The 34-year-old Albuquerque man charged with killing two sisters in a drunken-driving accident Friday had a blood alcohol content more than two and a half times the legal driving limit, according to a Health Department spokeswoman.

James Ruiz's blood alcohol content was 0.22 when hospital personnel drew his blood after Friday night's crash, Deborah Busemeyer, a state Department of Health spokeswoman, said Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Ruiz appeared in Santa Fe County Magistrate Court on Tuesday afternoon for a hearing on a May 2008 drunken-driving arrest in which his blood alcohol content was 0.35 — more than four times the legal limit. Afterward, Ruiz's lawyer, District Public Defender Ben Baur, released a statement from his client.

"Mr. Ruiz wants the Peshlakai family and the public to know he is heartbroken and apologizes for their loss," Baur said. "What happened on Friday was a terrible tragedy for them and for everyone who was hurt."

Deshauna Peshlakai, 17, and Del Lynn Peshlakai, 19, both of Naschitti, died after the 2005 Ford F-250 pickup Ruiz was driving slammed into the back of a sedan in which they were riding. The accident, which occurred about 9 p.m. on Cerrillos Road near the Santa Fe Auto Park, also seriously injured the girls' parents, David and Darlene Peshlakai.

Ruiz was traveling at a high rate of speed when he hit the Peshlakai car, and made no attempt to brake before the collision, according to a police report. An unidentified male prevented Ruiz from fleeing after the accident, and officers found him in a vacant field between Cerrillos Road and Camino Entrada, according to a search warrant affidavit for Ruiz's blood filed in Magistrate Court.

Ruiz admitted to driving the truck, which belongs to a man named Gilbert Mendoza, the affidavit says. Mendoza and his girlfriend were both passengers in the truck at the time of the crash, the affidavit states.

Mendoza told police he remembers the three of them leaving the Blue Corn Cafe on Rodeo Road just before the crash, according to the affidavit. However, Ruiz told police they'd just left Applebee's, where he had consumed six or seven beers beginning at 1 p.m. that day, the affidavit says.

Mendoza's girlfriend remained hospitalized Tuesday at Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center, said Santa Fe Police Chief Aric Wheeler. The couple could face charges in connection with the crash, he has said.

Police are continuing to investigate where Ruiz was drinking, Wheeler said.

Ruiz has been arrested five previous times for drunken driving since 1995, and has been to alcohol treatment programs three times, according to court records. With the exception of the first case, the details of which were not available Monday, Ruiz's blood or breath alcohol content in all the cases was at least 0.22, according to court records. Ruiz also has been cited for numerous traffic infractions, including multiple tickets for careless driving, reckless driving and speeding.

"He is clearly a menace," said Rachel O'Connor, New Mexico's DWI Czar.

O'Connor said that of Ruiz's five previous DWIs, she is concerned mostly about two of the three Santa Fe cases because both took too long to deal with.

"One of the worst things you can do to a DWI offender is wait two years," she said. "The research is very clear. Swift and sure punishment changes behavior."

Ruiz was charged with DWI and several other offenses in Santa Fe Municipal Court in December 1995, according to court records. His case was not adjudicated until April 1997, when he received a deferred sentence, court records state.

"That sends a terrible message," said Michael Sandoval, director of the state's Motor Vehicle Division.

O'Connor said the message is that there are "very few consequences for not complying."

Sandoval also said his office never received notice of Ruiz's 1995 DWI, his DWI citation from 2005 in Farmington and the 2008 Santa Fe DWI.

Ruiz's most recent DWI before Friday's crash occurred in May 2008, when a city police officer found him passed out behind the wheel of a 1994 Toyota Corolla. He admitted to drinking 10 beers before driving and couldn't walk on his own, according to a police report. His breath alcohol content was later determined to be 0.35, Wheeler said.

After his arrest, Santa Fe Magistrate Richard "Buzzy" Padilla set Ruiz's bond at $10,000. Ruiz paid a bail bondsman $1,000 and got out of jail, according to court records. Prosecutors originally charged him with his fifth DWI — a felony — though that was later amended to a third DWI — a misdemeanor, according to court documents.

Under New Mexico law, a DWI is not considered a felony until a driver is convicted for the crime four times.

In August of 2008, Ruiz's father, Joe Ruiz, wrote to Padilla asking him to postpone his son's latest court case because he'd been accepted into a 60-day alcohol rehabilitation facility in California.

"Both his mother and I felt that we had an emergency on our hands," Joe Ruiz wrote. "James finally broke down and cried out for help. Both his mother and I felt that if we did not intervene immediately, James might have done something to injure himself, including suicide."

James Ruiz apparently attended the facility until mid-October 2008 at a cost of $17,800, according to court records. However, the DWI case wasn't rescheduled by the court until July 30, 2009. And the District Attorney's Office didn't provide discovery in the case until Feb. 16, 2010, according to court records.

Joe Ruiz, a former state deputy insurance superintendent, is serving four years in a federal prison. He was convicted in the summer of 2008 on corruption charges.

Baur asked Tuesday that James Ruiz's 2008 case be dismissed because of the delays, though Padilla denied the motion. After lawyers spent 50 minutes in the judge's chambers before Tuesday's hearing, Padilla rescheduled the case for jury selection "at a later date."

Both O'Connor and Linda Atkinson, director of the DWI Resource Center in Albuquerque, said James Ruiz should have been placed on electronic monitoring after the 2008 case, or been kept in jail.

"He was a crash waiting to happen," Atkinson said. "He should have been monitored, if not jailed, until trial. We miss the boat on a lot of these offenders. The fact is, I think there are plenty more James Ruizes out there. It's just a matter of time."

Contact Jason Auslander at 986-3076 or :jauslander@sfnewmexican.com.