Bonham, Texas – On September 16, 2010, a Fannin County jury sentenced Pamela Jean Sweet to serve six years in prison after finding her guilty of felony Driving While Intoxicated.  Judge Laurine Blake of the 336th District Court presided over the nearly week-long trial.  Fannin County Judge-elect, Spanky Carter, defended Sweet.

The charges stemmed from a one-car accident on the night of July 31, 2009 in which Sweet, 54, of Bonham, crossed into oncoming traffic and collided with a guardrail.  Officers arrived on scene to discover Sweet’s truck lodged over the railing and unable to move under its own power.  Sweet appeared confused and admitted to drinking a large amount of alcohol, as well as taking prescription medication earlier in the day.  She was largely incoherent and could not perform tasks designed to gauge her sobriety, and she refused to provide a sample of breath or blood for alcohol testing.  The accident came a mere five weeks after Sweet pled guilty to another DWI stemming from a traffic stop in March of 2009. 

Driving While Intoxicated is a third degree felony (punishable by two to ten years incarceration and a maximum fine of $10,000) if committed after the suspect already has two or more convictions for DWI or similar offenses.  Although Sweet had two DWI convictions at the time of her March 2009 arrest – one from 1978 and another from 1986 – the Criminal District Attorney’s office elected to prosecute her case as a DWI 2^nd (a Class A misdemeanor) in part because of the age of her prior convictions. 

However, as prosecutor Brad Setterberg said in closing argument, “[Sweet’s] actions after the 2009 arrest show a pattern of escalating danger.”  Setterberg referred not only to the two DWI’s committed within months of each other, but also to Sweet’s failure to comply with court-ordered bond conditions requiring her to abstain from drinking alcohol.  Evidence at trial showed Sweet admitted to drinking on several occasions while on bond, and that her pattern of consumption was alarming.  Further, evidence showed that the steps Sweet took on her own to obtain treatment were unsuccessful, and that she was unwilling to submit to more intensive, court-supervised rehabilitation.  In short, said Setterberg, “time [in prison] is the only answer…time in which she will be off the street and away from other innocent drivers [potential victims].” 

Criminal District Attorney Richard Glaser stated that it was sad how alcohol had affected Sweet’s life but that the public needed to be protected since efforts at rehabilitation had failed.