Jalen Rose finishes DUI jail time

DETROIT, Aug. 18 (UPI) -- Former NBA player and ESPN broadcaster Jalen Rose has been released from a Michigan jail after serving 16 days for a drunken driving offense, authorities said.

Rose was released from the Oakland County Jail in Pontiac early Thursday, The Detroit News reported.

Rose was arrested in March after he ran his SUV off a snowy road in West Bloomfield, and a blood test showed a 0.12 alcohol level.

Under Michigan law, 0.08 is considered drunken driving.

48th District Court Judge Kimberly Small, known for handing out jail sentences for first-time drunken drivers, sentenced Rose to 20 days in jail, a sentence Rose's lawyer has protested.

"Jalen Rose is one of the finest men I have ever had the privilege to have represented," attorney James Burdick said in a written statement Thursday.

"He is the most hands-on, socially conscious and charitable person I have known. He is the last person, in my opinion, for the judge to have imposed her rule that everyone with a DUI 'must' be sent to jail."

Rose, 38, is known for his work helping inner city kids and for fundraising for charity events, the Detroit Free Press said.