A fatal 2010 car accidentcaused by a drunken driver from Metairie resulted in a 60-year prison sentence for the 54-year-old. As reported at houmatoday.com, a jury convicted the man last month of vehicular homicide and fourth-offense DWI. The judge gave the man 30-years for each offense. He will be eligible for parole after serving 35 years of the sentence.
In February 2010, he was driving his pickup truck on La. 308 when he struck and killed a 38-year-old driver. According to police, his blood alcohol level at the time of the accident was over three times the legal limit of .08. He has prior DWI convictions, and he was sentenced to five years in prison shortly after the car accident for a probation violation.
The prosecuting attorney in the case said repeat DWI offenders are the worst kind of offenders. It is hard to argue with her because an innocent person lost his life. Drunken drivers are on the roads every day, and prison sentences for repeat offenders will keep some of them off the roads and highways.
Ideally, long prison sentences will serve as a deterrent for other drivers who consider getting behind the wheel while impaired. It is not always the case, however. Do you think this prison sentence will send the message to other would-be drunken drivers?
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