DWI Yields 18 Year Prison Sentence

Press release

Gary Don Condor, 57, formerly of Garland, pled guilty to Driving While Intoxicated and was sentenced to 18 years in prison last week in Judge Dan Moore’s 173rd District Court. This was Condor’s sixth conviction for Driving While Intoxicated.

Assistant District Attorney Justin Weiner prosecuted the case on behalf of Scott McKee’s District Attorney’s Office.

Weiner said, “It is important that we continue to aggressively prosecute people who drive while they are intoxicated. People like Gary Condor carelessly disregard the safety of the entire community and put each and every one of us at risk.”

Condor was arrested on November 23, 2013, when Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Joe Gomez stopped Condor while driving on HWY 175 in Eustace for crossing the fog line and driving on the shoulder.

Once Trooper Gomez made contact with Condor, he detected a strong odor of alcohol coming from inside the vehicle. When Condor was asked to step out of the vehicle he swayed and at one point had to grab the side of his vehicle for balance. With slurred speech, Condor admitted that he couldn’t complete the Standardized Field Sobriety Tests without nearly falling over. After refusing to give a blood sample, Trooper Gomez obtained a search warrant for a blood draw.

Results from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Crime Laboratory show that Condor’s blood alcohol content was over twice the legal limit at .223.

District Attorney Scott McKee indicated he was pleased with the sentence. “There isn’t a reason in the world why someone with 5 prior DWI convictions should still be driving. With the new legislative session scheduled to kick off early next year, I will again push for legislation making it tougher on those that drink and drive.”

During the last legislative session, McKee drafted a bill that was introduced in the House by outgoing State Rep. Lance Gooden that would have stiffened the penalty on drunk drivers that injure innocent bystanders and first responders. HB 1082 would have made causing bodily injury to someone as a result of drinking while intoxicated a state jail felony with stiffer penalties if the person injured was a 1st responder.

McKee says he hopes incoming State Representative Dr. Stuart Spitzer will file the same bill in the 84th session. McKee, the Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) difference maker of the year in 2011, says he has MADD of East Texas backing him on the legislation.