HOUSTON MAN SENTENCED TO 30 YEARS FOR FELONY DWI

  

A Houston man with multiple prior DWI offenses was sentenced this week in Washington County to 30 years in prison.

59-year-old Gregory Scott Richardson was sentenced by Judge Reva Towslee Corbett after a hearing on Wednesday.  Richardson was arrested for Driving While Intoxicated on January 1, 2022 by Brenham police, who received a report of Richardson driving erratically on Highway 290 before the traffic stop. 

The hearing, which included testimony from former Brenham Police Officer Conner Caskey, showed that Richardson was almost four times the legal limit of .08. 

Driving While Intoxicated is typically a misdemeanor but becomes a felony if the person has two or more previous convictions for similar offenses.  According to the indictment, Richardson had been previously convicted of two additional felony DWI’s.  His punishment range was enhanced to that of a “Habitual Felony Offender”, confinement for 25-99 years, or life.

During closing arguments, First Assistant District Attorney Derek Estep recounted Richardson’s history of at least five prior DWIs, including a 14-year sentence in 2018 that he was on parole for at the time of the Washington County offense, and an additional 2022 arrest and conviction in Harris County while he was on bail.  Estep asked the court, “What will it take to make him stop driving drunk?  Obviously 14 years wasn’t enough.”

After the sentence was announced, District Attorney Julie Renken commented, “This defendant was four times the legal limit driving down 290 in the middle of the afternoon.  He endangered every citizen on the road that day, again.”  She continued by saying, “30 years is a long sentence.  Hopefully the parole board will keep him this time after releasing him in under three years, like before.”

Estep and Assistant District Attorney Dejon Redd represented the State in the case, and George Bishop represented the defendant.