CHAPPELL, LANEHART & STANGL

Chuck Lanehart Wins Dismissal in DWI Case

Utilizing a two-pronged defense, Chuck Lanehart this month successfully obtained a dismissal of a DWI case for a young college student. The student was involved in a traffic accident, and police obtained a search warrant to obtain the student’s blood to be analyzed for alcohol content. However, Chuck argued the search warrant was signed by a magistrate who was not authorized to sign blood search warrants under the Texas Government Code. Also, police issued a grand jury subpoena to obtain the student’s hospital records to discover blood alcohol content from medical testing. Chuck used the recent Court of Criminal Appeals case of State vs. Huse to argue successfully the grand jury subpoena could not be used to obtain evidence in a pending criminal case. Faced with the prospect of proceeding to trial with no admissible blood evidence, the prosecution dismissed the DWI case.

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