A 49-year-old Normangee man was sentenced to 15 years in prison Tuesday after a jury handed him his eighth conviction for driving while intoxicated.
The verdict came after less than an hour of deliberation by the jury of seven men and five women. Prosecutors had asked for at least 15 years for Louis Gene Fletcher in their closing arguments.
"How many lives is this defendant going to have to put at risk before he gets the message?" asked Assistant District Attorney Misty Swan.
Fletcher has also been arrested -- but not convicted -- at least one other time on a charge of drunken driving, according to court records. Swan said in court Tuesday that investigators had turned up three or four pages worth of additional arrests or brushes with the law that hadn't resulted in convictions.
That information wasn't shown to the jury, however, because Fletcher didn't take the witness stand.
The arrest he was convicted for on Tuesday was made in Brazos County by a Department of Public Safety trooper on Jan. 13, 2008. Authorities said he ran a stop sign, attempted to make a U-turn on Texas 21 and turned in front of an 18-wheeler, causing a collision.
Fletcher's drunken driving arrests date to 1981. His most recent prior arrest came in 2006.
"He does appear to have an alcohol problem," said his lawyer, Fred Medina.
But Medina asked jurors to consider that there were several multiple-year gaps between his arrests, which he said indicate that he might have attempted to get his life together.
"I am asking you to give him mercy," Medina said. "A sentence of five to eight years would be appropriate."
Fletcher has previously served jail time, prison time and probation, prosecutors noted.
His charge was elevated to a second-degree felony because of his prior convictions. He will be eligible for parole in less than four years.
"He definitely does have a drinking problem," Swan said in her closing argument. "The problem is he is not willing to change."
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