Published: August 08, 2008 12:08 am      

New trial sought in Beliew DWI case

Both sides in the case of a Hunt County man, sentenced to prison last month after receiving his 14th driving while intoxicated (DWI) conviction, want to see a different outcome.

The defense attorney for Ronnie Victor Beliew believes his client should get a new trial because the sentence Beliew received was too long. Hunt County District Attorney F. Duncan Thomas is appealing the sentence Beliew received because he believes it was not long enough.

A hearing on Beliew’s motion for a new trial was scheduled Thursday in the 354th District Court, although Judge Richard A. Beacom reset the matter for Aug. 14.

Ronnie Victor Beliew, 60, of Campbell, was sentenced to 20 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice-Institutional Division — the maximum punishment — on a charge of felony DWI during a July 17 hearing.

Typically, a charge of driving while intoxicated is filed as a felony offense, rather than a misdemeanor, when the individual has had two or more prior DWI convictions. The third degree felony carries a maximum punishment upon conviction of from two to 10 years in prison.

But Beliew’s potential sentence was bumped up to that of a second degree felony — two to 20 years — due to his prior DWI convictions.

A presentence investigation ordered by the court revealed Beliew had more than a dozen prior DWI convictions on his record, including four felony convictions, before he was stopped by a Commerce Police Department officer on the evening of April 20, 2007. Beliew took a breathalyzer test on the scene which registered a blood-alcohol level of .236, almost three times the legal limit for intoxication in Texas of .08. Beliew later admitted to have been drinking 16-ounce beers between when he woke up around 8 a.m. that day and about an hour before being arrested.

Toby Wilkinson, Beliew’s attorney on appeal, filed a motion asking for the new trial, based on the fact that Beliew did not realize he was facing the enhanced sentence when he entered his open plea, instead believing he was still being sentenced under the guidelines of a third degree felony.

“Had the defendant known the actual range of punishment, he would not have pled guilty and waived a jury in this matter,” Wilkinson said.

Thomas, on the other hand, filed a motion on July 22 to appeal the case to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, claiming the trial court erred in not enhancing the potential sentence Beliew was facing far enough.

“The trial court entered a sentence which was an illegal sentence,” Thomas said.

The motion refers to the paragraphs included as part of Beliew’s indictment which were relied upon to decide the potential punishment he could receive for a DWI conviction, in this case two of the prior felony DWI convictions.

The motion alleged the court only found one of the two submitted enhancement paragraphs were true, when Thomas said the prosecution had proven both of the paragraphs were true.

“The range of punishment should have been not less than 25 years or more than 99 years or life in prison,” Thomas said.