Daniel R. Asselin was drunk when the car he was driving struck and killed 18-year-old Mark Blanchette. That was just over eight years ago, on Aug. 13, 1996.

Asselin, whose blood-alcohol level measured 0.21 – more than twice the legal limit – was convicted of aggravated drunken driving and was sentenced to four years in jail.

At his sentencing, Asselin who was then in his 20s, broke down. He begged for forgiveness. He cried. He said he would turn his life around.

This May, Asselin was charged with drunken driving in Bangor. According to police, his blood-alcohol level was 0.29, an extremely high level of intoxication, and he was driving again without a license.

Blanchette had just graduated from Lewiston High School when he was killed. He was a young man – who worked in the Sun Journal sports department – bound for college, full of life and eager for the future.

Asselin, 36, hasn’t been convicted of the latest charges against him. But he’s had a valid driver’s license for only 27 days since 1987. He is a habitual offender, and he has skirted the law for too long.

If Asselin is found guilty of the most recent charges, he deserves serious time behind bars, mandatory treatment for alcohol abuse and stringent monitoring upon release.