Prosecutors: Santa Rosa man sentenced to prison for 11th DUI conviction

The latest conviction stems from an August incident in which the man was found to be driving with a blood alcohol content that was twice the legal limit.|
ELOÍSA RUANO GONZÁLEZ
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

A Santa Rosa man was sentenced to six years in prison after being convicted for the 11th time of driving drunk, prosecutors said.

Joel Miranda Rivas, 47, was sentenced Monday, making it his fourth trip to state prison for driving while intoxicated, according to the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office. He had 10 prior DUI convictions, four of which were felony offenses, prosecutors said.

The latest conviction stems from an arrest in August. A CHP officer pulled over Rivas after seeing him drive erratically, stradde lanes and cross into oncoming lanes, prosecutors said. Breath samples revealed blood alcohol levels of 0.16 and 0.17 percent, twice the legal limit, they said.

The state allows for only a three-year maximum sentence for felony DUI offenses, regardless of the number of prior convictions. However, Rivas’s previous prison sentences allowed Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Dana Beernink Simonds to tack on an additional three years, according to the district attorney’s office.

-Eloísa Ruano González

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