IF A DISTRICT ATTORNEY REFUSES TO TAKE FIELD SOBRIETY TESTS AND THE BREATH TEST, WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?

As a criminal defense lawyer I am often asked if stopped for DWI in Texas, whether one should submit to a breath test or the field sobriety (drunk) tests. If there was a debate, the debate is officially over.

Hutchison and Hansford County District Attorney Clay Ballman pulled a drunk driving hit and run a few nights ago. After running away from the scene of his drunk driving accident, he was apprehended by Borger police. The DA's car was found by police abandoned on a residential road in Borger shortly after his vehicle was involved in a collision.

When given an opportunity to follow the implied consent law he has sworn to uphold, Mr. Ballman refused to give a specimen of his breath. He also refused all field sobriety tests. Folks, if the District Attorney doesn't rely on these test when it comes to his freedom, why should anyone else? That should tell you all you need to know about the reliability of these "tests."

Here's the kicker. Apparently, the local police could not clean this one up like they did before. Mr. Ballman was allegedly pulled over for DWI about a year ago and was let go. Of course, the video has been destroyed; ooops!!

Plainview Daily Herald

DISTRICT JUDGE FORCED TO STEP DOWN ON SERIES OF CASES

Criminal defense lawyer Laura Cass filed a motion to recuse State District Judge Rick Davis. Judge Davis accussed Cass of being a racist and compared her to a Nazi guard at Auschwitz while she served as an Assistant DA in his court. The Nazi comments were originally made in 2001 when Cass was a prosecutor in his court. Judge Davis was reprimanded by a 3 Judge panel appointed by the Texas Supreme Court and ordered to attend Anger Management class.

Judge Davis' anger problems apparantly relapsed recently when he launched his website wherein he again commented about the incident involving Ms. Cass. Judge Olen Underwood agreed with Cass and ordered Davis recused on a series of cases one of which is a Capital Murder case. In that case, Brazos County DA Bill Turner sought to have Judge Davis recused also. Original article

"Government Crossed the Line . . ."

The Fifth Circuit recently reversed and remanded for resentencing U.S. v. Munoz. Munoz had signed a plea agreement with the Government wherein he and the Federal Prosecutor stipulated to a total offense level 25 (71 months max) in exchange for his plea of guilty to the wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering counts in the indictment. The Presentence Report sought the application an "abuse of trust" enhancement to his sentence and a higher calculation for the loss amount. The PSR recommended a total offense level 29. What is worse, the Federal Prosecutor urged the court to apply the "abuse of trust" enhancement, in violation of his own plea agreement. Of course, the court went along with the Government and sentenced Mr. Munoz to 90 months.

Who Abused Their Trust?

The Fifth wrote that this type of prosecutorial slight of hand "crossed the line . . ." In particular, the Court found that the Governement breached the plea agreement by advocating the "abuse of trust" enhancement.
Read the opinion