Right now I’m listening to a speaker talking about Felony DWI Jury Selection, and really Felony DWI’s in general.
Felony DWI’s are a much different beast than the misdemeanor DWI. This is because of:
a) The punishment range. Felony DWIs (usually DWI 3rds or higher) have punishment ranges from 2-10 years in prison.
b) The jury knows about your 2 priors
Thought I’d give the "live blogging" thing a try today. Today I am attending the DWI Defense Project seminar at the Belo Mansion in Dallas.
Topics covered today are:
– Felony DWI Jury Selection
– Blood Testing: What you must know about the science
– Defending Hospital Blood Draws
– ALR: The key to obtaining evidence in a blood test case
– Cross Ex. of the State’s expert in a Breath Test Case
– Exposing Flaws in the Search Warrant of a DWI Blood Test Case
– DWI Trial Strategy
– Pretrial Motions to obtain Evidence to give your blood test expert
– Ethics in a DWI Trial
– Voir Dire Strategy : Positioning to Win
So far, the best lecture has been put on by Attorney Mimi Coffee. Mimi practices in Ft. Worth, and also Dallas, I believe.
She went over how to knock a breath test down, piece by piece, and get show how low the score could be. Her speech was a significantly easier topic, considering Texas uses the old and outdated Intoxilyzer 5000.
First, you go through the setup stage during your cross examination.
Well, the ALR Update and "They key to obtaining evidence for a blood test case" is going on now.
So far, all of the updates that were given, I have covered in the past. Most of them deal with items I have already gone over in a the past post "Everything You Need To Know About the New ALR Rules. I’ll stick to new things I learn. . . Mostly about the blood test cases, especially voluntary blood draws. Because if it is a blood warrant case, SOAH just deals with the case as a refusal, so not much changes.
The speaker said he spoke to a local SOAH judge, who said that he needs to really go over the new changes. Because in their opinion, there have only been 5 attorneys who are now doing it correctly! (I assume I’m in that minority!!)
Frisco DWI Lawyer & Attorney Blog