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Jurors found Paniagua guilty Friday of felony murder.
Before the jury deliberated punishment Monday, Mendoza’s widow, Susie Mendoza, testified, district attorney Josh McCown, said.
In addition, the prosecution proved Paniagua had two previous DWI convictions in Georgia in 1996 and 1998 as well as two in Wharton County in 2001 and 2002.
“This was his fifth DWI, and this time he killed somebody,”McCown said.
Jurors spent two hours and 20 minutes Monday deciding his sentence. The verdict was returned at 3:33 p.m.
“We’re very pleased with the verdict from the jury,” McCown said. “Any time you get 90 years in any case that is making a statement on how they feel.”
Paniagua was charged with felony murder because he committed a felony offense, driving while intoxicated, while committing another act resulting in someone’s death, crossing the center line of the roadway.
Paniagua was driving his Ford pickup east on Farm-to-Market Road 1301 when he struck Mendoza’s patrol car at 9 p.m. about 3.2 miles east of Wharton. Officials arrested Paniagua five miles from the scene.
There have not been a lot of cases like this tried in the state, McCown said.
“It’s only been a few years in which the state prosecutors have been trying a DWI as a felony murder rather then intoxication manslaughter.”
Lead defense attorney Richard Manske said it was difficult to see how the jury got to 90 years for the sentence because he did not think Paniagua intended to kill Mendoza.
“It’s not that I necessarily disagree he got a fair trial, I am surprised that the jury reached that decision,” he said.
The punishment ranged from five-99 years or life in prison, the same penalty as a murder where someone intentionally killed someone, he said
“It seems a little inconsistent to me, but that is something we have to deal with when we deal with jurors,” Manske said.
McCown said the sentence should serve as a wake up for other drivers who have committed this crime and prevent others from doing it.
“I think we are all pretty well tired of these drunk drivers getting on the road and killing people, especially when they have been given multiple chances” to change, he said.