Whenever Forest Knolls resident Cary Pencovic gets out of jail, he gets in trouble with the law.

He claims it's not his fault, exactly. And perhaps it's an open question whether his latest crimes fit his latest proposed punishment: he awaits sentencing this week for probation violations that could land him more than three years in San Quentin State Prison.

Pencovic, 44, is a habitual drunk driver. He has been arrested three times this year - once for drunk driving - and has repeatedly violated his probation since 1995, when he was sentenced to jail for what was then his third drunk-driving conviction

In the last few months, he has gone from a detox program to a halfway house back to the Marin County jail. And this week, he will go before Judge William H. Stephens facing hard time.

Pencovic on Monday said he suffers from neurological and psychological disorders; that his aggression and depression are beyond his control; that he was brain-damaged after getting run over by a drunk driver; and that he simply can't exercise good judgment.

"I know I violated my felony probation, but it seems I'm not getting the proper sentence here," said Pencovic, wearing the orange jail uniform of a mental patient in Marin County's special housing wing. "I would like to go to the hospital and get my behavioral problem straightened."

Pencovic traces his problems to the night of May 29, 1979, when he himself was run over by a drunk driver in Fairfax and rushed to Ross Hospital. He spent the next three months in a coma and said doctors nearly lost him several times while he was on life support. "Ever since then, my life's never been the same," he said.

Pencovic's companion, Jean Hilken, said he experiences spells that last a minute or two. "He has blackouts and his brain stops for a little while," she said. "I'll get mad and say, 'Cary, are you listening to me?' But he just sits there and stares out into space."

County health exams in 1989 diagnosed Pencovic with depression, impaired judgment, impulsiveness, and self-destructive behavior. A 1992 exam concluded, "It is hard for Cary to consistently make appropriate judgments and life-choices on his own."

Court documents record that tendency in more detail:

In 1995, Pencovic was arrested for drunk driving for the third time in six years. With his pockets full of unprescribed sedatives, he identified himself to the Fairfax Police as "Andrew Spalding." His blood alcohol content was .13 percent, almost twice the legal limit.

The county declared Pencovic a habitual traffic offender and suspended his license for three years. He was sentenced to 130 days in jail, fined nearly $2,000, and placed on probation until 1998.

Under the terms of his probation, Pencovic is not allowed to drink or visit bars, and must lead a "law-abiding life."

But shortly after Pencovic was released from jail last year, a bench warrant was issued for his arrest for failing to pay his fines on time. He spent a few days in jail last August and in lieu of the fines, was ordered to perform 243 hours of community service.

Then Pencovic was arrested for drunk driving in January while taking Hilken home to Sausalito from the Station House Cafe in Point Reyes Station. A sheriff's deputy caught him running the stop sign at Nicasio Valley Road and Sir Francis Drake Boulevard.

Although Pencovic denied he had been drinking, a California Highway Patrol officer said he failed the field sobriety test. Pencovic said he checked himself into a two-month recovery program after the arrest "on my own behalf, to show I wasn't an arrogant fool."

Upon completing the rehabilitation program, Pencovic was involved in a traffic accident on Highway 101. Pencovic said his friend was too drunk to drive him to Sausalito to see Hilken, so he drove himself instead.

While passing by San Quentin prison, he said he experienced one of his spells, slammed on the brakes, and sent the car spinning across four lanes of traffic. Pencovic was arrested and taken into custody.

Thanks to a court error, he received a week of freedom in September, allowing him to visit his mother in the East Bay, his daughter in Petaluma, and Hilken in Sausalito.

That night, Pencovic flagged down a Sausalito police officer who noted his unsteadiness and the alcohol on his breath. Pencovic identified himself as "Gene Hilken," then tried to run away when a police sergeant recognized him.

He was arrested yet again for public intoxication, resisting arrest, and false identification to a police officer.

Pencovic said he will plead guilty to the January arrest in order to get the other charges dropped, but he hopes the county will help him cure his erratic behavior instead of just locking him away at San Quentin.

Both he and his lawyer note that his parole violations haven't harmed anyone or caused much property damage. Pencovic said he is a harmless man who only hurts those who love him. He said he regrets his actions, but only understands their consequences when it's too late.

"I saw this coming," he said. "It just snowballed on me."

Pencovic insists state prison will not help him cure his substance abuse or modify the behavior that, among other things, have led him to turn his Forest Knolls property into a junkyard inhabited by rats and people neighbors regard as derelicts.

"Whether I'm drunk or not drunk, I have this behavioral problem," he told The Light. "There should be some kind of treatment instead of being thrown to the dogs."