EUGENE, Ore. (AP) - Justin "Mooch" DeLoretto's one-year sentence lasted one day.

The president of Oregon's Mongols Motorcycle Club was freed from the Lane County Jail on Tuesday because of overcrowding. Roughly 24 hours earlier, a Lane County judge had sentenced him to a year in jail for an incident in which he was accused of trying to run two investigators off Interstate 5.

Sheriff Russ Burger said county officials decided to release DeLoretto after determining the 27-year-old Marion County resident was less dangerous than the other inmates.

Burger said DeLoretto's risk assessment score - part of a computerized system used to rate each inmate's potential risk to the community - plunged following his court conviction on misdemeanor, rather than felony, charges.

"We knew as soon as he was sentenced that we wouldn't have him for very long," Burger said. "It's a sign of how degraded our public safety system is. There really is no accountability."

DeLoretto, 27, is the latest beneficiary of a cash-poor county corrections system increasingly unable to hold offenders for the length of their required time behind bars. Thousands of county inmates are released early every year.

A Lane County jury last week convicted DeLoretto on five misdemeanor charges, but acquitted him on eight felonies including coercion and unlawful use of a weapon.

DeLoretto followed two officers for 90 miles after they went to his Turner home as part of their investigation into an assault that allegedly involved members of the outlaw biker gang.

Two of DeLoretto's associates joined the chase near Eugene and helped DeLoretto surround the unmarked sport utility vehicle occupied by federal Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Special Agent James Packard and Eugene police Detective Dave Burroughs.

DeLoretto was arrested after the investigators called Eugene police for assistance.

DeLoretto was jailed before and during his trial, so he did spend two months behind bars. He has been ordered to serve 21 days on the sheriff's inmate road crew before being placed on probation.

During his time on probation, DeLoretto will not be allowed to associate with anyone from the Mongols or wear the club's insignia.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)