Posted 8:57 am Thursday, January 08, 2009
Third DWI Conviction Gets Man 99 Years
By CASEY KNAUPP
Staff Writer
Odie Michael Miles will return to prison for the fourth time after a jury sentenced him Wednesday to 99 years for his third driving while intoxicated conviction.
Staff Writer
Odie Michael Miles will return to prison for the fourth time after a jury sentenced him Wednesday to 99 years for his third driving while intoxicated conviction.
The 48-year-old Tyler man pleaded guilty to the felony DWI offense, which was enhanced to a 25 years to life in prison sentencing range because of his prior felony convictions.
A Smith County jury in 241st District Judge Jack Skeen Jr.'s court sentenced Miles after about four hours of deliberation. The jurors also found that he did not use his vehicle as a deadly weapon in the offense, so Miles will only have to serve one-fourth, or 15 years, of the sentence before he is eligible for parole. If the jurors had found he used his car as a deadly weapon, capable of causing death or serious bodily injury, he would have had to serve half, or 30 years, of his sentence before parole eligibility.
Miles elected to have the jury assess his punishment after he pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated on Texas Highway 155 on July 25.
During closing arguments, Assistant Smith County District Attorney Joe Murphy asked the jurors to imagine the state trooper doing his job on the side of the road and looking to see a car "barreling down" on him. Murphy said because Miles was intoxicated and almost hit the trooper, he could have killed the trooper or anybody else on the highway, and the car he was driving was used as a deadly weapon because it was capable of causing death or serious bodily injury.
Murphy cited the defendant's lengthy criminal history, which began with convictions in 1980, and said Miles deserves a life sentence. He said the defendant has been to the penitentiary three times and hasn't learned his lesson.
"Odie Miles will not stop himself," Murphy told the jurors. "It's up to you to stop him ... It's up to you to say enough is enough."
Defense attorney Clifton Roberson said Miles pleaded guilty to the DWI offense because he was guilty of it. He also pleaded true to having prior convictions but that he has paid his debt to society for those offenses, he said. Roberson said Miles pleaded not true to the deadly weapon allegation.
He said the state had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Miles used his car in a way that was capable of causing death or serious bodily injury. Roberson said Miles didn't swerve toward the trooper or speed up after passing him, and the trooper didn't have to jump out of the way.
"There is no finding of a deadly weapon," Roberson said.
He said since 2001, Miles has not been in any trouble.
"Look at the facts of this case. Don't judge him on what happened in the past," he said.
Murphy said the jurors could look at Miles' criminal past and whatever evidence they deemed important and relevant to sentence the man. "This is a continual pattern," he said.
He said it also was important that Miles had an 11-year-old boy in the car with him when he committed the DWI, which shows that he doesn't care.
TESTIMONY
Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Steven Hodge said at about 7 p.m., he was walking back to his patrol car after conducting a traffic stop when Miles' car drove by only 3 to 4 feet away from him.
Because Miles did not yield to a stationary emergency vehicle by changing to the inside lane or by slowing down to 20 mph below the speed limit, Hodge jumped into his car to stop Miles. Hodge said the car came close enough to him to see the white in his eyes and decided to stop Miles because "I felt it was a dangerous situation and I needed to talk to that person."
Hodge said he caught up with him after he spotted the car in a nearby car wash. When Hodge told him of the violation, Miles acknowledged it, Hodge said, adding that he smelled alcohol on the man who had his girlfriend and her 11-year-old son with him in the car.
Hodge administered field sobriety tests and Miles failed them. He agreed to take a Breathalyzer test, and his blood alcohol content was .13, over the legal limit of .08.
The jury also watched a 20-minute video of the stop taken from Hodge's cruiser's camera.
Since 1980, Miles has been convicted of felony offenses, including three charges of burglary of a habitation and two charges of possession of a controlled substance. He also has been convicted of misdemeanor offenses, including two charges of DWI, possession of marijuana and three charges of driving with a suspended license. He has had his probation revoked twice and has been to the penitentiary three times.
The defense called no witnesses during the trial.
