Posted on 08/15/2010 8:28:42 AM PDT by Abin Sur
The ninth conviction was the breaking point for one Texas judge who earlier this week sentenced a habitual drunken driver to life in prison. A Texas man is sentenced to life in prison for his ninth DWI conviction.
Bobby Stovall, 54, was driving his truck in Round Rock, Texas, in early July when he weaved through several lanes of traffic and hit another vehicle, injuring the driver. It was later determined that Stovall had a blood alcohol concentration of .32, four times the legal limit in Texas.
And while that DWI was certainly enough to get Stovall in trouble with the law, when the judge found out the defendant had eight prior DWI convictions across several different counties in Texas, he ordered up a life sentence for Stovall.
"This is someone who very deliberately has refused to make changes and continued to get drunk and get in a car and before he kills someone we decided to put him away," said Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley.
Bradley said that in addition to the multiple DWI convictions , Stovall also had a extensive rap sheet for other crimes, including burglary, credit card abuse and supplying alcohol to a minor.
"He basically walked through the penal code for the past twenty years without any regard for safety or society," said Bradley. "In every single one of his cases he had an opportunity to change."
But some argue that Stovall's sentence was too harsh and that the court should have considered his struggle with alcoholism.
"This guy has a disease, he is an alcoholic and this isn't the kind of situation where he's acting with malice to hurt people," said Lawrence Taylor, a DUI lawyer and author of "Drunk Driving Defense."
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
No.
“This guy has a disease, he is an alcoholic and this isn’t the kind of situation where he’s acting with malice to hurt people,”
Yes but you are still hurt or dead just the same.
If their s a lock guarantee that he will never be behind the wheel of a car again, then maybe let him out after 10-20 years - otherwise rot baby rot.
I’d say it is. The judge exceeded the sentencing guidelines. You can’t punish a third degree felony with a first degree felony sentence. It is what it is, no matter how malicious.
It’s Texas..he’s lucky he didn’t get the death penalty..
If there is no other 100% way to keep him off the road, then no. This guy will eventually kill a bunch of innocents if he’s not locked up.
Public canings would be more effective and much cheaper.
.32 and still conscious ?
I’d guess it would take 10 years to dry him out.
The POS may still get wasted on pruno, but the he WON’T be driving! Good for the judge,
I don't believe you're correct...what about "three strikes" laws that result in habitual offenders getting 25 to life for shoplifting?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_strikes_law
You had eight opportunities, moron. Have fun...
Why not? One way or the other, he’s bound to spend his life behind bars.
How about giving drunk drivers a year without parole for the first offense, and life for the second.
I don’t think this is too harsh. I think it was too lenient to give him 8 “second chances”.
If he had only been an illegal living in Los Angeles............
“the court should have considered his struggle with alcoholism.”
You gotta be kidding me. Seems like the court DID consider his struggle with alcoholism. The guy who said that ought to consider his own inability to deal with reality.
I could be wrong. I’m not opposed to the sentence. I just looked at the legality of the sentence. If its legal, then what can I say?
Perhaps surgically making him incapable of driving, and let him out.
I have something that’ll solve that disease of alcoholism in a jiffy. Lock the guy up in a room with bottles and bottles of Everclear. Let him drink until he dies of alcohol poisoning. He’ll pass away with a smile on his face.
The real question here is, why are we even asking that question.
If he had been arrested 9 times for walking around with a gun, randomly shooting it off in all directions, would we be asking if his sentence was too severe?
At .032 this guy should have been under the table. It is very telling he was even awake.
Priority #1 is stopping him from maiming and killing people. Obviously the only way to do that is incarcerate him. Only then should dealing with his “disease” be undertaken.
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