Man gets 20 years for DWI fatality

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Aug 27, 2003 | 02:48 PM
  #1  
Unf**king believable. This guy should get life, or the chair IMO. How is this different than involentary man slaughter, criminal degligence, etc, etc? Add all the offenses up for something liek this, he should be gone forever....


Quote:
Posted on Wed, Aug. 27, 2003

Man gets 20 years for DWI fatality
By Melody Mcdonald
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

FORT WORTH - A chronic drunken driver was sentenced to 20 years in prison Monday for driving the wrong way on a Fort Worth freeway last summer and slamming head-on into a pickup, killing the driver.

Alfonzo Espinosa Villegas, 29, who had three previous drunken-driving convictions, pleaded guilty Monday to intoxication manslaughter and felony DWI in connection with the Aug. 30, 2002, death of Dennis Williams, 43, of Watauga.

After hearing testimony in the punishment phase of the trial, jurors in state District Judge Sharen Wilson's court deliberated about an hour and a half before assessing the punishment.

Villegas was sentenced to the maximum 20 years on the first charge and 10 years on the second charge, although the sentences will run concurrently. He will be eligible for parole in about 10 years.

Defense attorney Richard Henderson said his client, who testified in his own defense, is remorseful and tried to accept responsibility for the wreck by pleading guilty to the offenses and cooperating with the victim's family in a pending civil lawsuit.

"He didn't remember the accident," Henderson said. "He testified that he remembered headlights and that was it. He took responsibility and told the jury that he didn't want probation, even though he was eligible.

"We are very disappointed -- he is very disappointed -- that he received the maximum sentence after doing all of that."

Henderson said his client is also upset that he will no longer be able to help support his wife and two children in Mexico.

Prosecutor Jesse McClure, who tried the case with Rob Martinez, said he wanted citizens to think of the victims' family, who received an early morning phone call reporting that Williams had been killed.

"His last act on earth was not surrounded by loved ones dying in a nursing home," McClure said. "It was on a highway at 5 in the morning.

"That is the call everyone dreads. Whether he got 20 years and, obviously that was the appropriate amount of time, that won't do anything for them."

Police said that Villegas got behind the wheel of a dark blue GMC pickup just before 5 a.m. to leave a motel at Sun Valley Drive and East Loop 820 in southeast Fort Worth. He drove up an off-ramp and sped north into the southbound lanes of 820, authorities have said.

Moments later, Villegas's blue pickup collided head-on with a red Dodge pickup driven by Williams in the 5000 block of East Loop 820.

Authorities said that Williams, who was on his way to work as a production manager for a die-casting metal company in Ennis, died at the scene. Villegas was taken to Harris Methodist Fort Worth hospital and was later booked into the Tarrant County Jail.

Officials said the fatal wreck happened four months after Villegas was released from the Tarrant County Jail for a misdemeanor drunken-driving conviction. A judge had sentenced him to 45 days in jail.

Villegas had also been convicted twice before in Dallas County of misdemeanor driving while intoxicated, officials said.

"This was number four," McClure said."The sad thing is, his third one was only about four months before. It was like, 'Why do you keep doing this?'

"It's such a preventable thing. This is probably the most preventable crime there is -- driving while intoxicated."

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/local/6628809.htm
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Aug 27, 2003 | 02:54 PM
  #2  
death by hanging. he should have been in jail for 20 years after DUI #2...I believe in giving people second chances, but if you F up twice, cya later scumbag. This was his FOURTH DUI??
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Aug 27, 2003 | 03:05 PM
  #3  
20 Years in solitary confinment and he will commit suicide!
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Aug 27, 2003 | 03:29 PM
  #4  
"It's such a preventable thing. This is probably the most preventable crime there is -- driving while intoxicated."

Absolutely no excuse. Fry that motherf*cker for being so callous and ignorant.
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Aug 27, 2003 | 07:20 PM
  #5  
Don't be rediculous, the punishment is right. 10-20 years in prison is not a joke. He did not kill intentionally.... How about removing old farts who can't drive shit for a change.... ( remmeber old man in California killing 10 people... NO, he was not drunk, he was just old, and he is not in jail... Old or drunk, go figure what's more dangerous.

Some people even get more carefull when they have 1-2 drinks.
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Aug 27, 2003 | 08:46 PM
  #6  
Quote:
Originally posted by russianDude
Don't be rediculous, the punishment is right. 10-20 years in prison is not a joke. He did not kill intentionally.... How about removing old farts who can't drive shit for a change.... ( remmeber old man in California killing 10 people... NO, he was not drunk, he was just old, and he is not in jail... Old or drunk, go figure what's more dangerous.

Some people even get more carefull when they have 1-2 drinks.
If you kill someone, becuase you choose to drive a 3000lb vehicle while impared, you should be subject to the same pentalties as someone who commited murder.

His sentance is 30 years total, with eligability for parole in 10. The guy he killed on his way to work to support his family doesn't get out in 10, 20, 30 years. He's gone due to this mans negligence, stupidity, and lack of responsibility.

The respect for human life should be held the highest, and those who don't should be severly punished.

