better."

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