Travis County, Texas
Description
Client stopped for speeding. Officer smells alcohol, and client admits drinking. Officer says Client failed field sobriety tests, and Client is arrested. Officer gives Client a breath test, and the breath machine detects an “interferent” and will not provide a breath score. Officer has Client’s blood drawn. Client’s BAC is supposedly 0.17%, and a prosecution expert predicted Client’s peak alcohol concentration would have been 0.20%–almost two-and-a-half times the legal limit in Texas! The jury found my client NOT GUILTY after only 20 minutes of deliberation.
Case Overview
The key to this case was the officer’s treatment of the blood sample after my client was arrested. He filed paperwork claiming that he had immediately submitted the blood sample to a lab. However, I obtained additional video from the officer’s in-car camera showing the officer making another DWI arrest right outside the jail after booking my client in. The truth was the officer turned my client’s blood in at the end of his shift several hours later. The prosecution brought in 2 experts who testified that refrigeration was not necessary for a properly sealed blood vial. It was not enough to overcome the video of my client performing the field sobriety tests almost perfectly. The jurors said after the trial that there was just no way someone could have such a high BAC and look that sober, and they did not trust the accuracy of the blood sample given the way it was handled.
