Austin woman fighting for stricter penalties on intoxicated manslaughter convictions

Tanya Roberts is now a victim advocate for Moms Against Drunk Driving and she wants to see some changes in Texas law when it comes to intoxicated manslaughter convictions.

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- It has been almost three years since Tanya Roberts' son, Colton, was hit by an impaired driver while on his way back to school and killed. The man driving the car, Scott Taylor, pled guilty to intoxicated manslaughter.

Roberts is now a victim advocate for Moms Against Drunk Driving and she wants to see some changes in Texas law when it comes to intoxicated manslaughter convictions. Currently, someone convicted of intoxicated manslaughter will face anywhere between two and 20 years in prison and a maximum two-year suspension of their drivers license.

That means when someone gets out of prison they will be able to get behind the wheel again. That is concerning to Roberts. She wants to see that suspension period extended.

"I would like to see a person's right to drive a deadly weapon more permanently taken away from them if they have repeat offenses, and if they have either killed someone or caused harm," Roberts explained.

She believes the community is safer without those people on the roads. Second, she also wants to see stricter restrictions on people who were proven to be on drugs when driving. This comes from her experience in her son's manslaughter trial.

She said even after a toxicology report showed Taylor was on drugs during the night of the crash that killed her son, he was still allowed to drive while out of jail on bond. During the judicial process, Taylor failed a drug test that he had driven to, proving Roberts' worst fear.

"For our case, we knew the defendant was on drugs. We knew he was on drugs when he killed Colton. We know he was continuing to use drugs and we still could not get him off the street for a number of months, which is pretty frightening," Roberts said. His license was finally suspended and taken away from him following the failed drug test.

She would like the law to change so people who are proven to be on drugs during a crash are not allowed to drive during the judicial process, before they are convicted.

According to the Department of Public Safety's Quarterly DWI Recidivism Report, in the first three months of 2024 there were 6,499 repeat DWI arrests. There were also 136 people who received a repeat DWI conviction.

Roberts said she will be sharing Colton's story to try and bring change in the upcoming legislative session next year.