Texas Woman Gets Life In Prison For 6th DWI
A 44-year-old Texas woman was recently sentenced to life in prison after her sixth conviction for driving while intoxicated.
Yes, you read that correctly — life in prison.
The length and severity of the woman’s prison sentence has reignited discussion in our state about which crimes we punish most harshly and why. No one is saying it is okay to drive drunk; rather, some have questioned whether life in prison is an appropriate punishment for a nonviolent crime. Although endangering the health and safety of other people is not okay, that this woman has been sentenced to life in prison is stunning. She did not actually hurt anyone, and there have certainly been cases in which an individual did hurt someone and wound up spending less time in prison than this woman.
The San Marcos woman was arrested in July 2012. A Kyle police officer allegedly saw her driving erratically down Interstate 35. When he pulled her over, he found that she had an open container of beer in her car; subsequently, she failed field sobriety tests and a blood-alcohol content test.
The woman’s first DWI came in 1996. She has served prison time for her previous DWI offenses.
When you consider that five previous DWI convictions were not enough to get this woman to change her behavior, you can see that she has a severe problem and is not getting the help she needs. It is truly unfortunate any time a member of our society falls through the cracks like this.
As a criminal defense attorney, I specialize in representing clients who have been charged with DWI. You are welcome to contact me today to learn more about representation.