Texas v. T.L.

Client was a 60 year old Vietnamese man. He worked all day at his son’s restaurant and was on his way home at 230am. He had two beers before getting off work. He was pulled over for failure to maintain a single lane, which was iffy at best. The video showed that he crossed the shoulder lane once and then touched the lane divider causing the officer to turn on his lights. Client pulled over and was taken off the freeway to perform standard field sobriety tests. The client could barely speak and understand English. We needed a translator at trial for him. It was more like charades out there. Additionally it was very cold and windy. The officer was extremely argumentative with me on the stand. In fact, the jury commented on how biased he was during cross examination. But I held him down and fought for him to answer my questions. In the end the officer testified that he could not rule out age, weather, language barrier, nervousness, or injuries as possible excuses for any loss of mental or physical faculties. The officer then read the DIC24 form asking for a sample of his breath so fast that the translator couldn’t even start translating. In the end, the jury followed the law. They said it just wasn’t proven beyond a reasonable doubt. It was the just and right decision. They gave him his life back and sent him back home to his family. After trial was over the Judge informed them that he had a prior conviction for DWI in 1995. And they all agreed that the police officer probably saw that, put him through all the tests and arrested him because of it. It’s shame, but police do that, sometimes. I gave to thank the jury for following the law and sending him home. He will forever be indebted to y’all.