Karen Huger Is Going to Jail

After her fourth DUI arrest was the subject of so much shade on this season of The Real Housewives of Potomac, culminating in her skipping the reunion to go to rehab instead, Grande Dame Karen Huger is going to jail. She was sentenced to “two years in prison with one year suspended, five years of supervised probation, and a fine of $2,900.” She’s prohibited from driving for a year upon her release and will have to drive with “an ignition interlock driving device installed” after that.

Huger and her husband, Raymond, both begged for leniency.

“I needed to take a hard look at myself. There was a sense of entitlement that I could keep on consuming alcohol: I have been successful. Why should I give up this indulgence?” Huger pleaded, adding that she vows to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings for the rest of her life. “I would ask for leniency,” said Mr. Huger, claiming his wife had been sober since her arrest.

Prosecutor Jordan Kramer wasn’t having it. “This is a pattern,” he said. “This is not Ms. Huger’s second chance, this is Ms. Huger’s fourth. By the time you get to your fourth DUI offense, there does need to be some level of punishment.”

Even Huger’s attorney David Martella had to admit, “She certainly has a record,” and “This is not a garden-variety first offense.”

The judge was in agreement.

“Karen Huger is no stranger to driving drunk on our public roads,” said Montgomery County Circuit Judge Terrence McGann. “One would have thought that Ms. Huger would have learned her lesson in 2007 … Karen Huger certainly had the hang of working the system and all prior warning had gone in one ear and out the other. Can we believe she has only driven while intoxicated four times in the last 17 years?”

While a handful of Real Housewives have been arrested, spent a night or two in jail, and served probation for DUIs and other alcohol-related charges, Karen is, as far as I know, the first to be convicted with a prison sentence of this magnitude. She joins Terese Guidice and Jen Shah as the legendary Bravo criminals. RHOP will never be the same.