After he was found guilty of driving under the influence for the ninth consecutive time, a Weatherford man received a sentence of life imprisonment from a Texas jury.
Fox News reported that Christopher Stanford had pleaded guilty to felony DWI. He chose to let a jury made up of his peers in Parker County, Texas decide the punishment.
A Stanford investigation revealed that in August 2022 Stanford ran a red traffic light and rear-ended another vehicle. Stanford jumped out of the car after the accident and told the driver he would be in serious trouble if he didn’t leave. He then ran away.
The 50-year-old man was accused of head-butting an EMT while he was trying to treat his injuries.
The district attorney reported that the man had a blood alcohol content of 0.267 when the incident occurred, which is more than three times the legal limit.
According to the Parker County District Attorney’s Office, four of Stanford’s previous DWI resulted in prison sentences in Texas Tarrant, Dallas, and Rockwall counties. According to the Parker County Sheriff’s Office, Stanford was booked into jail in 2003 and again in 2018, 2019, and 2022.
In a press release, Parker County District Attorney Jeff Swaine stated that “His records showed that he would continue to endanger communities throughout the Metroplex until he is locked up.”
Stanford also testified to the DA that he did not believe he had a drinking problem, but that he was just “very unlucky.”
A different Weatherford man, Texas, was sentenced to prison for life in 2016 following his tenth DWI conviction. The blood alcohol level of this man was an alarming 0.3.
The man was 62 at the time and had spent time in prison both in Texas and Colorado for DWI offenses dating back to 1977.
A man from Houston, Texas was also sentenced to life imprisonment for drunk driving nine times between 1980 and 2016.
