A Central Texas man has been sentenced to 35 years in prison for drinking and driving, but some say it took too long for him to go behind bars.

Jimmy Barnard, 40, was convicted six other times in Travis and Williamson County from 1986 to 2005 for DWIs and never served a full prison term.

He was arrested most recently during the middle of the day by DPS troopers. Troopers say Barnard rear-ended another vehicle on Interstate 35 in Williamson County.

Troopers say Barnard didn't have a license and had been drinking.

Barnard went through several sobriety tests, was handcuffed and then arrested for drinking and driving.

“This is a defendant who should have been in prison safely away from society. Instead he's a drunk driver, taking a two ton car down I-35 and rear ending someone,” said Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley.

In his previous DWI convictions, Barnard was sentenced two separate times to prison and spent numerous nights in jail. He was released early each time.

“His last sentence he received in 2005 was a prison sentence but he's out already because the parole board let him out,” said Bradley.

“I think it's a travesty of justice when we obviously have someone with a history of drinking and driving,” said Jim Currier, MADD supporter.

Currier's cousin died in a drunk driving accident in 1998. Since then he's been working with MADD, Mother's Against Drunk Drivers.

“These types of cases should be taken a lot more seriously,” said Currier.

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Jimmy Barnard

There have already been nearly 15 other repeat offender cases in Williamson County over the past year.

“The parole board has got to start looking at repeat offenders as dangerous people,” said Bradley.

Bradley believes long term prison sentences are the only solution for repeat offenders like Jimmy Barnard.

A check of DPS records shows Barnard is one of at least 6,926 Texans with six or more DWI’s. He's not even close to the being the worst offender. One Texan has a whopping 23 convictions for DWI.

Another has 22 convictions.

Barnard will be eligible for parole after serving about 8 years in prison. Bradley says he intends to be in court that day and fight against Barnard's release.

According to MADD, the number of drunk driving fatalities has gone down nearly 4 percent since 2006. But still, more people in Texas are killed by drunk drivers than in any other state.

The state doesn't require sobriety check points or mandate ignition interlocks for convicted drunk drivers.