Notable Victories

0.21 BLOOD TEST. The jury hung 5-1 for Not Guilty and the State is retrying it. The client had no odor of alcohol at this level and looked normal on the video. The state retested her blood for drugs which came back negative. They are now going to argue that she used alcohol soaked feminine hygiene products and that’s why her breath didn’t smell of alcohol. Are you kidding me?? There is absolutely no evidence of any of this. The over aggressive Harris County DAs office should be ashamed of themselves. 5-1 for Not Guilty and no drugs should be dismissed. Pray for us on the retrial.

0.16 BLOOD TEST. The jury hung 5-1 for Not Guilty. The State did the right thing and offered her PTI program.

Client was pulled over on St. Patrick’s day night, which also happened to be the last night of Rodeo. She was pulled over by a DWI Task Force Officer, patrolling Washington Street, after mid-night, in a “ghost car”, who was working overtime for federal DWI Step program, and who had also won the MADD award for the past 3 years for making the most DWI arrests in Houston. In other words, she never stood a chance. She was pulled over for swerving to avoid potholed and busted road on Center Street. The officer knew his audio wasn’t working, so we don’t know what really happened out there. We do know that the client and her friend (female) felt so harassed that they called 911 on the officer. Other officers arrived and yanked her out of the car, straight into handcuffs and then she walked perfectly in heels back to the patrol vehicle. Client was so upset that she then made a racial slur in the back of the patrol vehicle. She asked for an attorney at the station and they withdrew her blood while strapping her down, although she never needed to be strapped down. The blood result was a 0.185 at 5am, meaning it was a 0.24-0.26 at the time of driving. However, that was absolutely impossible seeing how good the client walked and sounded. Cross examination revealed that the nurse improperly drew the blood and Sam Houston State University who is now under HPD had problems with their pipettes and the method. The jury was 4-2 Not Guilty for 10+ hours. But the 2 people voting for Guilty just wouldn’t budge. We get the retry the case and hopefully the jury will understand the disconnect again. This is why we need an independent lab and not one owned and controlled by the police. The jury was fantastic and I have to thank the 4 jurors for truly understanding the law and the science and holding strong for Not Guilty.

Client was pulled over for taking the illegal left on Shephard and Westheimer. Guess who was watching the intersection at night, yes, DWI Task Force. He pulled in safely and timely into Kenneallys. He was approached by the sergeant and another high ranking member of the Task Force. He looked amazing, borderline perfect on the Walk and Turn and the One Leg Stand. The blood test at the time of driving was three times the legal limit. Again, that’s impossible with how well he looked. He was a young man, not a seasoned alcoholic. The blood had huge issues again with the laboratory and the potential for switching vials. I have to thank some of the jurors for listening and trusting their common sense rather than some ridiculous number out of a crime lab with problems. Unfortunately the client was so exhausted from trial and wanted to move on with his life and move to Colorado, so he took a very generous offer from the DAs. Please note that I do not charge clients to retry the case. And the DA made him an offer to entice him not to go to trial again. I would like to think we would’ve had the NG on retrial, but you never know what kind of jury is going to come in. All I want is a jury to follow the law and hold the State to their burden. With such an obvious disconnect between the ridiculous number and what we know and trust with our own eyes and ears, I think the Not Guilty jurors were absolutely correct. The State just couldn’t prove it beyond a reasonable doubt with the evidence they had.

0.182 BLOOD TEST!!! Client was coming home from a kick-ball game and stopped by ROAK to cool off in the pool. He was pulled over for cutting through the Exxon on Shephard and Westheimer, allegedly “disregarding the traffic control device.” Client pulled over safely and timely into Kenneally’s. He looked great on the Walk and Turn and the One Leg Stand. The scariest part of this case was that a citizen can be pulled over for cutting through a gas station and look almost perfect on the SFSTs and still get arrested. He was arrested though. Blood came back at a 0.182 meaning he would have had to be a 0.22 on the video. Absolutely unbelievable. The State’s expert testified that would mean he had 11-12 drinkis in his system and he had to have consumed 15 drinks in 3 hours to get that high. However, he looked absolutely great on video and never once asked to use the restroom the entire encounter. It just doesn’t add up. The jury was hopelessly deadlocked and could not reach a verdict. To anyone that is reading this, I would just like to say: Thank you for not caving to the pressure of other jurors. And thank you for remaining true to your doubts. We live to fight another day. And now I have lots of issues on their thermometers, standard operating procedures, and possibility of switching vials. Remember, always err on the side of freedom. We never convict fellow humans if there is any doubt.

0.19 BREATH TEST! Client couldn’t stand in the intox room. Jury couldn’t figure out if he was intoxicated unanimously. Mistrial!