- "Johnny, if you get drunk and drive, you might kill someone."
- "That's ok, it won't be intentional."


No matter how you look at it, you know the repricusions, and do it anyway? Rot in jail....
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Aug 27, 2003 | 10:17 PM
  #7  
fucking drunks....

I like alcohol a lot but just think what a better society we would have if alcohol was banned....

Of course many of us wouldn't be getting pussy constantly but it would still be a better society...


I like the roman way of thinking... An eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, a death for a death.

Maybe I'm a little hardcore
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Aug 28, 2003 | 02:56 AM
  #8  
Quote:
Originally posted by russianDude
Some people even get more carefull when they have 1-2 drinks.
One of the silliest justifications for laziness or feeling invincible.
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Aug 28, 2003 | 03:00 AM
  #9  
I really think its time for stricter laws to be introduced. We need somebody who will just take these motherfuckers outback, and shoot em.
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Aug 28, 2003 | 03:24 AM
  #10  
Quote:
Originally posted by russianDude
Don't be rediculous, the punishment is right. 10-20 years in prison is not a joke. He did not kill intentionally.... How about removing old farts who can't drive shit for a change.... ( remmeber old man in California killing 10 people... NO, he was not drunk, he was just old, and he is not in jail... Old or drunk, go figure what's more dangerous.

Some people even get more carefull when they have 1-2 drinks.
in legal terms, this man is a habitual offender. he has commited the same crime twice (DWI) and that can be argued on the grounds of premeditation. 10-20 years is not enough. the man should be in prision for life. btw, the California incident was an accident and i do agree with checking the ability on most senior drivers. please do not try to compare both incidents because its obvious that he DECIDED to drink and drive for the second time. the elderly man behind the will lost control against his will.
Reply 0
Aug 28, 2003 | 03:26 AM
  #11  
Quote:
Originally posted by chrisbpickering


His sentance is 30 years total, with eligability for parole in 10. The guy he killed on his way to work to support his family doesn't get out in 10, 20, 30 years. He's gone due to this mans negligence, stupidity, and lack of responsibility.

actually, its 20 years total. the sentences run concurrently(sp.?) which mean at the same time. not in consectutive.
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Aug 28, 2003 | 04:16 AM
  #12  
Quote:
Originally posted by dets
actually, its 20 years total. the sentences run concurrently(sp.?) which mean at the same time. not in consectutive.
Oops, you are correct. Great, that's even worse.........
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Aug 28, 2003 | 07:36 AM
  #13  
More harsh punishment, tougher sentences, prohibition and ban is not an answer. It does not seem to deter the offenders. In US the prison population is raising very quickly as punishment gets tougher, severe punishment does not seem to have any effect, huh?
And banning of alcohol is the most rediculous thing I ever heard. Sometime stupid people are even more dangerous than people who had 1-2 drinks. Stupid or drunk, whats the difference... the outcome is the same, someone is dead or hurt. Why should stupid careless driver get off the hook without prison time, and drunk should be in prison for life? Does not seem to be right. Ofcourse lawyers could argue "He is not careless driver, he just made a mistake...." Easy way out.
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Aug 28, 2003 | 08:11 AM
  #14  
if the guy like alcohol so much, they should inject the bastard with 2 liters of Bicardi 151 straight into his bloodstream
Reply 0
Aug 28, 2003 | 08:36 AM
  #15  
anyone who has more than one dwi almost ALWAYS has a serious problem and it's a DISEASE called Alcoholism. I'm not justifing this guy's actions in ANY way, but what a lot of people do not understand is this IS A DISEASE for people who have Alcoholism and it's the same as a diabetic or any other.
there are A LOT of negative associations with Alcohol - people with problems have for years been determined by society that they are, "drunks, winos, bums, worthless, etc" there is a stigma associated with this.
if someone were a diabetic and did not take their insulin and consequently had a seizure while driving and killed someone, there would be very few people saying, "Hang the motherfucker", but it's not that different -
1 DWI - almost always the courts will send the person to some sort of treatment - if it is determined that this person is Alcoholic and the person chooses NOT to do anything about it, then kills someone- FUCK EM
it's like not taking your insulin
if you know you have the problem and do nothing YOU ARE 100% responsible.
again i'm not justifying anything, just trying to edumacate
Reply 0
Aug 28, 2003 | 10:27 AM
  #16  
Put him in one of those crash-safety test sleds without a seatbelt....and his eyes held open like in "A Clockwork Orange". I want the last thing that goes through his mind to be a piece of jagged steel.

Failing that, 20 years, out in 10 for parole: that's an injustice. I'm glad he got the max., but the max. needs work. About the only positive thing about this is that maybe 10 years in prison will sober this guy up. Getting paroled in 10 years for "good behavior" on a DWI is a farce. What good behavior? He didn't go the the bar? He didn't drive drunk. OF COURSE NOT!!!! He was in JAIL!!!! Keep him in the full time. No ifs, ands or buts.

Same thing for people who rape women or molest children. No "good behavior" loopholes because the object of your crime doesn't exist in prison. But that's a different topic.
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