DWI, Drugs, Assault, Probation Revocation, Sexual Offenses, Theft, Juvenile Defense. Felony and Misdemeanor Offenses in State and Federal Court
Driving While Intoxicated, DWI and Your Drivers License Forney, Texas DWI Defense Lawyer.
Sexual Offenses, Drug Offenses, Assault and Violent Crimes, Theft, Truancy/School Related Criminal Charges.
From the Drug Policy Foundation-
A recent World Health Organization study on cocaine came back with these findings, inter alia,
By far the most popular use of coca products worldwide is the snorting of cocaine hydrochloride. Most participating countries and sites did not report significant cocaine-related problems among this group of users.
Remember the debate over removing the special rule of attorney client privilege for criminal cases? Lubbock Criminal Defense Lawyer Ben Webb shows why 503(b)(2) still matters; because the State will call your defense lawyer to testify against you.
From Lubbock-
Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act
No issue better highlights the moral bankruptcy of law enforcement than the federal prosecution of state licensed and legal medical marijuana providers. Since SCOTUS long ago nuetered the 9th and 10th Amendment we now require a federal law that states the obvious; the feds should not prosecute conduct that is legal under state law.
To that end the Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act, sponsored by Barney Frank and Ron Paul et al, would prevent the feds from prosecuting state licensed and legal medical marijuana providers. I’ve already contacted my reps. Click here to voice your support for this compassionate common sense measure.
During a DWI voir dire I often remind jurors that drinking then driving is not illegal sans intoxicaiton. That is why every bar in Texas has a parking lot.
But should it take a trip in automobile to reach a bar? Does our sprawl/automobile based society create DWI accidents?
First, a travelogue. My wife and I spent last week at a conference in San Antonio, and then spent Saturday in Austin. In SA we stayed at the Emily Morgan. The first night my wife and I walked to Casa Rio, had some drinks with dinner, and walked back. Two nights later at the TCDLA member party we walked to the Hilton, drank at the very loud “English” pub Mad Dogs (do people really wear plaid skirts and listen to Beyonce in English pubs?) and walked back. On both occasions picking a designated driver or hailing a cab wasn’t even a consideration, we could walk so we did walk.
Jury selection is art and science, part Dr. Phil, part Dr. Freud with some law thrown in for good measure. It’s an area law schools provide no practical instruction for, yet no lawyer can try a case without knowing how to select a jury.
What law students are taught is Batson vs. Kentucky. Batson purported to end the practice of striking jurors based on race or ethnicity. This rule was later swallowed by the exception, but for a shining moment, the right to serve on a jury regardless of your race was protected by the Batson challenge.
What is a Batson challenge?
The Flower Mound PD must have known I was short on blog material while at the RD conference. Thanks guys.
What happened? From DMN-
Last month, a Flower Mound man called police because he thought a group of teens were drinking at a neighbor’s house. He knew the woman who lived there was out of town, and her 17-year-old son wasn’t supposed to have friends in the house while she was gone.
I finally made it home from the Rusty Duncan advanced criminal law seminar. My wife and I spent 3 days in SA and stayed in Austin last night before returning to Ennis. I got more use out of my facebook iphone app in the last 4 days than I have in the last 6 months. The FB app allows for wonderfully simple travelogues. I would add a photo as I passed the Alamo, or ate dinner, or stopped at the Czech stop. I’m not sure how broad the appeal is of a 2MP photo of my wife at Casa Rio, my FB friends are probably hitting “hide” as we speak.
Those of you under 18 may not know this, but in the olden days of yore we used to take photos on an analog camera (it contained “film”, not a Sans Disk), drop those off after the trip to be “processed”, and then share them with friends. I often say that I feel like we are now in the future, and the FB/Iphone combo is one reason.
On Lodging-
I’m leaving for the annual Rusty Duncan conference in San Antonio today. I am considering not blogging while out of town. So if you don’t here from me until Monday it’s because I’m on the riverwalk (I know it’s a horrible cliche tourist trap, but we love it)
I always enjoy RD, it’s good to see everyone and leave the office for a few days. Drop me a line if you’ll be in town.
That’s why restarting the system didn’t work
I got my new shiny Dell Vostro 220 in yesterday. For some reason I can’t resist putting a new machine together right away. Originally, I had decided to wait until after work to start this project, but I got back early from lunch and I could not resist. I had to get this up and running, my inner techno geek wanted a new toy to play with. So I rip open the box and quickly assemble my Vostro. No problems, it boots, I’m happy.
