Judge sentences woman to probation, orders rehab and monitoring after third-degree DWI plea

Judge Stephanie Boyd, 187th District, sentenced Rebecca Davis after she entered a plea in a third-degree driving-while-intoxicated case, telling the court she understood the plea and the court’s admonishments.

The court accepted the plea and “will sentence you to 8 years in prison, suspended and probated for 6 years,” Boyd said. The sentence carries a $2,000 fine recommendation from the state and multiple probation conditions the judge adopted.

Why it matters: A third-degree felony DWI carries significant prison exposure and collateral consequences. The judge balanced a prison range against the defendant’s treatment status and authorized intensive supervision and treatment conditions intended to reduce public-safety risk while keeping Davis in the community.

Most important details: The court ordered Davis to remain on community supervision for six years and required continued treatment at SOVA (a residential/partial hospitalization substance-use program), regular reporting by Zoom or in person, a two-year driver’s-license suspension, and 200 hours of community-service restitution. The court also allowed the 10-day custodial condition the state sought to be served as a 10-day lockdown at the treatment facility instead of 10 days in the Bexar County Jail, provided the facility verifies she remained on campus. The judge told probation to obtain an appropriate release so the court can confirm program participation.

Judge Boyd discussed alternatives to GPS monitoring, saying that because Davis was in a residential lockdown at SOVA the court would not require GPS while she was fully confined. The judge instructed Davis to sign releases so probation could verify courses and testing at the facility, and she ordered ignition-interlock or a portable alcohol-monitoring device as appropriate, with ignition interlock for part of the term or an affidavit of nondriving, depending on program needs.

State recommendations and court orders differed in some particulars: the state asked for community supervision recommendations, including 200 hours of community service and a TAP evaluation; the court adopted many of the state’s recommendations but set probation length and conditions in the judge’s order. The judge emphasized that the court need not follow state recommendations and that the defendant must comply with probation and treatment to avoid revocation.

Context and next steps: Davis told the court she had been in and out of treatment and was participating in SOVA’s program at the time of sentencing. The court instructed probation to monitor Davis’s compliance and to ensure evaluations and testing are documented; probation will report to the court if conditions are not met. The judge reminded the defendant that a felony conviction carries firearms prohibitions and other collateral consequences.

Quotations in context: On imposing sentence, Boyd said, "You could easily kill someone. You understand?" and then explained the court’s decision to impose a probated sentence tied to intensive treatment.

Sources: Proceedings in the 187th District Court on the day the plea and sentencing were entered.