SANTA FE, N.M. (KRQE) – A once-prominent Santa Fe attorney facing DWI charges pleaded guilty Friday.
Carlos Fierro had already served time in jail for a deadly drunk driving crash several years ago. But this is not his first time in trouble for driving drunk.
He served nearly four years for driving drunk in 2012 and hitting and killing a pedestrian outside a bar.
That vehicular homicide conviction didn’t count as a DWI because of a loophole.
After getting out of jail for that case, he promised to straighten up.
He told KRQE News 13, “there’s a lot of learning and growth in the last four years. There’s a lot I want to do with my life now, there’s a lot of changes I’ve made so I’m just looking forward to getting started and start living again.”
But that did not happen.
In May, a State Police officer pulled him over for swerving in Española.
During his arrest, he asked the officer for a break saying he’d go get a hotel.
Fierro was supposed to go to trial in November but his attorney asked for a continuance to address new information that had come up.
In court Friday, Fierro suddenly decided to avoid trial and plead guilty to aggravated DWI. In exchange, the charge of failing to maintain a lane and no insurance were dropped.
His sentence requires him to take part in a DWI victim’s impact panel. He must also put an interlock on his vehicle and serve 24 hours community service.
