CONROE, TX- An East Montgomery County man is headed to prison following his tenth Driving While Intoxicated conviction. A jury in the 359th District Court of Judge Kathleen Hamilton deliberated only an hour-and-a-half before returning a guilty verdict against 57-year-old Lester Guy Burney. The Cleveland area businessman was ultimately sentenced to 40 years in prison.
DPS arrested Burney in East Montgomery County for what resulted in his tenth DWI conviction (eighth for DWI 3rd or More). Montgomery County Prosecutor Adam McClain presented the State’s case, as testimony went on for days, and Burney’s five attorneys fought for his freedom.
Burney began racking up DWI convictions and arrests for multiple other offenses long ago. Public records show Burney was a convicted felon before his first time to be convicted of DWI 3rd or More. He also spent time in the custody of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice at least twice prior to his upcoming extended stay.
“We were glad to see the jury reflected on the evidence and came to the correct conclusion,” McClain said.
Amazingly, McClain says there was no evidence Burney’s apparently habitual impaired driving ever harmed another driver.
“That would’ve changed our whole analysis,” McClain said.
His boss, District Attorney Brett Ligon, took office working to reduce the number of drunks on the roads of Montgomery County, as it rapidly increased. Unfortunately, the county’s population began to increase even faster, along with traffic from people either driving to, or through Montgomery County. Despite conservative judges and jurors and a tough DA, the DWI deaths have continued to plague the county, its residents, and law enforcement, despite everyone’s best efforts to curb it.
In Texas, the first DWI is a class B misdemeanor. The second DWI is a class A misdemeanor. DWI 3rd or More is a third-degree felony. Legislators, apparently, never anticipated anyone achieving double digits. Lester Burney is now in the Montgomery County Jail in Conroe awaiting transfer to TDCJ.
