Pacers guard Ty Lawson avoids jail for drunken driving

Indiana Pacers point guard Ty Lawson, won't serve any jail time for driving while drunk in 2015. Instead, the 28-year-old was sentenced to one year of probation.

Lawson avoided serving time despite being admonished by the judge in Tuesday's hearing in Denver County Court. He was a member of the Nuggets when he was stopped

"You have a terrible history," Judge Olympia Z. Fay told Lawson as she sentenced him. "You are going down a bad path."

Fay, according to the Denver Post, said Lawson needed to spend some time in jail to understand the seriousness of continually flaunting the law.

Lawson pleaded guilty to one count of driving while impaired.

Lawson was arrested for driving under the influence on Jan. 23, 2015. He was arrested nearly six months later in July, 2015, on suspicion of drunken driving while in Los Angeles.

He also had pleaded guilty to underage drinking and driving while at North Carolina, where he played for the University of North Carolina.

But Lawson's attorney, Harvey Steinberg, argued the government wanted to make an example of Lawson because he is a celebrity.

Lawson, Steinberg said, lost his job with the Nuggets and Houston Rockets because of his drinking.

The normal punishment for a first time driving under the influence offense is probation, his attorney said.

In the end, Fay agreed that Lawson should be treated like a first offender. In addition to one year of supervised probation, she ordered him to refrain from drinking alcohol and using marijuana during that period.

He also must undergo sobriety checks and pay court costs.