MIDLAND COUNTY, Texas —
A San Antonio man was sentenced Friday to 60 years in prison for a drunk driving crash that left one person dead, according to the Midland County District Attorney’s Office.
Armando Gonzales, Jr., 28, was charged with felony murder.
The evidence presented in the case showed that on Jan. 24, 2021, officers responded to a fatal crash on W. County Road 140.
Gonzales, who was driving at the time of the crash, had a Blood Alcohol Concentration of .146. The legal limit is .08.
The black box from the vehicle showed he was going 97 miles an hour, when he ran a stop sign and lost control of the vehicle.
He hit a dumpster, throwing it twenty yards, before the vehicle came to stop in the yard of a nearby home.
The backseat passenger, Michelle Gomez, a decorated veteran who served as a combat translator in Afghanistan, was killed instantly.
Gonzales was found guilty after about two and a half hours of jury deliberation. Then, Judge Jeffery T. Robnett assessed his punishment at 60 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Gonzales had been previously convicted of misdemeanor driving while intoxicated twice in 2017. Because this was his third DWI, it was increased to a felony offense, becoming the underlying felony for the felony murder charge.
The range of punishment for felony murder is 5 to 99 years or life in prison.