Texas V. J.A.

NO TEST, NO ACCIDENT! My client went to the Yankees/Astros game 6 on October 20th, 2017. He arrived at around 6pm and had dinner at Home Plate. During the game, he admitted to having 3 to 4 beers in total. After the game, my client waited the crowd to die down and the celebration to end before making his way to his parked truck. After fighting traffic, he was traveling home and passed a few cars, by speeding up. A Deer Park police officer saw him and followed him for a bit. On video, my client did not commit one traffic offense when the officer pulled him over. My client immediately pulled his car over and was very polite to the officer. After my client admitted to drinking at the ball game, the officer initiated a DWI investigation and was subsequently arrested.

During trial, the officer said my client had slurred speech, red bloodshot eyes, and a strong odor of alcohol on his breath. During the HGN portion of the SFST, the officer had my client looking at a train as he was administering the HGN (6/6). My client did horrible on the WAT 7/8 and OLS 3/4. My client refused to give a sample of breath and the officer decided not to get a warrant for blood. On cross-examination, the officer admitted my client did not lose any mental faculties and he did not have slurred speech. The officer also admitted his mistake on the HGN and said he would have done things differently. I argued my client had 3-4 beers over a 5-hour span and did not lose his mental faculties. The jury returned a verdict of “not guilty” in less than 10 minutes.