HOUSTON, Texas -- A Texas judge has sentenced a man to life in prison for driving while intoxicated not just once, or twice, or even three times. The man has been arrested NINE times for drunk driving, and the most recent arrest came after a crash that nearly took a teenager's life.
A Montgomery County judge has sentenced Ray Middleton to serve life in prison after his ninth DWI conviction.
"The drunk driver was coming off the side street here. The drunk driver turned right into the oncoming lane that my son was traveling in and struck him head on," Constable Rowdy Hayden, the teenage victim's father said.
The 16-year-old victim is the son of Montgomery County Precinct Four Constable Rowdy Hayden.
"As a father, you can imagine the outrage I had knowing this person should be in prison when they're out here traveling on our roads, and running into a child and luckily not killing this child," Hayden said.
Court documents show Middleton has been sentenced to prison for DWIs before.
"He's been to the penitentiary four separate times before he committed this last one, the ninth DWI that we sought life for," Justin Fowles, prosecutor said.
Fowles was the lead prosecutor in this case, who pushed the judge for the maximum punishment.
"To me, there was no question that we needed to do everything that we could to ensure he wouldn't be on the roads driving with our friends, our families and our kids on the road putting everyone on the road at risk," Fowles said.
"For a habitual offender like this, he's proven that he cannot be rehabilitated -- and he should spend the rest of his life in prison," Hayden said.
Despite having eight prior DWI convictions, Middleton still had a valid driver's license when he was arrested for DWI number nine.