Man faces 28th DWI charge
Albuquerque, NM - A man driving on a revoked license and who fell over after driving up to Bernalillo County sheriff's deputies working on another case has been arrested on his 28th DWI charge.
Joseph Brill, 53, was arrested Wednesday night and is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center. He is charged with DWI and violating his parole from a previous DWI arrest.
Deputies say they saw Brill park in a driveway in a northeast Albuquerque neighborhood and fall out of his pickup truck Wednesday evening. He smelled of alcohol and had bloodshot eyes and slurred speech, according to a criminal complaint.
Deputies said they tried to give Brill a field sobriety test but he could not complete the test. He then refused to give a breath test.
Deputies also found an open container of beer in his truck, the complaint says.
Brill was imprisoned from April 2005 until June 2006 on a pair of DWI convictions. He also served time in 1994 and 1995 for DWI, state Department of Corrections spokeswoman Tia Bland said.
Brill's latest arrest came in the North Valley on the 6400 block of Tokay Road Northeast, Bernalillo County sheriff's Lt. Scott Baird said.
Brill's driver's license has been revoked for life, but his 1999 Chevrolet pickup was properly registered in his name, Baird said.
Baird said people can register a vehicle with proper insurance and proof of residency.
Before Wednesday, Brill had been arrested 27 times on DWI charges and convicted 14 times, Baird said.
"At that point, there's not much you can do besides incarcerate a person," he said. "He'd lost his license. He'd been to prison. Deterrence obviously hasn't worked."
Sheriff Darren White called for more prison time.
"People like Joseph Brill will never get it. They don't care," White said. "He needs to go to prison, and that's the way we're going to ensure he does not drive a car drunk."
Linda Atkinson, executive director of the DWI Resource Center, based in Albuquerque, said she had never seen someone with 28 DWI arrests.
"It's pretty disgusting to see someone who can continue to defy the odds with a history like that," she said.
Brill was being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in lieu of $100,000 cash-only bond. His case will be heard in state District Court, because it is a felony.
Under New Mexico law, the maximum sentence for a seventh or subsequent DWI is three years in prison, a $5,000 fine, alcohol treatment and lifetime driver's license revocation.
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