Texas man gets life in prison after 6th DWI; prosecutors say punishment fits the crime

COMAL COUNTY, Texas - A Comal County man has been sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to his sixth DWI.

A jury handed down that sentence in October to 71-year-old Joseph Haren after he hit a car and a dumpster back in 2022 with a blood alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit. 

However, this was just the latest in a string of DWIs for Haren from all across Texas and spanning nearly 40 years.

FOX 7 Austin's John Krinjak spoke with the prosecutors of the case, ADAs Karlei Neufeld and Jennifer Feldman about why they believe in this case, the punishment fits the crime.

JOHN KRINJAK: What happened in that case?

JENNIFER FELDMAN: So the defendant, Mr. Haren, was driving around in the early evening and he was tailgating several people. The defendant pulls into a storage unit facility and hits a dumpster, and then he continues to drive off. As the police are investigating that, they find another person has called 911 where the defendant has actually hit the other person and left his license plate, his front license plate on their bumper when police find and he's pulled it into an apartment complex. And in that complex, his car is undrivable. He's standing next to his car. And that's when they make contact with him and start their investigation.

JOHN KRINJAK: What's your reaction when you see that video?

KARLEI NEUFELD: Again, I just think of how different would that have been had he hit another vehicle rather than a dumpster.

JENNIFER FELDMAN: Dangerous for the community. It's so dangerous. It's a DWI is a crime that doesn't know who it's going to take. Right. And thank goodness no one was seriously injured by his driving that day.

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JOHN KRINJAK: What stood out to you when you heard about this case and what happened?

KARLEI NEUFELD: But what really stood out was the defendant's prior criminal history. So he did have five prior convictions. And the fact that this defendant had committed offenses in multiple counties, he was driving drunk in Bexar County, Guadalupe County, Comal County, Potter County. We had prior offenses where he was boating while intoxicated when he was driving the motorcycle and sideswiped vehicles, driving vehicles. And so when you look at that together, this is not just a habitual or a repeat offender. This is someone who is committing offenses in a variety of different ways.

JENNIFER FELDMAN: This would be Mr. Haren's sixth DWI. He'd been to prison several times. Being his last sentence prior to this was 25 years, which he was on parole for at the time of this offense. So when I look at this case and decide what should we do with this case, what I'm looking for is what's going to keep the community safe and provide justice to the people of Comal County.

JOHN KRINJAK: What made it clear to you that a life sentence was the appropriate course to pursue? Well, we.

KARLEI NEUFELD: Really spent a lot of time talking about what is appropriate. Do we want to ask for a life on this case? But oftentimes we think of what is the most dangerous offense. And our minds often go to murder or sexual assault when the reality is. And those types of cases, while they are extremely heinous and they are cases that we need to take seriously. Oftentimes there's just one victim, maybe two victims. But what is truly more dangerous than someone flying down the interstate, highly intoxicated all over the road, when we have parents that are just taking their kids to soccer practice or just driving home from work. There are so many people that could be innocent victims of a drunk driver, and that really heightens the dangerous nature of that offense.

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JOHN KRINJAK: What would you say to someone who argues, you know, there are other violent crimes that don't have a severe penalty that say this is too harsh?

JENNIFER FELDMAN: Well, it's not just one. You can't look at it just as the name of the crime. Right. We have to look at the back history, the history that Mr. Haren had. And we had 12 members of the community who looked at that right there like, okay, here we have a DWI, which generally we'd like to get treatment, get help. But the fact that he continued to do it, what is the best way to ensure the safety of people? And that's the way I thought about.

KARLEI NEUFELD: He was given the opportunity to do treatment. He was required to complete treatment. And when you have someone who has completed treatment after treatment but still goes out and does it again, we're dealing with a bigger issue. And unfortunately, in this case, treatment in the past didn't work for him.

JOHN KRINJAK: What message do you hope the public takes away from this?

JENNIFER FELDMAN: I hope that they realize that it's so easy to call Uber, Lyft a friend. It's so easy now to get a ride somewhere.

KARLEI NEUFELD: Taking that step to get in the vehicle, get behind the wheel and drive on our roadways when you are heavily intoxicated, that's something that's just not acceptable in Comal.

Joseph Haren will be eligible for parole when he is 101. FOX 7 Austin has reached out to his attorney but has received no response.