A man from Tomball was sentenced to 40 years in prison after a Montgomery County jury found him guilty of his seventh DWI.

Brian Keith Lorenz, 39, was found guilty on Oct 18, after a three-day trial in Conroe. Judge Lisa Michalk sentenced the man after the trial.

“The removal of repeat DWI offenders from our streets has made the county safer,” Montgomery County District Attorney Brett Ligon said. “Drunk drivers need to get the message that law enforcement and the jurors in this county will take these offenders off the road and keep them off our roads.”

According to court records, Lorenz was spotted passed out in the drive-through lane of a Chick-Fil-A restaurant in the Woodlands on April 5. Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputy Jason Prince was dispatched to the scene where he found Lorenz in his vehicle passed out with the engine running.

Prince alleged that after waking Lorenz up he found him to be in an intoxicated state.

“During the course of his investigation, (Prince) determined and Lorenz admitted that he had taken xanex and other prescription pills prior to driving his vehicle,” a statement from the district attorney’s office said. “Additionally, Deputy Prince located an open bottle of Bacardi, crushed up xanex pills, marijuana and various smoking devices in the vehicle.”

Prince stated that Lorenz failed a field sobriety test and was taken to Memorial Hermann hospital where a blood sample was taken. The director of the lab where the sample was tested, Dr. Sarah Kerrigan, testified in the trial.

“(Kerrigan testified) that the levels of xanex and other prescription drugs in Lorenz’s blood were on the high range of the therapeutic level and would cause the impairment witnessed by the deputy,” the statement said.

Assistant District Attorney Vince Santini, who tried the case, said the outcome shows how dangerous combining drugs and alcohol can be, even if they are legal prescriptions.

“Many offenders are combining drugs and alcohol in an attempt to evade prosecution,” Santini said. “Prescription medicine, even for those taking it as prescribed, can cause someone to become intoxicated and subject them to an arrest for DWI.”

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