Man Sentenced to Two Years on 24th Drunk-Driving Conviction

A man already convicted 23 times of driving while intoxicated pleaded guilty Wednesday to yet another drunken-driving charge in Superior Court.

Conrado Madrid Galindo, 64, pleaded guilty to one count of driving under the influence and one count of driving without a license. In a separate case, Galindo also pleaded guilty to a charge of carrying a loaded firearm.

Superior Court Judge Frederick Mandabach sentenced Galindo to two years in Glen Helen Rehabilitation Center for Men, a county facility, for all the offenses. He was ordered to surrender today.

In the latest offense, Galindo was arrested on Jan. 28 when an officer noticed him driving erratically.

Records reveal that Galindo, a San Bernardino resident, has been charged with drunken driving 29 times since 1950 and had been convicted in 23 of those cases. His convictions now total 24.

Last month, Arlene Joyce, executive assistant to the president of the Los Angeles chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said Galindo’s case “shows some major cracks in the judicial system that allows a person to go this many times with this many convictions without changing anything.”

MADD was instrumental in the prosecution of Gary Christopher, a 38-year-old hot tub salesman from Encino who was sentenced in Los Angeles Municipal Court last September to nine years and seven months in prison for repeated drunken driving. Christopher had been convicted of the offense 28 times since 1966.