Cornelio Garcia-Mata, 45, has the rare distinction of being sentenced to life in prison for drunk driving. Garcia-Mata has been arrested eight times for drunk driving and has been sentenced as a repeat offender to spend the rest of his days in prison.
Garcia-Mata’s final DUI showed him with a blood alcohol level that was nearly 6 times the legal limit — the equivalent to consuming 23.5 beers. That was number eight for Garcia-Mata. His first came in 1990 and his second came while he was on probation for the first.
The video below shows the arrest from the dashcam on the police cruiser. On the film, Garcia-Mata insists “I’m not drinking.”
The jury returned the life sentence.
What I fail to understand is why Garcia-Mata still had a license. In 2008, Garcia-Mata served only two years on a six year sentence and clearly was able to eventually get a license. Shouldn’t that be the first step before the life sentence? This is akin to letting a person who drives on the sidewalk around a bus to resume driving so long as she wears a humiliating sign for a couple of days. I am astonished that Garcia-Mata was allowed to drive at all. None of the stories suggest that he is driving without a license.
Source: CBS
This is one of the rare times where “three strikes” laws (or in this case, eight) make sense. Garcia-Mata is too arrogant and/or too stupid to learn. He would have eventually killed someone or some people. Maybe he already has killed someone in a hit-and-run, but no one connected him to it yet.
I’d go further than just suspending licenses. I say confiscate and crush their cars. And if the drunk hasn’t finished paying for it, that’s his/her problem.
A common response to that is, “You’re depriving people of their livelihood, sentencing the family to poverty!” Oh? Do murderers get to avoid prison because their families will be sent into poverty, depriving them of their breadwinner?
Driving is a privilege, an ability. It’s not a right, and should be taken away from those who can’t and won’t drive safely.
I dont thik this is for what he might do, it is for what he has repeatedly done. I wonder what the sentence would be if not ‘life’ under the circumstances of his arrest. He has not learned anything and rehab is obviously of no benefit to this man, whether he has gone to no avail or whether he refuses to go.
bettykath, If a person continually fired a handgun into a schoolyard but never hit a kid, you would say lock him up. This is no different.
I would opin his licenses was revoked anyway, and maybe that was not mentioned in the news ad. However, Otteray is correct in that not having a license does not stop these drunks from driving as often as one would hope.
A few observations. The defendant blew a .446 BAC. That is an astronomically high level, one that comes around probably every decade or more in most jurisdictions. The highest I ever had out of hundreds of arrests I made was a .315 and it was one of only 2 in the .3 range. Moreover a person that can walk as he does, albeit badly, or even be conscious or alive is just as rare. This man is a very dangerous drunk. In fact, he had served prison time for Felony DUI before.
I understand that some would initially have concern that this type of crime was excessively punished since nobody was injured. I would offer this for consideration. A 3500 pound vehicle dring 60 mph is lethal. When it is only partially under control and drives long enough it will crash eventually. The goal is to prevent people from dying at the hands of these drunks. They are just as dangerous as someone randomly firing a gun across a highway. Eventually, someone will get injured or killed.
And yes, it is a bit unfair that someone who murders someone gets sometimes 7 years and this man received a life sentence. But I am not going to object to this man going away for what he deserved. Nor would I object to anyone else being convicted of 1st or 2nd degree murder receiving life either.
I guess it’s ok to lock up sick people for what they might do. Much like preemptively invading countries and indefinite detention without being charged with a crime.
He needs to be off the roads but in a rehab facility not a jail. Life in jail for what he might do? Scary.
Since when does arresting solve anything? Jails solving problems is like trying to go forward with the car stuck in reverse. With him like many others I sugjest this. http://www.upcspine.com or upper cervical health centers. The reason he drinks is a lot more than you think. Mercy is what he needs not punishment.
You people are missing the point….. the point of his punishment is to get him off the road before he kills innocent people…. His life is not the important topic here….
I think an eight time loser should be either in a locked down treatment facility or prison. However, I am not sure about the life imprisonment sentence. People who have killed already, can get less than life.
I know he did not kill anyone (thankfully) but I have always wondered why when someone kills while drunk, or drugged) they do not consider it premeditated murder. They know darn well, no matter how out of control their addiction may be, that getting behind the wheel may well take a life.
Many of the people I would be assigned for surveillance were of this man’s ilk. As OS said, he almost certainly didn’t have a license. In my background checks prior to surveillance I would check driving history w/ DMV and the subject had no license. So, I have followed people I knew had no DL hundreds of times. I would read the court records involving numerous DUI’s w/ continued slaps on the wrist. And, these subjects sans license don’t drive cautiously!
Wisconsin, where I reside, has an alcoholic culture. The newspapers ROUTINELY publish articles of people like this man. I’ve seen double digit DUI’s many times. Some folks say we should emulate Europe. My thoughts are there are many aspects of European culture I don’t believe are worthy of emulation. However, on this topic, I say YES.
anonymously posted says he is 45, not 75. Never mind my comment above if that is the case.
With his age and background “life” sounds like 2-5 years … in a Texas prison environment anyway.
“You can’t fix stupid”
Instead of this being a comedians signature punchline, we can erect a national monument with this phrased etched in stone.
Please please don’t put it in Washington DC. The politicians will use it as their strategy to maintain control over the public. OOPs…too late.
My cousin was murdered at 2 in the afternoon, by a drunk driver who was celebrating his release from prison that morning for his last drunk driving murder. Please do not ask for sympathy.
We can talk about treatment all you like but we as a society are unwilling to pay for that. So what other options are there? It has only been the last few years (less than 6 here I believe) that multiple DUIs led to actual jail time. It is getting better and as DUI is becoming less socially acceptable it will improve even more. If this sentence convinces some potential murderers to not get behind the wheel it will have done more good than we can imagine.
My question is this. Was there ever a real injury? If not then the basis of the entire debacle is a “could been, would been” .Getting life imprisonment for behavior that coulda caused an injury is draconian
Eligible for parole when he’s 75. He’s 45 now. (CBS article)
The comments to the CBS article are telling.
Call me TC • 20 hours ago
-People like this are how the Democrats won the election.
Joe Dutra to Call me TC • 16 hours ago
−Returning from an Obama victory party!
———
What’s the magic number, Mel?
Should this guy be in prison for life — a “retired” associate judge, with 3 drunk-driving convictions and at least a couple of parole violations (one in 2011, after the following article)?:
“Parole revoked for former Muscatine judge”
http://qctimes.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/article_f883472a-0c34-11df-ac96-001cc4c002e0.html
“James Andrew Weaver, 56, was arrested Nov. 23, just three days after he was released on parole on a third-offense drunken-driving conviction. He was accused of violating his parole by drinking and of harassing his wife…
At a hearing Thursday morning, the judge said he was tempted to send Weaver back to prison because the offenses occurred so soon after his release. But the judge instead ordered that Weaver serve four months on work release.”
I can’t think of any rehab program that will effectively insure that this man doesn’t continue to endanger the lives of others. Yes, he’ll undoubtedly be able to get alcohol or other drugs in prison, but he will not be able to kill an innocent family out for a drive.
Zero sympathy.
You don’t need a license to drive…… But that is a different story….. This man needs a wake up call….. People do not understand how easy it s to get contraband in prison…… This is in my opinion a waste of tax payer resources….. He needs rehabilitation……
It is not clear from the story if he even had a driver’s license. Not having a driver’s license does not stop people like Mr. Garcia-Mata. It is an epidemic problem. No license and no insurance, but they get caught with blood alcohol levels so high it is almost incompatible with life. I hate to think what kind of condition his liver is in.