Thread: four DUI convictions not enough for deportation of illegal

"Questions surround driver in wreck that killed Needville ISD's police chiefDriver accused of causing deadly accident had prior DWI convictions

By Kevin Quinn

(1/22/07 - KTRK/NEEDVILLE, TX) - Since an accident Friday night that killed the Needville ISD police chief, we've learned a lot about the other driver. He's been convicted of driving drunk four times, including twice here in Texas.

Guellermo Paniagua faces a charge of felony murder. He's accused of driving drunk Friday night and causing the crash that killed Needville ISD Police Chief Ernie Mendoza.

Authorities believe Paniagua had been drinking. If he had, it would not have been the first time he had done so before getting behind the wheel of a car. We found court documents showing his prior two convictions for misdemeanor DWI in Wharton County.

In 2001, he was given one year of probation plus fines. But before that probation was ever over, Wharton County records show he broke the law again, driving under the influence in February of 2002. He was convicted of that and sentenced to a year and a half of probation and his license was suspended for six months.

More disturbing, we have learned that Paniagua had two prior DWI convictions out of Georgia.

"I'm not aware of whether the Georgia convictions even showed up on his criminal history at that time," said Wharton County District Attorney Josh McCown.

McCown says it's impossible now to say if he would have prosecuted Paniagua's Wharton County DWIs as felonies had he known more about his Georgia history. McCown says the problem is that states and sometimes even counties are not eager to share conviction information. There's no single source that keeps that history.

"You can't get these things timely enough or you can't get them in a format that's usable, so it's terribly frustrating," said McCown.

We wanted to ask the judge who presided over both of the Wharton County cases against Paniagua what he thought about this new information, but he died several years ago. Paniagua, we have learned, did have a valid driver's license on him at the time of the crash. Blood alcohol tests have not yet been completed. They will ultimately determine whether or not he was driving under the influence.

We've learned Paniagua is not a U.S. citizen. He is now in the Wharton County Jail with a bond set at $600,000.
(Copyright © 2007, KTRK-TV)"

This is utterly amazing. This case proves how radically Inept our judicial system actually is. Four, count them, four DUI convictions and the illegal was still driving on our highways. Heck, he even served 18 months probation and had his license suspended, but yet he was still able to remain in the United States. Perhaps the fact that he finally killed someone will be enough to keep him off our highways for a little while, however, there is not guarantee of that.

I thought that the Supreme Court stated that DUI was reason enough to deport illegals. Time to pick them up at the store and put them on a bus and push across the border.

Needville ISD police chief Ernest V. Mendoza was killed
after his cruiser collided with a pickup truck Friday night
in Wharton County. Mendoza was wearing a seat belt but
was killed, leaving behind a wife and four children. The
drunk driver was not and survived. He received a few
cuts and fled the scene of the crime, later to be
apprehended.

These people are like terrorists......Jim Gilchrist said today, on talk show, that 45,000 had been killed and 250,000 injured by illegal aliens since 9/11. They have also revised their number of illegals upward to 33,000!

They are definitely killing large numbers of us.

Beckyal wrote:

I thought that the Supreme Court stated that DUI was reason enough to deport illegals. Time to pick them up at the store and put them on a bus and push across the border.

The problem is most local law enforcement agencies don't check the immigration status of those arrested.