6 DWI convictions didn't stop San Antonio man from driving drunk again — and killing father of 3
In return, they were placed on probation, which allowed them to avoid the penalties and social stigma of a DWI conviction. Twenty-eight percent of all motorists charged with DWI were granted this deal from 2009 to 2022, the Express-News found.
During LaHood’s four years as district attorney , prosecutors won convictions in 70 percent of the first-offense DWI cases they filed. By 2021, Gonzales’ third year in office, the rate had dropped to 42 percent.Gonzales attributed the trend to— one that dovetailed with his own belief that probation and rehabilitation are preferable to prison in many cases.
Last year, a third of DWI first-offenses cases filed by the Bexar County DA’s office were resolved through deferred adjudication. Kaitlyn Borrego, 25, turned to art therapy to cope with her grief over the death of her father. Rudy Borrego, 51, was killed in February 2018 by a drunken driver with six DWI convictions on his record.Charles Mathias, a psychiatrist at the UT Health Science Center who studies alcoholism treatment in the justice system, said jailing first- or second-time DWI defendants usually is counterproductive anyway.
He pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated and could have been sentenced to six months in jail. Instead, the judge gave him 30 days — and suspended the sentence. The judge also ordered Cantu to serve two years of probation and take a course on drinking and driving. Cantu “smelled highly of intoxicants, had bloodshot eyes and slurred speech” and was “unsteady on his feet,” the officer said in his report.He spent 40 days in jail awaiting trial. Then, on Dec. 22, 1994, as part of a deal with prosecutors, he pleaded guilty to DWI 3rdRicky Cantu in a booking photo after he was arrested in the death of Rudy Borrego on Feb. 24, 2018. Cantu, then 57, was driving a Ford F-150 that collided with Borrego’s motorcycle, killing him.
Judge Raymond Angelini granted the motion in January 1997 and sentenced Cantu to two years in prison and fined him $1,000. As part of a plea deal, however, prosecutor Dianne S. Headen reduced the felony charge to DWI 2nd, a misdemeanor. Asked for comment, Headen, now retired, said she couldn’t recall the case.
Cantu pleaded no contest to DWI 3rd or more. In October 2005, Judge Maria Teresa Herr sentenced him to two years in prison and suspended his driver’s license for two years.Less than a year later, around 12:20 a.m. on Aug. 13, 2006, Police Officer Brian Reyes saw Cantu — whose license was still suspended — “driving erratically” along Interstate 35 at Highway 90.
Cantu’s license was suspended for two years, and he was required to use an ignition interlock device once his driving privileges were restored.s Grace Borrego drove to University Hospital with two of her children, daughter Kaitlyn and son Simon, she held out hope that her husband was OK.At the hospital, an employee greeted the family.
Kaitlyn watched in horror. The video showed a motorcycle, its turn signal still blinking, pinned beneath the truck. There was a pool of blood and a blurry image of a body. Soon after he died, someone broke into the family’s apartment on the West Side. Grace didn’t feel safe there anymore, so they moved to Universal City. They fell behind on the rent, and the landlord evicted them, throwing away all their belongings.
Joseph Hoelscher, a lawyer with expertise in DWI, advised Cantu’s defense team. In a recent interview, he said Cantu was isolated, estranged from family members and had trouble keeping a job.
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