The Snapshot
Our client was arrested by Frisco PD and charged with a Class A misdemeanor DWI second offense. The case was tried to a jury in a Collin County Court at Law. The verdict: not guilty.
What Our Client Was Facing
Our client was stopped shortly after leaving a sports bar. He spoke with a slight accent, which the report characterized as slurred speech, and after the officer learned he had a prior DWI, the investigation proceeded through field sobriety tests to an arrest. The officer scored the eye test at six clues out of six and counted balance issues on the walking tests, even though our client performed reasonably well on video.
The blood result told a different story. His blood alcohol concentration came back under the legal limit. The State went forward anyway on the theory that THC found in his blood combined with the alcohol, arguing that the additive effect of the two made him intoxicated.
As a DWI second, the stakes were serious: a Class A misdemeanor conviction, jail time as a possible condition of any probation, a longer license suspension, and a permanent record that could never be sealed.
The Strategy We Chose and Why
Two things stood out when we broke down the case. First, the officer’s field sobriety testing did not match the standards in the NHTSA manual, the national manual that governs how these tests must be administered. I hold a certification in administering these tests and taught DWI investigation at the police academy, so those deviations are exactly what I look for. I explain how field sobriety testing is supposed to work, and how often it goes wrong, in my guide to DWI cases in Collin County.
Second, the State filed a pretrial affidavit certifying its own blood evidence, the chain of custody paperwork that swears the lab result is accurate and belongs to the defendant. The usual defense move is to object and force the analyst into court. We did the opposite, on purpose. We never objected, because the State’s lab number was our best evidence. That decision meant the lab report itself would be admissible at trial, and we wanted the jury to see it.
How the Strategy Met the Facts
At trial, the officer testified confidently that he had administered the field sobriety tests exactly as the NHTSA manual requires, and he agreed on cross-examination that the manual is the authoritative treatise on those tests. That agreement mattered, because it allowed us to read the manual’s actual requirements aloud and then play his own body camera footage next to them. The jury could compare the standard and the performance for themselves.
The manual also contains an arrest decision matrix. Our client was almost exactly the size of the average male the manual describes, and the officer agreed that, with the number of clues he claimed to have seen, the matrix predicted a blood alcohol concentration over the legal limit.
Then we offered the State’s own lab report as a defense exhibit. Because the State had filed its certifying affidavit, the report was admissible, and we published it to the jury on the courtroom projector. It showed a result well under the legal limit. Faced with his own scoring, the manual he had endorsed, and the number on the State’s lab report, the officer agreed that under the NHTSA manual the arrest decision had been the wrong one.
The State’s analyst testified that THC can have an additive effect with alcohol, but acknowledged that science cannot say how much of an effect it would have had. That was not proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
The Outcome and What It Meant
The jury found our client not guilty. Instead of a second DWI conviction, jail exposure, and a permanent record, he walked out of the courtroom with his future intact and became eligible to pursue an expunction of the arrest itself.
If You’re Facing a Similar Charge
A DWI second in Collin County carries consequences a first offense does not, and the pressure to plead can feel enormous. Our Collin County DWI attorney page explains how we approach these cases across the county. This case shows why the evidence has to be tested before any decision gets made: the State’s own file sometimes contains the proof that wins the case. If you were arrested by Frisco PD, start with our Frisco DWI defense attorney page or our guide to defending a criminal case in Collin County, then call us at 214-764-5535 for a free consultation.
My Dallas Criminal Lawyer, 5 Cowboys Way, Suite 300, Frisco, TX 75034
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you win a DWI trial when the blood test shows THC?
Sometimes, yes. The State must prove intoxication at the time of driving beyond a reasonable doubt. In this case the alcohol result was under the legal limit, and the State’s own expert could not quantify how much the THC actually added.
What is a DWI second in Texas?
A DWI with a prior DWI conviction is a Class A misdemeanor, with higher fine exposure, longer license suspension exposure, and jail time as a condition of any probation. The enhanced stakes are why these cases deserve a full evidence review before any plea decision.
Do field sobriety tests have to follow the NHTSA manual?
The tests are standardized, and the manual states that deviations from the standard compromise the results. Comparing an officer’s actual administration on video against the manual’s requirements is one of the most effective ways to challenge a DWI arrest.
Every case is different. Past results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future case. The result described here depended on the specific facts, evidence, and circumstances of that case, and details have been generalized to protect client confidentiality.
