Former Kansas University student Julian M. Kuszmaul, of Lawrence, was sentenced to three years in the Douglas County Jail Thursday after being convicted in December of second-offense DUI, refusing to submit to alcohol or drug testing and possession of marijuana in connection with an August 2012 accident that cost a fellow KU student his legs.

A Ford Explorer Kuszmaul was driving during the early-morning hours of Aug. 26, 2012, struck and pinned 18-year-old Colby Liston, now 20, between Kuszmaul’s vehicle and another. The vehicle Liston was standing behind was illegally parked in a driving lane of the 1600 block of Tennessee Street, according to court testimony.

After the accident, Liston’s legs had to be amputated above the knee.

Blood test results, which the court ordered to be suppressed in 2013 because the blood draw was taken without Kuszmaul’s consent, showed Kuszmaul had a blood-alcohol content of 0.25 — three times the legal limit of 0.08 — when he struck Liston.

Even without the test results, Judge Kay Huff said she could find Kuszmaul guilty because of testimony during the December bench trial in which two Lawrence police officers, Brett Horner and Ronald Ivener, said Kuszmaul “smelled strongly” of marijuana and alcohol after the incident.

Liston solemnly looked on with his parents as Kuszmaul was sentenced, and the Kuszmaul family broke into tears. Huff called the situation “the tragedy for everybody, with two young men’s lives changed forever.”

Assistant Douglas County District Attorney Andrew Bauch asked Huff for a 32-month sentence because that is the amount of time now given to someone convicted of reckless aggravated battery, he said. At the time of Kuszmaul’s crash, prosecutors could not use the charge of reckless aggravated battery against drunken drivers involved in injury accidents until a 2013 law passed. The 2013 legislation change was a direct result of Kuszmaul’s case, Bauch said.

Bauch said Kuszmaul deserved the long sentence because of the irreparable harm caused to the victim.

“At the end of that time, (Kuszmaul) gets to walk out of the Douglas County Jail on his own legs.” he said.

Kuszmaul will at most only spend two years of his three-year sentence in the Douglas County Jail. Huff gave Kuszmaul one year for each of his three charges –the DUI, refusal to submit and possession — but the first two charges’ sentences will be served concurrently.

Huff said the two charges should run at the same time because she “relied heavily on the fact of the refusal” to convict Kuszmaul of the second offense DUI.

Additionally, Huff said she would consider releasing Kuszmaul to probation after he serves about a year in jail depending on his behavior behind bars.

Kuszmaul will also be able to participate in work release from the jail after he serves 10 days, Huff said. That means Kuszmaul will be able to leave jail during the day to attend work, but return to his cell at night.

Huff said it was important that Kuszmaul kept his employment in the construction industry, but that he serve his time. Huff said she considered in her decision-making process that a vehicular homicide sentence is one year.

Kuszmaul’s attorney, Thomas Bath Jr., said he plans to file an appeal Friday. Bath asked Huff to set an appeal bond, but she denied his request, stating that Bath must show that Kuszmaul is not a flight risk and that he would suffer irreparable harm by being jailed.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office took Kuszmaul into custody directly after sentencing. He had been free on a $1,500 bond.

Liston said he is currently a sophomore at KU studying petroleum engineering after taking a year off of school to recover. Kuszmaul has graduated from KU since the accident.