East Texas

By CASEY KNAUPP
Staff Writer

A 30-year-old Canton man was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison for felony driving while intoxicated after he caused a collision in Smith County.

Justin Don Cox, 30, Canton, was found guilty Aug. 27 by a Smith County jury in 114th District Judge Cynthia Stevens Kent's court. The jury also found that Cox used a deadly weapon -- his van -- in the offense.

On Monday, Judge Kent sentenced Cox to the maximum prison term and a $5,000 fine. The defendant will have to serve five years before he is eligible for parole.

The DWI charge was enhanced to a third-degree felony because he has two prior intoxicated assault convictions for causing a collision in Dallas County nearly 10 years ago.

Cory Weatherford, 25, Josh Heddin, 23, and Kobey Kimbrell, 19, testified during Cox's trial that they were driving toward Tyler Feb. 8 on Texas Highway 64 West in a GMC pickup when Cox's white van entered their lane.

Weatherford swerved to miss the van but the mirrors of the two vehicles collided. When the van didn't stop, the men turned around and chased him into Van Zandt County and forced him to stop, they said. Weatherford said Cox's neck was bleeding from the broken glass and his eyes were bloodshot. Cox admitted the wreck was his fault, said he would pay for the damage and asked him not to call police, he said. After Weatherford called 911, he said he saw Cox throw a bottle of liquor out of his van.

Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Tracey Tullis testified that before 911 was called about the collision, another person reported a white van driving recklessly. She said he wasn't able to follow her instructions on any of the field sobriety tests so she arrested him for DWI. She said she found a bottle of whiskey, which had about one-third of it missing, in a nearby ditch.

The defendant, a self-employed tree cutter, testified that on Feb. 8, his pet raccoon died and his grandfather died. He said he bought a bottle of whiskey to drink at home, but before driving there he "took a couple of swigs," choked on it and spilled some on his shirt, he said.

At the time of the accident, he was talking on the phone when he fumbled with it and his mirror hit Weatherford's mirror, he said.

When he saw the pickup turn around he pulled over. He said the men did not have to chase him down and they did not flash their lights at him, as they claimed. Cox said he didn't feel he was intoxicated. He said he threw the bottle of whiskey out because he didn't want it in his van.

Assistant Smith County District Attorney Jason Parrish prosecuted the case while defense attorney John Eastland represented Cox.

In 1999, Cox pleaded guilty to two counts of intoxicated assault, admitting to driving while intoxicated and causing serious bodily injury to two people in Dallas County.

He was placed on probation but that probation was revoked and he was sentenced to two years in prison.