San Diego

A San Diego man convicted of mailing four douche bottles laced with silver nitrate to his ex-girlfriend received one year in jail Monday.

Because he was given credit for about five months in custody, Steven James, 44, could be freed in four or five months, said his lawyer, Douglas Brown.

U.S. District Judge Rudi Brewster ordered that the last three months of custody be spent at a halfway house.

Brewster also fined James $2,500. He could have been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison and fined $250,000.

James was convicted June 9 of mailing a poisonous material to his ex-girlfriend, Karen Brzys, 32, of Santee, after the jury deliberated 1 1/2 hours.

Assistant U. S. Atty. Greg Vega had urged a three-year term. The probation department had recommended a one-year term, and Brown suggested that he be sentenced to six months.

Vega said the victim is still fearful of James.

The package, labeled as a pharmaceutical sample, was intercepted by postal inspectors acting on a tip from a friend of James and was never received by Brzys.

James apologized to the judge before sentencing, saying he was “very sorry for what I did.”

Brown characterized the relationship between James and Brzys as “a stormy love affair” and said it was a crime of passion.

During the trial, Brown presented evidence that the level of silver nitrate in the bottles was not enough to harm her.