A disabled veteran from Fenelton avoided prison time Thursday at an emotional hearing in which he was sentenced for driving under the influence of fentanyl in a crash that severely injured a pregnant woman in 2020.

Stephen Michael Debacco, 36, was sentenced to 84 months of probation including 12 months of house arrest and ordered to complete Veterans Treatment Court. Prosecutors asked for a sentence of 12 to 24 months in prison.

Debacco, according to his attorney, is a decorated Army veteran who was left disabled with a traumatic brain injury after being struck by an improvised explosive device in Iraq during the Gulf War in 2012.

He pleaded guilty to a felony charge of aggravated assault while driving under the influence. The plea agreement called for him to serve 12 to 24 months in prison.

Other charges, including driving under the influence of a controlled substance and several summary traffic violations, were dismissed.

State police filed numerous charges against Debacco following an Oct. 20, 2020, crash in which he was driving east, against the flow of traffic, in a westbound lane of Route 422 near Old Route 422 East and Swartzlander Lane in Clearfield Township.

Head-on, his car hit a vehicle driven by Jodi Douthett, who was pregnant at the time and had her 4-year-old daughter in the car as a passenger.

Common Pleas Court Judge Timothy McCune imposed the sentence after hearing impassioned statements from the victim, her husband, Debacco and his attorney.

Speaking through tears, Douthett said the crash had an immediate impact on her and her family and she continues to struggle with physical activities, including her work as a physical therapy assistant.

She said her daughter spent three days in Children’s Hospital with small brain bleeds and had to wear a brace to school. The child had to live with her grandparents while Douthett was hospitalized, she told the court, and her daughter still experiences anxiety when riding in a vehicle.

Douthett said her husband took time off of work in order to care for her.

When she went back to work in June 2021, she said she lost her health insurance and had to buy expensive Cobra insurance.

Her arms aren’t as strong as they were before the accident, and her ankles swell after she stands for long periods, she said. Cooking is difficult, she said.

She told Debacco that she hopes he gets the help he needs and that he learned something from the experience.

Her husband, Russell Douthett, said Jodi spent three months in a hospital bed, and he had to clean her after she used the bathroom as well as feed and bathe her.

Addressing Debacco, he told him that he hopes “you never see your wife in the hospital with bones sticking out.”

Russell Douthett, also a military veteran, said Debacco did not contact the family to apologize.

“If I had done this, the guilt would be tremendous,” he said.

Debacco’s attorney, David Joel Shrager, said Debacco wanted to contact the victims to apologize, but he advised him not to.

Debacco, who also had difficulty speaking while he was crying, faced the Douthetts, apologized and said, “You did nothing to deserve the pain and suffering I caused. No matter what I do, it haunts me.”

He said he lies awake at night wishing he could take back what he did.

Debacco said he can’t look people in the eyes anymore, and “I feel like a failure in every way.”

Shrager said Debacco is 100% disabled and has been receiving substance abuse treatment at Butler VA Health Care since 2012, the year he was honorably discharged. He said his client works at the VA, and veterans and staff members wrote letters of support, which were submitted to the court.

“He knows he’s not the man he was before he went overseas,” Shrager said.

He said Debacco is separated from his wife, and they have a daughter.

The Rev. Herman Rushing, an assistant at the Butler VA, said the crash changed Debacco.

“Guilt, shame and remorse is what I got from him,” Rushing said.

He said people, including other veterans, turned against him because of the incident.

“Someone has to stand up for him,” Rushing said.

Shrager said Debacco accepts responsibility for the crash and acknowledges the Douthetts’ suffering. He said Debacco’s brain injury is permanent and “he’ll be a felon for the rest of his life.”

Shrager asked McCune to “balance justice with mercy” by sentencing Debacco to house arrest.

The judge told Douthett’s family that it is common practice for defense attorneys to tell their clients not to contact victims. McCune said he understands the Douthetts’ anger, but he does not believe a prison sentence would help Debacco or the Douthetts.

Debacco was sentenced to pay a $300 fine and $8,215 in restitution and to complete Veterans Treatment Court, 60 hours of community service, alcohol highway safety school, a victim impact panel and litter pickup.

McCune said Veterans Treatment Court involves substance abuse treatment that includes medication and meetings, as well as intensive court supervision with mandatory court appearances at least twice a month to check on treatment progress. The program, he said, provides closer supervision than probation can provide.