Search results for category: Texas DWI
Another Dismissal of a Breath Test Case - Result of Breath Test .10
Houston Police officers stopped client in the early morning hours on a Saturday morning for speeding. Client is a waiter at an upscale Galleria area restaurant and had been working all night. After all patrons had left the restaurant, client had a few drinks with his co-workers. Client then left the restaurant and was pulled over by Houston Police Officers a short time later for speeding. After the police questioned client, they decided to have him perform field sobriety tests. The police officers determined that he had not performed the best on the police exercises and arrested him for Driving While Intoxicated / Drunk Driving. The Houston police took client to the station and asked him for a breath test. Being compliant, client took the test and registered a .10 - over the legal limit. The State wrote the following on the dismissal, “State will not be able to extrapolate Defendant’s alcohol level at time of driving and Defendant performed well on Standardized Field Sobriety Tests.” If you or someone you know needs a Houston DWI lawyer, call the Houston DWI attorneys at Johnson, Johnson & Baer, P.C. at 713-222-0400. Dane Johnson is Board Certified in Criminal Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.
The Houston, Texas DWI lawyers at Johnson, Johnson & Baer, P.C. have recently launched a new Houston DWI Blog. Specifically, the blog gives insight into DWI cases, DUI defenses and current events related to Texas DWI cases.
According to a DWI Texas State Trooper, Jordan Lewis' client was stopped for urinating on the side of his vehicle while stopped waiting for a train to pass. The officer then testified that client failed all field sobriety tests and the Texas Trooper arrested our client for drunk driving / DWI. Client refused to take the breathalyzer because he had always heard they were unreliable and not accurate. Our client maintained his innocence claim from the day we met him.
Unfortunately for him, he got stuck at a railroad crossing that he did not anticipate. After waiting some time and realizing the train was going nowhere quickly, he did what he believed was reasonable - opened the car door, faced the car door and urinated. Ironically, after the trooper arrested our client, he himself urinated on the side of the road (shows you how long the train was there.)
Client questioned the officer repeatedly about why he was being arrested for DWI with no response from the officer. Fortunately, the jury realized that client was not intoxicated and found client "Not Guilty" in just 45 short minutes. Congrats to Jordan Lewis for fighting the government and prevailing.
Dane Johnson is a Houston DWI Lawyer that devotes his practice to defending citizens accused of DWI / DUI and all other alcohol related matters. Contact Houston DWI Attorney Dane Johnson at 713-222-0400.
An arrest for DWI can lead to a mandatory blood draw by police. However, the police have always needed a search warrant to draw blood involuntarily in a Texas DWI case until now. The Legislature is now going to let the police take your blood without a warrant and without your consent in the following cases:
- If there is bodily injury by anyone other than the DWI suspect;
- If the person arrested for DWI has a child in the vehicle under 15 years of age;
- If the suspect has 2 or more DWI convictions in the past; or
- If the suspect has prviously been convicted of Intoxication Manslaughter or Intoxication Assault.
As a Houston DWI Lawyer, I think it is a shame to allow the police to bypass the warrant requirement and allow the police to forcibly draw your blood. Most of the Houston DWI Attorneys I know feel that these new laws invade on our Constitutional rights to remain free from unreasonable searches and seizures.
Dane Johnson
Board Certified - Criminal Law
A Harris County Judge granted our motion to suppress the stop and motion to suppress the breath test today - the state was left with no option but to dismiss the Houston DWI case. Houston DWI Lawyer, Dane Johnson represented client throughout the proceedings.
Client was stopped for failure to maintain a single lane in April 2008. The officer testified that she had a strong odor of alcohol on her breath, red glassy eyes and her speech was fair. After she allegedly failed the field sobriety tests, the Houston police officer arrested her for driving while intoxicated / drunk driving / DWI. Client was taken to the police station and gave a breath test that resulted in scores of .12 and .13.
After testimony by 3 state witnesses and client, the Judge determined that the officer did not have a reason to stop client and that the breath test was coerced and therefore inadmissible. The state then was forced to dismiss the DWI.
Dane Johnson is a Houston DWI Attorney and Houston Criminal Lawyer. If you need a Houston lawyer, call 713-222-0400.
The government dismissed a case on the morning of trial after Dane Johnson announced that he was ready to challenge the government's witnesses durring the jury trial.
According to police reports, a civilian manager of a bar called 911 to report client for leaving the bar while intoxicated. Client allegedly fell off of a bar stool prior to his departure. The officer pulled client over based on this 911 call and arrested client for driving while intoxicated / DWI / drunk driving. He claims to have smelled alcohol on client's breath, observed slurred speech and red blood-shot eyes
After transporting client to the Humble police station to do field sobriety tests and a breath test, client refused to do either. The officer believed client to be intoxicated. Fortunately, after careful examination of the video and information provided by Houston DWI attorney Dane Johnson, the prosecutor made the correct decision to dismiss the case.
If you need a DWI lawyer, call the Houston DWI lawyers at Johnson, Johnson & Baer, P.C. at (713) 222-0400 to discuss your DWI case. Dane Johnson is Board Certified in Criminal Law.
