A Comal County man has been sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to his sixth drunk driving offense.
In October, a jury sentenced 71-year-old Joseph Haren to that term.
In September 2022, New Braunfels police got three 911 complaints regarding Haren tailgating automobiles on I-35, including rear-ending one and leaving his license plate behind.
“To me as a prosecutor, that tells me there were more than those three people that were concerned,” said Comal County Assistant Criminal District Attorney Karlei Neufeld.
Haren then crashed into a dumpster enclosure at a storage business on Ranch Parkway, knocking the gate off, before dangerously driving into the Torrey Place Apartments.
“And in that complex, his car is undrivable,” said Comal County Assistant Criminal District Attorney Jennifer Feldman. “He’s standing next to his car and that’s when they make contact with him.”
Haren admitted to the authorities that he had consumed alcohol by the river earlier in the day, prior to undergoing a blood test. The results showed that his alcohol level was.23, which is nearly three times the legal limit. He was even too inebriated to perform a sobriety test.
Prosecutors soon identified this arrest as part of a decades-long practice. Haren has five prior DWI convictions, all in Texas: 1986, 1993, 2001, 2007, and 2017. He was on parole for his 2017 arrest when he was apprehended in 2022 with a valid license.
“We had prior offenses where he was boating while intoxicated when he was driving a motorcycle and sideswiped vehicles, driving vehicles,” said Neufeld.
That aggregate history prompted prosecutors to seek life in prison, as they had previously done in Comal County. Haren pleaded guilty, and a jury quickly imposed that punishment in October. He will be eligible for parole at the age of 101.
“In my work with many victims, many victims have lost family members and loved ones to impaired drivers. And so if you ask them, I think that they would say that, of course, a life sentence would be suitable in a situation when we’re looking at a habitual DWI offender. Because these crimes are violent crimes,” said Natalie Paulus, the Texas Regional Director of Victim Services with Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
However, in an interview with FOX 7 last year, Betty Blackwell, an Austin-based defense attorney, questioned if life sentences for DWI are appropriate.
“I’ve heard many times people say it’s just like holding a loaded gun. It’s very dangerous, it’s very irritating, it’s very irresponsible. But we look at our statues of holding a gun while you’re drunk, that’s always a misdemeanor,” said Blackwell.
She claims that technology can help prevent intoxicated drivers from getting behind the wheel.
However, prosecutors in Haren’s case claim that, after five chances, life in prison was the wisest decision for everyone’s protection.
“I didn’t see anything stopping him,” said Feldman.
Please call the MADD 24/7 Victim Helpline at 1-877-623-3434 or visit Madd.org/Texas if a DWI-related crash has affected you.