Dallas Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog

I had a DWI bench trial yesterday. It was a total refusal. My client completely refused to perform any of of the field sobriety testing or blow into the intoxilyzer 5000. Not guilty.

The problem with DWI refusal cases is that DWI is largely an opinion crime. In the officer’s opinion you have lost the normal use of your physical or mental faculties. Combine huge amounts of law enforcement discretion with the Witch Hunt mentality of DWI prosecution and you have a recipe for injustice.

The officer stated that my client’s only indications of intoxication were; drum roll please……. speeding, part of one tire crossing the center line, my client admitted to drinking 1-2 beers, and the 3 usual suspects in DWI- bloodshot eyes, slurred speech, and the odor of alcohol. That’s it. Arrested, Charged, and Tried based on that alone.

Showtime had a great presentation on Medical Marijuana, In Pot We Trust. I know how liberals feel when they see Sicko. I got the same reaction watching this film.

In Sum; here are the arguments presented-

1. Legalization/MM crowd wants pot legalized. If not then at least do not arrest people who smoke weed and have horrible diseases.

I’m often asked what do when pulled over for a DWI stop. Today will be Part 1 of my series on DWI stops. Let’s start with the basics.

In Texas the law only provides a penalty for refusing a breath or blood test request. That penalty is a longer suspension of your driver’s license. We will talk about the breath test in the future.

Today we are going to discuss the Standard Field Sobriety Tests. These tests are the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus (I want you to follow my pen with your eyes and not your head) the One Leg Stand and Walk and Turn.

The Dallas Morning News editorial board published a typically misguided rant on the “hidden costs” of recreational drug use.

Quoting DMN=

In Colombia, guerrillas and paramilitary thugs are vying for control of vast swaths of the countryside where base ingredients of cocaine and heroin are grown. They are tearing up families, killing adults and turning children into warriors – all for drug money.

I am proud to announce an upcoming exclusive interview with Barry Cooper. Barry is a former cop who produces the “Never Get Busted” line of DVDs. These DVDs focus on surviving police encounters with your freedom intact. My earlier post on Never Get Busted is here.

More fun with Site Meter- I get a good number of hits on Google searches for “How to Hide Your Stash.” You need Barry’s site to hide your stash, you need my law firm site when someone finds it.

I spoke with Barry briefly on the phone today. We discussed problems with the current drug reform movement, Mark Emery, and Fox News.

The Drug Policy Alliance is hosting the 2007 International Drug Policy Reform Conference in New Orleans on December 5-8 this year. It sounds like a great conference and a wonderful excuse to visit the Big Easy. Some great pro liberty anti prohibition groups are sponsoring the event including Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, Marijuana Policy Project, Students for Sensible Drug Policy, and the ACLU. If you hate the drug war this is the place to be.

What’s on the Agenda-

Drug Sentencing Reform

New Mexico’s medical marijuana law requires the State to grow the pot for patients. The law is the first with a government grower. The law is intended to keep the sellers from getting arrested by the DEA.

Maybe the government should just buy some of the Marijuana that is already being grown domestically. Marijuana is New Mexico’s 3rd highest grossing cash crop.

Here is my earlier post on medical marijuana. I wish we did not need Medicial Marijuana laws to advance decriminalization. Pot should be legal because we are free, not because it is medicine. Medical marijuana is necessary because the political courage to legalize marijuana is lacking, especially at the federal level.

I blogged earlier about how Texas fights to protect the State gambling monopoly with SWAT poker raids and law suits against Indian Tribes. I decided to do some investigative reporting and see what the Attorney General and Dallas SWAT are protecting me from.

IWTS went to Shreveport, LA last night with my beautiful wife Elizabeth. It seems that the State of Texas is not keeping Texans from gambling, only from gambling in Texas. Every casino hotel room was booked and 90% of the license plates I saw were from the Lone Star State. I had such a hard time getting a room that I accidentally called a gambling helpline and asked for a room. I ended up at the new casinoless Hyatt. Nice hotel, good beds, clean and quiet.

I ended up losing about $300 on craps and blackjack. My wife is a good craps player. She won about $50. I would rather have lost this money in Texas.

ABC news has a great report on the continuing growth of America’s prison population.

Here are the stats about Prison, USA-

1. America has 5% of the world’s population, and 25% of the world’s prison population.

The Supreme Court ruled against free speech for students today. The case Morse v. Frederick, invovled a student holding a banner that read “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” at an Olympic torch rally. The school suspended him. The student sued claiming that the 1st Amendment protected free speech.

SCOTUS ruled in favor of the school and held that preventing drug use among students is more important than free speech. The court said that speech “promoting drug use” can be banned. If that is the case then “No Bong Hits 4 Jesus” shirts should be ok. I see a marketing opportunity.

The dissent correctly points out that banning speech promoting “drug use” is going to also limit speech that challenges drug laws. The dissent and concurring opinion leave one question unclear- Could students be suspended for advocating changing drug laws as opposed to drug use?