Frances Rosalez Ford, 40, given life sentence for the October 2010 DUI murder of Vigier Belcher in Bexar County, Texas

A habitual drunken driver who killed another motorist while driving the wrong way on U.S. 281 was sentenced by a jury Thursday morning to life in prison. It took jurors in the 227th state District Court less than an hour to decide the punishment for Frances Rosalez Ford, 40, who began her trial earlier this week by pleading guilty to murder. Prosecutors opted to charge her with murder rather than intoxication manslaughter because she caused a death during the commission of a felony — her third DWI. During closing arguments for the punishment-only trial, her defense attorney asked jurors for a 20-year term, pointing out that it would have been the maximum sentence had her client been charged with intoxication manslaughter. The prosecutor reminded jurors of Ford's testimony on Wednesday in which she speculated that victim Lawrence Vigier Belcher, 38, might not have died if he hadn't also been drinking. “I just feel like I was driving the wrong way but I was driving right,” Ford told jurors, clarifying that she wasn't weaving in-and-out of traffic even if she was on the opposite side of the highway. “I don't know how you say that with a straight face, 'I was driving the wrong way but I was driving right." “There's no easy way to say it so I'm just going to say it: You gotta give her life.” stated the prosecutor Authorities said Ford had a blood-alcohol level of .279 — nearly 3½ times the legal limit — when she was tested about an hour and a half after the October 2010 wreck. She had been arrested for driving while intoxicated twice before in 2008. In March, Ford was slated to be the first person in Bexar County to go to prison for murder because of a repeat DWI offender status. She pleaded guilty, asking a judge to determine her sentence, but later rescinded the plea and hired a new lawyer.