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40 YEARS FOR 7TH DWI

imageToday, 221st District Court Judge Lisa Michalk sentenced Brian Lorenz to 40 years in the Texas Department of Corrections for the felony offense of Driving While Intoxicated – 3rd or More.  Yesterday, a Montgomery County jury found Lorenz guilty of the 3rd degree felony offense, Driving While Intoxicated, after a three day trial. 

At around 10 pm on April 5, 2011, Montgomery County Sherriff’s Deputy Jason Prince responded to a 911 call from the Chick-fil-a restaurant at 1660 Lake Woodlands Drive, The Woodlands, Texas 77380 regarding a possible drunk driver passed out in the drive through lane.  When he arrived on scene, he found that Lorenz was passed out in the drive through lane with his food on his lap and the car still running and when awakened he appeared to be highly intoxicated.  During the course of his investigation, Deputy Prince determined and Lorenz admitted that he had taken Xanex and other prescription pills prior to driving his vehicle.  Additionally, Deputy Prince located an open bottle of Bacardi, crushed up xanex pills, marijuana and various smoking devices in the vehicle.  Upon failing the field sobriety test Lorenz was transported to Memorial Herman where a blood sample was taken and sent to the Sam Houston Regional Crime Lab in The Woodlands.  Dr. Sarah Kerrigan, the Lab Director, testified that the levels of Xanex and other prescription drugs in Lorenz’s blood were on the high range of the therapeutic level and would cause the impairment witnessed by the Deputy Prince.  The jury rejected the defense’s theory that the Defendant’s passing out and signs of intoxication were because Lorenz had back and knee problems.   

This was not Lorenz’s first Driving While Intoxicated charge.  In fact, this is Lorenz’s ninth DWI arrest and prior to this case, Lorenz had been to prison two times in Texas for Driving While Intoxicated charges.  This marks his seventh conviction, spanning over 13 years.     

                Assistant District Attorney, Vince Santini, the lead prosecutor on the case, stated that “many offenders are combining drugs and alcohol in an attempt to evade prosecution, but in this case Deputy Prince’s expertise made the difference and our community is a safer place.”  He added, “prescription medication, even for those taking it as prescribed, can cause someone to become intoxicated and subject them to an arrest for DWI.”  Brett Ligon, the District Attorney, stated “that the removal of repeat DWI offenders from our streets has made our county safer.”  He stated “that drunk drivers need to get the message that law enforcement and the jurors in this county will take these offenders off the road and keep them off of our roads.”   

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