A Lehighton man was given a short prison term on Tuesday after pleading guilty to reduced charges stemming from a driving under the influence related crash in which his passenger was seriously injured.

Pasquale Vincenzo Verrastro Jr., 22, pleaded to one count of DUI. In exchange for the plea the district attorney's office dropped a more serious charge of aggravated assault by vehicle while DUI.Judge Joseph J. Matika accepted the plea and noted the dropped charge could have landed Verrastro in a state prison.Assistant District Attorney Brian Gazo, who prosecuted the case, said he was in a difficult situation in the case. He said the passenger injured in the crash, Alex Landry, of Louisiana, is a close friend of the defendant.At the time both were serving in the U.S. Navy, and still are, and he didn't want his friend prosecuted. In fact Landry wrote a letter to the court asking for leniency for Verrastro in the case.Landry was flown by medical helicopter to a Lehigh Valley area hospital after the crash and spent 10 days in the hospital, Gazo said. He said part of the plea agreement was that the commonwealth would ask for a 30-day jail term. Under mandatory state sentencing guidelines for the DUI count Verrastro pleaded to, the minimum term is 48 hours in jail. Gazo said, "I can't, in good conscious, let everything go."Defense attorney Paul Levy said Verrastro has shown great remorse for what happened. He said the 2 remain close friends and he has helped Landry with his recovery efforts.Verrastro told the court, "This is the worst thing ever to happen in my life. He is my best friend in the world."The Navy responded to the incident by putting Verrastro in restricted duty and extra duty as part of its punishment for what occurred, Levy said.Matika said, "This is a difficult case considering all that has been said and what happened here." Matika said he could not ignore the letter he received from Landry seeking leniency for Verrastro. He added, "The sentence I'm about to impose, I believe, is fashioned to address all the issues involved."Matika then sentenced Verrastro to serve 10 days to 6 months in prison, pay a fine of $500, have his license suspended for a year, render 25 hours of community service, pay court costs of about $1,000, and pay a $50 per month supervision fee.He will begin the jail term at 9 a.m. on Nov. 4 and serve it straight.