12 DWI Charges and Appealing Jail Time

Posted in Drunk Driving Accident Victims on May 25, 2015

A San Antonio man has racked up an astonishing 12 DWIs in a 40 year period. Now, in prison for his most recent DWI in April, Carlos Faz and his attorney are appealing the 10-year sentence, hoping instead for probation and alcoholism treatment.

With each DWI conviction, the penalties get more severe in Texas. Prior to 2005, Texas law allowed for a cleared record if an individual had 10 years of clean driving, meaning what would have normally been a felony DWI would have been charged on the misdemeanor level if it had been more than 10 years since the last DWI. Faz benefitted from that law; because he had no DWIs between the late ‘80s and early 2000s, he basically got to start over as if it were his first DWI. That law has since changed, and all previous offenses now count, regardless of when the offenses took place.

After Faz is released from prison, whenever that may be, he will likely be ordered by the court to abstain from alcohol, and will likely have to wear a blood-alcohol monitoring device.

With the astronomical number of drunk driving deaths and injuries in the state of Texas each year, stories like this one can make a person’s blood boil. Now that Texas is working on an ignition interlock law for first time offenders, hopefully we will see the number of drunk driving accident victims drop each year.

If you or someone you love has been injured or killed by a drunk driver, contact a drunk driving accident attorney today. A knowledgeable lawyer will protect your rights and seek compensation for the damages you have incurred.

Read the original article here.