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A jury is deliberating the fate of this guy who was convicted last week of Intoxication Manslaughter in Tarrant County. (His blood alcohol concentration was .29 - the legal limit is .08).From the best I can tell from Star Telegram reports, he had no prior convictions but admits to being an alcoholic for almost all of his adult life.
The range of punishment is anywhere from probation to 20 years in prison. My prediction: I think they'll give him 10 years without probation.
One wild card is that I haven't been able to determine if the jury made a finding of a "deadly weapon." If so, they have been instructed that the defendant, if sentenced to a term of imprisonment, would not be eligible for parole until 1/2 of the sentence is served. Although they are also given the goofy instruction of not to apply the parole law to "this particular defendant", they always do.
Edit: After 9 hours of deliberations the jury indicated they were deadlocked on punishment. Then a plea bargain was struck for 3 1/2 years. That's reasonable to me, but I'm surprised the Tarrant County prosecutors agreed to it. If a mistrial had been declared due to a hung jury, then a retrial only on the issue of punishment would have occurred - guilt has already been established.
