Judge Throws Out Blood Evidence in Texas DWI Case

North Texas judge challenges ‘no refusal’ blood draw policy in suspected drunk driving cases.

Tarrant County Criminal Court Judge Billy Mills has suppressed the evidence from a blood test in a Texas DWI case. The defendant’s blood had been forcibly taken as part of a ‘no refusal’ blood draw policy used by the Dalworthington Gardens police department.

Typically police departments have nurses or technicians draw blood from motorists suspected of drunk driving only when there has been an accident involving injury or death. Increasingly, police departments are training officers to draw blood and making blood samples mandatory when a motorist refuses to take a breath test. In 2005, the Dalworthington Gardens police department became the first in the state to train officers in drawing blood. Since May of this year, the department has required blood samples in all suspected DWI cases. DWI defense attorneys have countered that Texas laws define who can draw blood samples in criminal cases and establish the necessary training requirements; and even the specially trained police do not meet either criteria.

The North Texas judge’s action could impact dozens of cases of driving while intoxicated in the small town surrounded by Arlington. Because the blood-draw trained officers assisted with 29 arrests for Texas DWI in Fort Worth, those cases are also being called into question. The Tarrant County district attorney plans to appeal the judge’s ruling. In the mean time, Fort Worth police are no longer using the officers from Dalworthington Gardens.