TexasHSFootball
03-17-2007, 04:11 PM
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Bernalillo County sheriff's deputies have arrested a man on suspicion of driving while intoxicated, marking his 28th such offense. Joseph Brill, 53, was driving on a revoked license when deputies saw him park in a driveway in a northeast Albuquerque neighborhood and fall out of his pickup truck Wednesday evening. He smelled of alcohol and had bloodshot eyes and slurred speech, according to a criminal complaint.
Deputies said they tried to give Brill a field sobriety test but he could not complete the test. He then refused to give a breath test.
Deputies also found an open container of beer in his truck.
"People like Joseph Brill will never get it. They don't care," Sheriff Darren White said. "He needs to go to prison, and that's the way we're going to insure he does not drive a car drunk."
According to the complaint, Brill had 27 prior DWI offenses with at least 14 convictions before his arrest Wednesday. Records also show that he has had his license revoked five times and has spent nearly four years in New Mexico jails and prisons on DWI charges.
At the time of his arrest, he was on parole for two of the convictions, according to records.
Linda Atkinson, executive director of the Albuquerque-based DWI Resource Center, said she had never seen someone with 28 DWI arrests.
"It's pretty disgusting to see someone who can continue to defy the odds with a history like that," she said.
Brill was being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center on a $100,000 bond. His case will be heard in state district court because it is a felony.
Under New Mexico law, the maximum sentence for a seventh or subsequent DWI is three years in prison, a $5,000 fine, alcohol treatment and lifetime driver's license revocation.
Deputies said they tried to give Brill a field sobriety test but he could not complete the test. He then refused to give a breath test.
Deputies also found an open container of beer in his truck.
"People like Joseph Brill will never get it. They don't care," Sheriff Darren White said. "He needs to go to prison, and that's the way we're going to insure he does not drive a car drunk."
According to the complaint, Brill had 27 prior DWI offenses with at least 14 convictions before his arrest Wednesday. Records also show that he has had his license revoked five times and has spent nearly four years in New Mexico jails and prisons on DWI charges.
At the time of his arrest, he was on parole for two of the convictions, according to records.
Linda Atkinson, executive director of the Albuquerque-based DWI Resource Center, said she had never seen someone with 28 DWI arrests.
"It's pretty disgusting to see someone who can continue to defy the odds with a history like that," she said.
Brill was being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center on a $100,000 bond. His case will be heard in state district court because it is a felony.
Under New Mexico law, the maximum sentence for a seventh or subsequent DWI is three years in prison, a $5,000 fine, alcohol treatment and lifetime driver's license revocation.