She said she hasn't touched alcohol or driven a vehicle since May 2008, but she still has a debt to pay for the night that could have ended in disaster.
Judge James O. Miller ordered 10 months in jail for Stacey E. McMahon, 43, formerly of Rio, at a sentencing hearing Tuesday in Columbia County Circuit Court.
The chase was one of the worst cases of eluding an officer that Assistant District Attorney Troy Cross has seen, he said at the hearing.
McMahon is a good person who perhaps was overwhelmed by stresses in her life when she drank excessively the night of May 2, 2008, according to defense attorney Mark Bennett.
Tests showed her blood-alcohol concentration to be more than 0.182, according to court records. It is illegal to drive in Wisconsin with a concentration of 0.08 or more.
"You do have a problem with alcohol," Miller told McMahon, saying that choosing to drink and drive is like sneezing on others when you are sick with the H1N1 virus.
"You bring other people into the problem," Miller said.
McMahon apologized at the hearing to the court, to her family and to authorities for her actions.
"I am very ashamed and sorry for the problems I caused," she said.
Her driving from the Columbus West Travel Center was erratic, prompting a witness to contact authorities, but even attempts at gunpoint to stop her from fleeing didn't work, authorities said.
McMahon led authorities on an hourlong, high-speed chase on roads in three counties - Columbia, Dane and Green Lake - that reached speeds of 110 mph, according to court records.
At one point, when McMahon stopped her vehicle in the middle of the road, a Columbus police officer stopped in front of McMahon's vehicle, then drew a gun and pointed it at McMahon, who instead sped forward, coming within six inches of the squad car and nearly striking the officer. After two sets of spike strips were used on the vehicle McMahon was driving, she was taken into a custody, according to court records.
McMahon was found guilty by a jury in July of felony bail jumping and eluding officers, and of misdemeanor drunken driving as a fourth offense and operating with a prohibited blood-alcohol concentration. She was found not guilty of a charge of first-degree recklessly endangering safety.
She was lucky, Miller said, that no one, including herself, was injured or killed.
The incident has changed her life, Bennett said, and McMahon now pursues a college degree, making every effort to "turn her life around."
The jail sentence is part of four years of probation and includes 210 days - about seven months - and an additional three months in jail. McMahon must pay a fine of $2,993 and undergo drug and alcohol counseling. Miller ordered a three-year driver's license revocation. For 24 months, there will be a vehicle ignition interlock device on her vehicle.