The plan was to use PC mover to transfer the data from old computer to the new machine. Simple right? I installed PC mover on the old PC. Then I put the PC mover CD into the new computer and F A I L.
My new computer doesn’t know it has a CD/DVD drive (optical drive). That is, the CD drive opens and closes, you can put a disc in and eject, but the PC doesn’t know it’s there.
Blood evidence is all the rage in DWI cases. Like most DWI defense lawyers I need an expert to help analyze blood results. Let’s talk to one.
Today’s expert is Dwain Fuller, Technical Director of the Toxicology Laboratories at a leading North Texas medical center. Mr. Fuller holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from the University of Oklahoma and has worked in toxicology since 1984.
His impressive bio would devour this entire post, so click here for his complete resume.
Are blood tests more accurate than breath tests?
This could be discussed in all of its nuances for several pages and still not completely exhaust the subject, but to be somewhat brief: It depends on what you mean by your question. If you mean “Which test most accurately measures the concentration of alcohol in a person’s blood?”, then the answer is, “a blood test is more accurate than breath.” A breath test can only estimate the alcohol concentration in the blood. To estimate the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) from a breath test it must be assumed that a 2100:1 concentration ratio exists between blood and breath. In fact this is an average ratio; some people have a higher ratio, some lower. In fact, the actual average ratio is probably a bit higher at around 2300:1. Therefore, calculating a BAC from a breath alcohol at the 2100:1 ratio would likely underestimate the BAC to some degree.
However, Texas law recognizes the problem of the 2100:1 ratio being an average and defines the per se concentration separately for each allowed specimen. In other words, Texas law defines the per se concentration in whole blood as 0.08 g/dL, in breath as 0.08 g/210 liters (2100 dL) of breath, and for similar reasons, urine per se concentration is defined as 0.08 g/67 mL of urine. Since there is no need to convert to a BAC the problem of what ratio to use is eliminated.
Probably what you are really asking is “Which test is analytically more accurate (and/or precise) in measuring alcohol in its respective matrix? The short answer is: “Both techniques are based on sound analytical principles and are capable of highly accurate results.” However, there are several other factors that must be considered.
Breath tests are typically performed by specially trained law enforcement officers. While I have the greatest respect for most law enforcement officers, analytical chemistry is usually not the course of study one pursues to work in this field. Likewise, I would put more confidence in a law enforcement officer protecting me and my loved ones from bad guys than I would in most of my forensic toxicologist colleagues. It’s all about doing best those things we understand the best.
Since a breath test is conducted directly on a living human subject, there exist certain conditions that must be controlled to ensure accuracy and precision. For example the subject must be observed for a period of at least 15 minutes to ensure that there is no remaining mouth alcohol or that the subject hasn’t place anything into his or her mouth or belched. During the test the subject must blow for a sufficient period of time to ensure that the air sample is of deep lung or alveolar air. The concentration of alcohol in the air first expired from the lungs is typically lower in alcohol concentration than that of deep lung air. In other words, the concentration of alcohol in the expired air being blown into the breath testing device changes from the beginning of the blowing until the end.
Furthermore, the breath instrument works on the assumption that the breath temperature is 34C which may or may not be the case, depending on the subject. This is important because this is the temperature at which the device is calibrated and the temperature at which the reference sample, used to validate the results, is obtained from the breath simulator. This is based on a physical chemistry principle known as Henry’s law. According to Henry’s Law, at a given temperature, the amount of alcohol in the air above a solution of alcohol (reference sample) is proportional to the amount of alcohol in the solution (reference solution). If the solution temperature is low, the reference results will be low. If the solution temperature is high, the reference results will be high. Likewise, if the subjects body temperature is increased, his or her breath alcohol concentration will be increased and vice versa.
There exist many other factors that must be controlled or otherwise dealt with, such as electromagnetic interference and possible interfering substances such as acetone or other volatile compounds that may have been produced, ingested or absorbed by the subject, or are perhaps in the ambient air of the room housing the testing device.
To be fair, most testing devices enlist “fail safe” mechanisms in an attempt prevent errant readings from these sources, but there exists some dispute at the effectiveness of these mechanisms. Perhaps you might want to envision a juggler; the more balls one must keep in the air, the more chances are that you will drop one.
More from Dwain after the jump… including what problems can occur with blood testing, discovery advise, and even a pot question
Dallas Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog