Getting off easy
An Express-News investigation
Nov. 16, 2022 | Updated: Jan. 6, 2023 6:31 p.m.
Crashes caused by drunken drivers kill an average of 53 people per year in San Antonio. In 2022, the San Antonio Express-News assigned a team of reporters to dig into the justice system's handling of DWI cases. They discovered that judges and prosecutors in the nation's seventh largest city had been systematically downgrading DWI charges to obtain guilty pleas and ease the glut of cases. Many of those who dodged punishment went on to drive drunk again, and some of them caused crashes that severely injured others.
District Attorney Joe D. Gonzales responded to the disclosures by imposing tight new limits on plea bargains in DWI cases. He said the Express-News' reporting had shown that "too many" DWI defendants who didn't deserve it had been granted leniency.
Getting off easy — how drunken drivers beat the rap
A culture of leniency has allowed many DWI offenders to dodge convictions and jail time.
How we analyzed data to investigate San Antonio's DWI problem
The Express-News studied court records on nearly 70,000 alcohol-related driving offenses from January 2009 to January 2022.
Six DWI convictions — and still on the road
Ricky Cantu had been convicted of drunken driving repeatedly. On Feb. 24, 2018, he did it again — and killed Rudy Borrego, a husband and father of three.
Drunken driver caused her own fiancé's death
Gabriel Flores' mother and sister begged a judge not to send his fiancée to prison for causing the crash that killed him.
Editorial: Bexar County's Take Responsibility program needs to end
The program rewards people who endanger the public and penalizes the innocent.
Opinion: DWIs never end, nor does the pain
Drunken drivers in San Antonio have caused untold heartbreak.
Bexar County DA orders an end to leniency in DWI cases
Responding to Express-News reporting, Bexar County District Attorney Joe D. Gonzales imposes strict limits on DWI plea bargains.
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Reporting by Brian Chasnoff, Emilie Eaton and Peggy O'Hare. Data analysis and visuals by Libby Seline. Photography by Jerry Lara, Josie Norris, Billy Calzada and Kin Man Hui. Editing by Marc Duvoisin and Alexandra Kanik.
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