Jordan Lewis took the lead in a jury trial this week where our client took a breathalyzer test that showed he was .15, almost twice the legal limit of intoxication. After more than five hours of deliberations on the DWI case, the jury was deadlocked and unable to reach a unanimous verdict. In fairness to the prosecutors that tried the case, they decided to dismiss the DWI case based on the original jury trial and the evidence that was presented.
The police officer testified that Client was pulled over for weaving and had trouble producing his Texas driver's license; in fact, the officer said that client originally handed him his Randall's card before realizing that he did not hand him his driver's license. the police officer went on to say the standard signs of intoxication existed - slurrred speech, red glassy eyes and a strong odor of alcohol. The officer then said he performed poorly on the field sobriety tests and the officer made the decision to arrest him for driving while intoxicated / drunk driving / DWI.
The governement then called their hired expert to testify that the breath test machine is the greatest machine ever. During cross examination by Jordan Lewis, however, many potential problems with the breath test machine were exposed casting doubt on the reliability of the machine. Ultimately, the jury just didn't have enough evidence to convict client. Instead of having another jury trial on the case, the governement dismissed the DWI case.
Thank you to client for having the courage to go to trial and conratulations to both client and Jordan Lewis for another great victory.
Dane Johnson
Board Certified Criminal Law Specialist
If you or someone you know needs a Houston DWI Lawyer, call the Houston DWI Attorneys of Johnson, Johnson & Baer, P.C. at 713-222-0400. Leslie Johnson, Dane Johnson, Alan Baer and Jordan Lewis are Houston Criminal Lawyers that have assisted hundreds of criminal clients.
Chanton Jenkins has been charged with four counts of intoxication manslaughter and a fifth charge of intoxication manslaughter is likely when investigators find the remaining child that is presumed to have drowned.
According to reports, Jenkins was driving while intoxicated - DWI - at the time he drove his vehicle into a ditch that led to the death of five young children. Four of the children have been found, while the fifth child is still missing. Police officers and dive teams have been searching for the remaining child.
According to the officers, Jenkins failed field sobriety tests and failed a breath test. Reportedly Jenkins blew a .079 and a .082. What the police fail to admit, there own regulations say that the number that should be used in a breath test like this is .07. DPS regulations require that the lower of the two scores be used. Therefore, Jenkins was not over the legal limit at the time of the breath test, but in fact, under the legal limit.
Police officers also took a sample of his blood and are awaiting the results. It seems obvious to most that blood tests are much more reliable than breath tests.
If you need a dwi attorney in Houston, contact that Houston DWI Lawyers at Johnson, Johnson & Baer, P.C. at 713-222-0400.
Dane Johnson
Board Certified in Criminal Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization
A Houston DWI police officer has been under investigation for months for the mishandling of an intoxication manslaughter investigation. As first reported by Dane Johnson in his February 6, 2009 blog, Officer M.E. Wick has been the subject of an ongoing investigation into possible criminal activity for several months. Despite this ongoing investigation, the Harris County District Attorney's office seems to still want to keep the investiagtion as quiet as possible. Wick participated in all aspects of DWI / DUI / Drunk Driving investigations and was the breath test operator for many breathalyzer tests.
The investigation into Wick's misconduct stems from a fatality crash. Wick conducted the accident investigation and wrongly charged the passenger of a vehicle with intoxication manslaughter. The problem - a passenger can not legally be charged and convicted of intoxication manslaughter because one of the elements in an intoxication manslaughter charge is that the person charged must be "operating" the vehicle at the time of the accident.
Despite a duty to give us this information, the Harris County District Attorney's office has yet to notify me of any of this. Instead, we have had to investigate this unfortunate situation ourselves. Due to our extensive investigation, we have had 3 Houston DWI cases dismissed so far regarding this officer.
If you need a Houston DWI Lawyer, call our Houston DWI Attorneys at 713-222-0400.
A Harris County jury found our client "Not Guilty" of Driving While Intoxicated after only 45 minutes of deliberation. Dane Johnson was the lead defense lawyer for client charged with DWI and mounted a vigorous defense.
According to the police officer, client was given 3 standardized field sobriety tests and failed all of them. The officer first did the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus test - client had a total of 6 clues of a possible 6 clues. Next, the officer had client perform the Walk and Turn test, where client allegedly had 4 out of 8 clues. The officer tehn gave client the One Leg Stand test - client allegedly failed this test also. Finally, client was asked to recite the alphabet. After three unsuccessful attempts, the officer arrested client for drunk driving. Upon being arrested, client first admitted a couple of drinks, but when pressed by the officer, he admitted to having "at least 8 drinks."
Client had been advised by friends and family not to take a breath test and he refused a breath test at the police station.
In speaking with the jury after the Not Guilty verdict, the jury told Johnson that they had a reasonable doubt based on Johnson's relentless cross examination of the officer making the arrest.
If you or someone you know needs a Houston DWI Lawyer, call the Houston DWI Attorneys at Johnson, Johnson & Baer, P.C. at 713-222-0400.