Abbeville man with 5 DWIs going to prison for at least 10 years

Steve Roy will not be driving a vehicle for at least 10 years which is a good thing after being found guilty of a fourth Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) charge in the last 10 years.

It took a jury of six people, four women and two men, only 20 minutes to find Roy guilty of his fourth DWI charge. All six jurors voted Roy guilty.

Roy, who is already in the parish jail, serving time for possession of cocaine and stealing crawfish, is facing at least 10 years in prison and the most he could be sentenced is 30 years.

There was a trial in the 15th Judicial District Courtroom Wednesday morning that lasted four hours.

Germaine Williams from Gueydan was Roy’s attorney while new assistant district attorney Stanton Hardee III from Kaplan prosecuted for the state.

All in all, Roy, 47, from Abbeville has now been found guilty of five DWIs and he is still awaiting trial for another DWI fourth offense ticket he received after the one he was found not guilty on.

Hardee was satisfied with the verdict.

“It is a great thing to have Steve Roy off the streets so he does not hurt anyone,” said Hardee. “I am very pleased with the verdict. Justice was done today.”

Roy was issued the DWI ticket in Kaplan by patrolman Seth Comeaux, who has five years with the Kaplan Police Department.

Comeaux was Hardee’s chief witness, and Williams tried to punch holes in Comeaux’s patrol stop statement by arguing the fact that Roy was a diabetic and was low on sugar instead of being drunk.

The jury did not buy it.

Williams said he noticed there was a deep cut in one of the streets that went for about a half a mile and began at CVS. Comeaux, in his patrol car, followed the cut and came upon the truck Roy was driving. When he stopped the truck, he noticed the front driver side wheel did not have a tire and the vehicle was rolling on the aluminum rim, explaining the gash in the street.

According to Comeaux’s statement, Roy got out of the truck and then fell because he was full of alcohol. When Roy walked up to him, Comeaux smelled alcohol on his breath. Comeaux said Roy slurred his speech.

Because he had trouble standing up, had a slurring in his speech, his eyes were bloodshot and there was a cold opened beer in his truck, Officer Comeaux elected not to give Roy a sobriety test near the truck.

Comeaux said if he would have gave Roy a sobriety test, he feared he may fallen and hurt himself. “He was too impaired,” Comeaux told WIlliams. “I did not want him to fall over.”

Williams tried to convince the jury that Roy was not drunk but had slurry speech and falling around the truck because he was low on sugar.

Williams then asked Comeaux why there was no video or audio of the stop. Comeaux said no police cars at the time had video or audio to record a stop.

In Hardee’s closing arguments, Hardee said this is the same Steve Roy who pled guilty to four of DWI charges and had a long history of driving while intoxicated. He said the defense did not prove Roy had low blood sugar instead of being drunk. “A lawyer saying it is not evidence,” Hardee said.

Judge Durwood Conque, who was the judge on the bench for the trial, will sentence Roy after a pre-sentencing hearing.