Thread: TX - Drunk driver gets 16 years for killing father, son

Lauren Talarico, KHOU 11 News 6:13 p.m. CDT March 18, 2015



HOUSTON – The man who killed a father and son while driving drunk will serve 16 years behind bars.

Jose Rivera was sentenced Wednesday for a 2013 crash in which he ran a red light and crashed into a Suburban on the I-45 feeder road at West Road in North Harris County. The impact sent the SUV into a utility pole, killing 36-year-old Juan Alvarez and his 9-year-old son Juan Jr. Alvarez's wife and 3-year-old son were also in the SUV.

It was an emotional day for the Alvarez family; just one of hundreds since two of their loved ones were killed in the accident.

"At the time of the accident, he (Rivera) had consumed quite a bit," said prosecutor Kyle Watkins. "His blood-alcohol content was .19."

Prosecutors say Rivera drank 16 beers between 9:30-11 p.m. at a bar before the accident. It's estimated that Rivera was driving 75 mph at the time of the crash.

Rivera pled guilty Wednesday to two counts of intoxication manslaughter and one intoxication assault charge. He accepted a plea deal of 16 years in prison. The maximum sentence he could have received was 20 years.

Rivera was in the country illegally and was driving without a license at the time of the crash. He will likely be deported after his time is served.

"Ultimately, we're doing everything we can to make sure that justice or as close as we can get to justice is done in these cases," Watkins said.

During the victim's statement, Alvarez's sister looked at Rivera and described her nephew as an excellent student who was loved by everybody. She told him that her brother was the strength and guide of their family.

In a powerful moment, she stared directly at Rivera and said: "Sixteen beers … and every beer is costing you one year. May God forgive you. You will find divine justice."

http://www.khou.com/story/news/local...-son/24988515/

I'll bet he had prior run ins with the law and was allowed to go free until this tragedy.

We have to stop going easy on DUI convictions. I would rather face someone with a gun than a drink driver on the highway. I would even support 15 years in prison for first offence! IMO, that is comparable to the risk DUI offers to the public.

Originally Posted by kevinssdad

We have to stop going easy on DUI convictions. I would rather face someone with a gun than a drink driver on the highway. I would even support 15 years in prison for first offence! IMO, that is comparable to the risk DUI offers to the public.

Twice (2/3) as many vehicular deaths are caused by sober drivers than drunk drivers (1/3), and that's using the measurement of drunk driver as any alcohol-related accident, whether the driver was actually intoxicated or not, whether they were even drinking, even if the vehicle that had alcohol "involved" was even the actual cause of the accident. For example, if alcohol is in the vehicle but unopened, it's counted as an alcohol-related accident (drunk driver). The bias against the "drunk driver" has so skewed the national statistics of who or what actually causes an accident, that we really don't have a good handle on what or who actually caused the accident. It's like the contrived bias against smokers and health care costs. Smokers use almost 25% less health care services over a life-time than non-smokers so smokers are not responsible for the rising cost of health care, but are routinely blamed for it anyway.

The cause of the deaths in this article was not DUI, it was illegal immigration. If the illegal alien hadn't been in the country, he wouldn't have been in a vehicle on a US highway at the same time as the father and son who were killed in this accident. They would still be alive, and the illegal alien would be doing something in Mexico or wherever he's from other than facing a 16 year prison sentence in the United States for killing 2 people.

I'm having a hard time accepting that someone drank 16 beers in 1.5 hours in a bar. Who served him? Aren't there laws that limit the bars from serving someone that much in such a short period of time?

Anyway, it's a tragedy, a terrible loss for the family, and the illegal alien deserves every day of his 16 years not for being drunk, but for being in the United States in violation of US immigration, US civil rights and US labor laws and killing 2 people in a country he wasn't supposed to be in. The person he works for should be held accountable because he used that money to buy a vehicle and the beer, the people involved in where he lives should be held accountable because that's aiding, abetting and harboring an illegal alien, and DHS and Obama should be held accountable because I'm sure from all they've said, done and not done, the illegal alien thought he was "welcome" and "contributing to the US economy" because that's what our idiotic treasonous government has told these people.

I don't care if an illegal alien is drunk or sober when he kills 2 people in the United States or whether it was intentional or accidental, if they weren't here they wouldn't be able to cause harm or death here. So their primary crime and liability under their "due process" should begin with the original cause of the harm or death here which is their unlawful presence, which is the primary crime, because without it, none of the rest would even be possible.