Texas v. L.D.

.171 BREATH TEST!!!! Client was pulled over for speeding down Westheimer by the Corrillion Center. However, on the stand, HPD stated they clocked the client using radar. I asked him if he was just as sure as he was using radar to clock him as he was that the client was intoxicated. The Officer said yes. I then showed the officer his report that showed that he used laser. The Officer agreed that he never did a visual estimation of speed and that he didn’t put the distance that he lasered him at. The Officer then volunteered that he must have put the distance on the ticket. Luckily we had the ticket, which also showed no distance. The case should’ve been dismissed for a bad stop, but the State kept going. Client pulled over safely and timely into a bank parking lot. Client testified he had vodka, tequila and sake throughout the night going to eat sushi and then a gentlemen’s club. HPD DWI Officers stated that client showed 6 clues on the HGN test, of course. However, the client looked good on the One Leg Stand and Walk and Turn. We then caught the same officer that used the laser into a 15 minute observation issue. All of the computer generated logs from HPD showed the officer arrived 6 minutes before the breath test, which would violate the required 15 minute observation period. However, again, this officer would not admit his mistake and instead said that all of HPD computers were wrong. Again, the State should have dismissed the case at this point. Finally, the DA messed up and forgot to establish the proper breath testing procedure form the officer and the Judge rightfully suppressed the breath test. And still, the DA pressed on. I told the DA, if they dismissed the case, like they should, I wouldn’t post the victory on Facebook or online. The DA trudged on. This case really showed me how afraid the assistant DAs are of getting fired. I truly believe they feared for their job for messing up or for dismissing a .17 breath case. Thankfully,
the jury wasn’t afraid and returned the just verdict of Not Guilty. The jury also agreed that when a case falls apart this much, don’t waste further tax payer dollars, just do the right thing and dismiss it. The current fear atmosphere at the Harris County DAs office is a shame. Thankfully the client’s life and career didn’t have to suffer. Thank you to the jury for standing up for us.