Criminal cases can last a long time. Some misdemeanors will take a year or longer. Larry Davis of Austin found this out the hard way. His DWI case lasted a year. The weird thing was he showed a BAC of 0.00 on the breathalyzer. (BAC means blood alcohol concentration
How does someone show a BAC 0.00 on the breathalyzer and still get charged with an offense?
Intoxication means either BAC of 0.08 or higher of the person does not have normal use of their mental of physical faculties.
Regardless, of whether a person shows a BAC 0.00 on the breathalyzer, the question is if they are intoxicated. There are other substances that cause intoxication, which the current breathalyzer does not test. These substances could impair a person to where they are legally unable to drive. The strange thing is Davis offered the police a blood sample. They took it and Davis tested negative for alcohol and 7 drugs.
Larry Davis was lucky that he hired a diligent attorney and the Travis County prosecutors believe their job is to see justice is done. After a year of dealing with this, Larry Davis’s attorney Daniel Betts got the charges dismissed.
Why was Davis arrested?
Travis County has the highest dismissal rate for driving while intoxicated of any metropolitan area in the State of Texas. In 2013, Travis County dismissed around thirty percent of their DWI cases. The numbers were similar in 2011. Police in Austin and the surrounding areas have instituted a take no chances policy. This means they will make arrests even if they know there is insufficient evidence to support a prosecution.
The most common misunderstanding people have is that talking to the police or providing them with evidence will keep them from getting charged with a crime. Larry Davis registered a BAC of 0.00 on the breathalyzer and provided a clean blood test and law enforcement still arrested him. If you are faced with a similar situation, it is best to talk to a lawyer because you may not be as lucky as Mr. Davis.
