PARKER COUNTY — A Parker County jury’s life sentence for George Michael Carter’s ninth DWI conviction was upheld Jan. 26 in the Second District Court of Appeals in Fort Worth.
“Our jury sent a very strong message about how they felt about repeat drunk drivers,” said Assistant District Attorney Jeff Swain, who tried the case along with Assistant District Attorney Nikki Morton. “We are glad that their verdict was affirmed on appeal. To date, in my 16 years as a prosecutor, I still have not seen a DWI case with a defendant with a higher blood test than this defendant.”
Carter, 55, who pleaded guilty to a felony DWI, appealed the jury’s November 2010 sentence on three technical points. One point was overruled because Carter failed to “object to prior and subsequent arguments that he did not want to change and did not care renders any possible error harmless,” the memorandum opion states.
“If the court had agreed with the defense argument, the maximum sentence the defendant could have received would have been 20 years,” said Assistant District Attorney Eddy Lewallen, who handled the appeal for the prosecution. “Fortunately, the law was on our side on that issue.”
The appellate court also overruled complaints that Carter should receive a new trial due to the closing argument of the prosecution where it was argued that he either did not care about driving drunk or did not want to change.
Carter had three prior misdemeanor DWIs and five prior felony DWIs in Tarrant County when he pleaded guilty. His first DWI in Parker County occurred in 2009, assistant district attorney Jeff Swain told the Democrat previously.
In the trial, jurors heard eyewitnesses testify that they saw Carter driving northbound on Bethel Road and drive into the ditch on both sides of the road twice each before he ran head-on into a pipe fence. One of the witnesses, a defensive driving instructor, told jurors that he thought that he might be hit, so he pulled over onto the shoulder to avoid Carter.
A Weatherford firefighter who responded with his engine to 911 calls about the wreck told jurors that Carter at first claimed that he had been shot, a claim which was not substantiated when he was examined. The firefighter described Carter as belligerent and said that he kept trying to get up off of the backboard and fight him. He also said that Carter had urinated on himself.
Jurors watched a dashcam video from a trooper who responded to investigate the accident during which Carter told the trooper that he had “plenty” to drink and that “I spend most of my time drinking.”
“We felt a life sentence was what we needed to protect the community,” Swain said in 2010. “If he’s going to keep endangering everyone else, we have to deal with that, and the jurors spoke today.”
Carter’s blood alcohol level was taken at Weatherford Regional Medical Center after he was arrested and reached .45, Swain said.
The legal limit is .08.
“We’re talking about five-and-a-half times over the legal limit, something shy of that they have listed as indicative of a coma,” Swain said in 2010 when the sentencing was finished.
“Our jury sent a very strong message about how they felt about repeat drunk drivers,” said Assistant District Attorney Jeff Swain, who tried the case along with Assistant District Attorney Nikki Morton. “We are glad that their verdict was affirmed on appeal. To date, in my 16 years as a prosecutor, I still have not seen a DWI case with a defendant with a higher blood test than this defendant.”
Carter, 55, who pleaded guilty to a felony DWI, appealed the jury’s November 2010 sentence on three technical points. One point was overruled because Carter failed to “object to prior and subsequent arguments that he did not want to change and did not care renders any possible error harmless,” the memorandum opion states.
“If the court had agreed with the defense argument, the maximum sentence the defendant could have received would have been 20 years,” said Assistant District Attorney Eddy Lewallen, who handled the appeal for the prosecution. “Fortunately, the law was on our side on that issue.”
The appellate court also overruled complaints that Carter should receive a new trial due to the closing argument of the prosecution where it was argued that he either did not care about driving drunk or did not want to change.
Carter had three prior misdemeanor DWIs and five prior felony DWIs in Tarrant County when he pleaded guilty. His first DWI in Parker County occurred in 2009, assistant district attorney Jeff Swain told the Democrat previously.
In the trial, jurors heard eyewitnesses testify that they saw Carter driving northbound on Bethel Road and drive into the ditch on both sides of the road twice each before he ran head-on into a pipe fence. One of the witnesses, a defensive driving instructor, told jurors that he thought that he might be hit, so he pulled over onto the shoulder to avoid Carter.
A Weatherford firefighter who responded with his engine to 911 calls about the wreck told jurors that Carter at first claimed that he had been shot, a claim which was not substantiated when he was examined. The firefighter described Carter as belligerent and said that he kept trying to get up off of the backboard and fight him. He also said that Carter had urinated on himself.
Jurors watched a dashcam video from a trooper who responded to investigate the accident during which Carter told the trooper that he had “plenty” to drink and that “I spend most of my time drinking.”
“We felt a life sentence was what we needed to protect the community,” Swain said in 2010. “If he’s going to keep endangering everyone else, we have to deal with that, and the jurors spoke today.”
Carter’s blood alcohol level was taken at Weatherford Regional Medical Center after he was arrested and reached .45, Swain said.
The legal limit is .08.
“We’re talking about five-and-a-half times over the legal limit, something shy of that they have listed as indicative of a coma,” Swain said in 2010 when the sentencing was finished.
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