2016-02-24
Man gets 15 years for DUI death
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Posted: February 24, 2016 - 8:46pm | Updated: February 24, 2016 - 9:11pm
Ware
By AARON DAVIS
An Amarillo man was sentenced to 15 years in prison more than two and a half years after he was arrested and charged in a fatal drunken driving incident downtown.
Earlier this week in 108th District Court, Billy Don “B.D.” Ware, 39, pleaded guilty to a charge of intoxication manslaughter in the 2013 incident that killed Mary Nancy Encinias, a 61-year-old custodial foreman for Potter County.
Ware initially pleaded not guilty in August, but recently switched his plea to guilty and asked for community supervision instead of jail time.
Intoxication manslaughter is a second-degree felony punishable by two to 20 years in prison.
“I’m guilty of the offense that I was charged with,” Ware testified Thursday in response to a question asked by his attorney, Bill Kelly. “I’m a (expletive) for what I did.”
Ware said it was his choice to admit guilt and that his lawyers tried to talk him out of it.
At 12:37 a.m. July 27, 2013, Ware ran a red light at the intersection of Southeast Ninth Avenue and South Pierce Street and struck Encinias’ 2006 Chevrolet Cobalt, according to security camera footage.
Prosecutors said Thursday that Ware initially told police Encinias ran the red light and missed another truck by 14 inches.
Police records show Ware smelled of alcohol and officers noted he slurred his speech and staggered when walking. Ware refused to let officers test his blood.
Ware said he has no recollection after the moment of impact and only remembers getting booked into Potter County jail hours later. He bonded out of jail that morning.
Assistant defense attorney Audrey Mink questioned whether probation was a good fit for Ware, who was convicted in 2011 for driving under the influence and also admitted to drinking alcohol while on probation.
Ware also failed the ignition interlock device on his car six times and drove a work vehicle that had no ignition interlock system in violation of his probation, prosecutors argued.
The Encinias family has won a civil lawsuit against General Motors for a faulty airbag that didn’t deploy in the crash. They also sued Crush, Butlers, Skooterz and the Circus Room, the bars Ware visited the night of the accident.
The Encinias family’s attorney in those cases, Jesse Quackenbush, said he discovered through interviews that Ware consumed about 28 alcoholic drinks before the accident.
“The real shame here is that the family is really disappointed in the prosecution’s efforts,” Quackenbush said.
“It has taken two to three years for a simple DWI prosecution. This lady was a pillar in the community and was six months away from retirement. It looks like special treatment on its face.”
Kelly presented pictures of Ware’s children, nieces and nephews and paintings Ware had been doing in therapy.
Ware — the son of William Ware, an Amarillo banking icon who died in 2012 — said he learned in alcohol rehabilitation that alcoholism is a disease. He told the jury he is a “loss of control” type of alcoholic who will go without a drink for days and then binge drink and lose control.
Ware said he had continued to drink and blamed changes in the Affordable Care Act for making it too expensive for him to buy prescription medicine that prevents alcoholics from drinking.
“The biggest demon I have is not being able to apologize to Mrs. Encinias and ask for forgiveness,” Ware said through tears during the trial on Wednesday. “The pain I put that family through is very hard to deal with, and not being able to apologize makes it worse.
“God intervened that night, and I know she is up there and I’ve tried to talk to her. I hope there’s some good to come from this event.”