A serial drunk driver has been sentenced to an enormous 50 years in prison after he was caught driving under the influence for the fifth time.
Eugenio Les Zavala, 34, was found guilty by a jury in Texas last week after he was arrested and charged in Montgomery County in February 2025.
Zavala was detained during a traffic stop by local authorities, during which he refused to leave his vehicle, became ‘argumentative’ and ‘physically resisted’ officers, Daily Mail reports.
It was also stated that his speech was slurred, his eyes were glossy and he had the smell of alcohol on his breath. He refused a breathalyzer and a field sobriety test, or to have a test to determine his blood alcohol concentration.
Prosecutors later told the court that it was the fifth time Zavala had faced a drink driving charge, claiming that this proved him to be a serial offender.
He was previously arrested in nearby Harris County, Texas, in 2012, 2016, 2018 and 2023.
‘When someone repeatedly chooses to endanger others, our responsibility is clear: act decisively before another family pays the price,’ District Attorney Mike Holley told the court, calling Zavala a continued threat to public safety.
According to Texas penal code, a habitual offencer who has more than two prior convictions can receive a jail sentence anywhere from 25 years to life.
Zavala pleaded not guilty and chose to represent himself at the two day trial but he was convicted by the jury on July 21 and the 50-year sentence was handed down.
‘Five DWI convictions tell a story. At some point, repeated chances become repeated choices,’ Assistant District Attorney James Roberts said.
‘The jury recognized that this pattern endangered everyone who shares our roads, and their verdict reflects the seriousness of that risk.’
Zavala has now engaged the services of an attorney and plans to appeal the sentence.
His sentencing comes after a driver in the UK who killed a university student, dubbed ‘the drunkest police have ever seen, could be set for early release.
Malcolm Waite, 72, was four times over the limit and was found slurring his words next to a half-empty bottle of vodka after he hit 20-year-old Fenella Hawes on the Norfolk Broads.
The Lancaster University student had been carrying a bunch of sunflowers to give to her mum, Margaret, when Waite’s car mounted the pavement and ploughed into her.
He was jailed for seven years at Norwich Crown Court in November 2022.
But he could be released after serving just half of that as part of the government’s drive to reduce prison overcrowding.
Under the new Sentencing Act set to come into force in September, some 6,000 criminals were due to be released under the early prison release scheme.
It has been paused by Andy Burnham amid outrage that two of PC Andrew Harper’s killers could be freed within weeks.
Fenella’s family said the thought of seeing Waite back on the streets is ‘petrifying’ and called for any offenders who have caused a death to be exempt from early release.
They told The Telegraph four years in prison is no ‘equivalent to Fenella’s life at all’.