Autry

With a blood-alcohol level of .22 percent, defendant and appellant Kenneth Autry recklessly drove on a freeway, swerved into the median strip, struck and killed two highway construction workers, and injured his two passengers. A jury convicted appellant of two counts of second degree murder (People v. Watson (1991) 30 Cal.3d 290 [ 179 Cal.Rptr. 43 , 637 P.2d 279 ]) and two counts of driving with a blood-alcohol content of .08 percent or more, causing bodily injury. (Veh. Code, § 23153, subd. (b).) The court sentenced appellant to state prison for three years plus two concurrent terms of fifteen years to life.

Facts

Appellant had four prior convictions for drunk driving, suffered in 1983, 1984, and 1991. He failed to attend court-ordered educational programs in connection with those convictions, but in 1991 admitted that he had a drinking problem and participated in a 45-day residential alcoholism program at “How House,” where participants are “bombarded” with horror stories about the dangers of driving while intoxicated. In October 1991, his probation officer told him he should not drink and drive because he might kill someone or be killed, and leave his children…