An Ector County jury found a man guilty Wednesday of an enhanced felony charge of driving while intoxicated in 2016 and handed down a 45-year prison sentence.
Ector County District Attorney Bobby Bland said over the phone on Thursday morning that residents of the area are tired of people driving while intoxicated.
“There’s no doubt it was a high sentence, but it was justified based on the facts of the case,” Bland said. “The jury returned that verdict based on those facts. Our citizens are fed up with drunk drivers on the streets and violating that law carries serious consequences.”
Bland said the district attorney’s office proved Joe Antonio Luna, 59, had two previous driving while intoxicated convictions — one from Dawson County and the other from Lubbock County — but he added there were more than those two.
Luna also has a charge of bail jumping and failure to appear, a third-degree felony, and Bland said that charge is still pending. Luna had previously pleaded guilty to separate counts of failure to identify, giving false or fictitious information in 2016 and 2018. Each were class B misdemeanors.
Bland said once Luna decided to go to trial, a guilty sentence would carry 25 years to life in prison. Bland also stated Luna was a habitual criminal which included a burglary of a building in 1988 and assaulting a peace officer in 1991.
