Texas v. I.L

Intoxicated Manslaughter. Client was a young 21 year old woman who was working at a bar during Christmas Break. They had a strict no drinking policy and her manager testified that there was no way she did because they were too packed and it wasn’t allowed. Client left work and went to eat after work free hot dogs at the 7-11. She then drove her manager home. So at 430am she had consumed no alcohol. She went to an after hours house party and had a beer and two swigs off a Jack Daniels bottle. After that second swig, she realized she was the only girl left and the guys weren’t passing around the bottle anymore. Fearing for her safety, she exited the house quickly and began driving home. It was a cold, dark night and she had a terrible accident, rear ending another car at the light. We have no idea what speed she was going or whether the person at the light even had his lights on. The Lubbock PD Accident Investigator testified he performed ZERO calculations in this case. The accident happened about 8 minutes after she consumed alcohol. A lady witnessed the accident on her way to church and allowed client to sit in her car. That lady was highly susceptible to alcohol and smelled no alcohol on client and did not think she was intoxicated. Client’s father then arrived and he never suspected intoxication. In fact, he testified that had he suspected she was intoxicated, he would have tried to sober her up or maybe even get out of there. Only one officer ever smelled alcohol and that was an hour and a half after the accident. Client complied with all the SFSTs and consented to a blood draw. The investigation was very weak and the people of Lubbock deserved better. Their blood expert couldn’t even agree the sky was blue and fought us on everything. An expert was able to testify that according to 5 Internationally respected officers, the client was under a 0.08 at the time of accident and could have still been a 0.18 at the time of the blood draw. The jury was very smart and included people of tremendous courage. Many were professionals and even science teachers at Texas Tech. They followed the law, the State did not prove intoxication at the time of driving beyond a reasonable doubt. They returned the just verdict of Not Guilty and gave this young woman her future and life back. Thank you all. We will never forget this. All of us.