PALESTINE —
A 50-year-old Palestine man whose blood alcohol content was more than 3 1/2 times the legal limit when he caused a wreck almost two years ago has been sentenced to serve 10 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Wesley Keith Lively, 50, of Palestine was sentenced to 10 years in prison by 87th State District Judge Deborah Oakes Evans following his punishment trial on May 25 at the Anderson County Courthouse.
Three and a half months earlier on Feb. 13, Lively had pleaded guilty to the charge of DWI-third or more, according to Stanley Sokolowski, assistant district attorney for Anderson County.
Around 5 p.m. on Nov, 21, 2010, Sokolowski said Lively was operating a 1998 Ford Mustang on Texas 294, west of Slocum, when he was clocked driving 66 miles per hour in a 60 mile per hour speed zone by Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Bryan Becton.
The trooper then “activated his lights, turned (his squad car) around and the car (Mustang) accelerated,” according to Sokolowski.
The assistant district attorney said Becton indicated he reached speeds of between 120 and 125 miles per hour during the pursuit “and was barely catching” up to the Mustang which was being operated by Lively.
At one point, Lively attempted to “pass a slower-moving car in his lane” of travel, forcing a Nissan Pathfinder traveling in the opposite direction to exit the roadway into the grass, according to Sokolowski.
“He (Lively) struck that car (Nissan Pathfinder) with his Mustang,” Sokolowski said. “He basically kind of skidded down the side of the car and caught most of the rear (of the Pathfinder) rather than the front.”
Lively’s Mustang then “rolled several times before coming to a stop,” according to the assistant district attorney.
No one was seriously injured as a result of the wreck, according to authorities.
A blood draw was subsequently taken at the hospital, with Lively’s BAC recorded at .30, more than 3 1/2 times the state’s legal limit of .08, according to Sokolowski.
During his punishment trial, the state introduced evidence that Lively had previously been convicted of DWI in Anderson County (1995) and Smith County (1998), in addition to having an injury to a child conviction in Gregg County (2003) which resulted in a prison term, according to Sokolowski.
Based on “a deadly weapon finding” due to the use of a vehicle, Lively must serve at least half — or five years of his sentence — before being eligible for parole, the assistant district attorney added.
Sokolowski was pleased with the court’s punishment verdict.
“It was a combination of two of the deadliest things you can do — one evading from the cops at a high rate of speed and doing so while you’re intoxicated,” Sokolowski said. “Even without the prior convictions, I would have wanted him to go to prison due to the nature of the crime.”
Lively was represented during the punishment trial by local defense attorney Mark Cargill.
Paul Stone may be contacted via e-mail at pstone@palestineherald.com
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Man sentenced to 10 years for DWI
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