By Allen, Texas Criminal Defense Lawyer Kyle T. Therrian
Office Number: (972) 562-7549
24 Hr Jail Release: (214) 403-6522

The jury returned a not guilty verdict in a case where client provided a breath sample registering three one hundredths of a percentage point under the legal limit. Under Texas law a person may be convicted of DWI under any one of three definitions: (1) not having the normal use of mental faculties, (2) not having the normal use of physical faculties, or (3) being over the legal limit of 0.08. Naturally, the prosecution focused heavily on the first two definitions but also alluded to the fact that the breath score could have been much higher at driving took place.

But for the foresight to be armed with authoritative scholarly articles, the scientific “expert” for the prosecution would have had carte blanche to convince the jury that this was precisely the case. Ultimately, it came down to what the client looked like on the squad car video. By the verdict, it was clear the jurors attributed mishaps on the field sobriety test to client’s old age – a circumstance explicitly referenced in the field sobriety training manual as disqualifying an individual as a “good candidate” for the field sobriety tests.

*Kyle Therrian is an attorney licensed to practice in the State of Texas. Nothing in this article is intended to be legal advice. For legal advice on any case you should contact an attorney directly.