A 71-year-old man in Texas has been found guilty of driving while drunk for the sixth time. He has a dangerous habit of getting behind the wheel while drunk. He will probably spend the rest of his life in prison.
Authorities say that Joseph Haren was given a life sentence in a state prison last month by a jury in Comal County for the many crimes he had committed. State law says that someone who has been convicted of three or more DWI offenses and has already served two prison terms for those offenses can get up to 25 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
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A news release from the Comal County Criminal District Attorney’s Office says that on September 8, 2022, police got several 911 calls about an older man who looked like Haren and had “tailed multiple vehicles on the highway, rear-ended a vehicle and left behind his front license plate after driving away, and crashed into a dumpster.” The police said Haren’s driving caused a lot more than $1,000 in damage.
The release says that surveillance video shows the defendant driving into the dumpster and damaging the front end of his car. It also shows the defendant driving away from the scene of the crime with a badly damaged car.
“The suspect was found at an apartment building a few yards away from the dumpster.” It was clear that the defendant was very drunk because he had slurred speech, was swaying, and smelled like alcohol.
Police said they tried to give Haren a field sobriety test but he was so drunk that they thought it was “too dangerous to continue” and chose to draw his blood instead. Haren had a blood alcohol level of 0.231, which is almost three times the legal limit.
Haren was going to go to trial on Oct. 21, but he pleaded guilty to the crime and three enhancement paragraphs that said he had been to prison for two previous DWI convictions. The jurors were then shown evidence that would help them decide Haren’s sentence.
In the release, prosecutors said, “The jury heard evidence from independent witnesses who saw the defendant driving, they saw the surveillance video of the crash with the dumpster, and they saw police interactions with the defendant, which were shown on the officers’ body cameras.”
“The jury also looked at all the other times the defendant had been found guilty of driving while drunk, including three previous accidents and probation terms that the defendant had to follow.”
According to the prosecutors, Haren had also been found guilty of driving a motorcycle and a boat while drunk, in addition to many convictions for driving a car while drunk.
The release says that Haren’s lawyer asked the jury to remember that the old man’s life was in their hands and not to let him die in prison.
Prosecutors asked the jury to remember that “the lives of all the people across the State of Texas were in their hands” because Haren had been a danger all over the Lone Star State “and had not stopped for decades,” making him a clear danger to anyone on public roads.
The jury also found Haren guilty of having a deadly weapon because they said he used his car in a way that could have killed someone or seriously hurt someone else. In other words, Haren won’t be able to get out of prison until he has served at least 30 years.
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