Williams v. State

946 S.W.2d 886, 1997 Tex. App. LEXIS 2904, 1997 WL 292675
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided June 4, 1997·No. 10-96-095-CR·Published·Cited by 108 cases

Opinion

*890 OPINION

DAVIS, Chief Justice.

A jury convicted Appellant Andrew Earl Williams of the felony offense of driving while intoxicated (“DWI”). See Act of May 27, 1988, 68th Leg., R.S., eh. 303, § 3, 1983 Tex. Gen. Laws 1568, 1576 (former Tex.Rev. Civ. Stat. Ann. art. 6701Z-l(e)), repealed by Act of May 29,1993, 73rd Leg., R.S., ch. 900, § 1.15, 1993 Tex. Gen. Laws 3586, 3704. (“Tex.Rev.Civ.StatAnn. art. 6701Z-l(e)”) Two prior felony convictions enhanced Williams’ punishment to the level of a habitual offender. The jury sentenced him to sixty years’ confinement in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

The Allegations

The grand jury for the 272nd District Court of Brazos County presented an indictment against Williams for felony DWI alleging that Williams committed the offense on or about June 6, 1994, “by not having the normal use of his mental and physical faculties by reason of the introduction of alcohol into his body and by having an alcohol concentration of 0.10 or more.” The indictment alleges a 1987 felony DWI conviction and a 1984 misdemeanor DWI conviction to elevate the primary offense to a felony. Id.

Williams’ RepResentation

Williams’ appellate counsel Bruno Shimek also served as his trial counsel. The record reflects that Williams had two previous attorneys appointed by the court. The court forfeited Williams’ appearance bond after he failed to appear on January 6, 1995. On February 2, his first attorney filed a motion to withdraw because Williams had failed to contact him about the case or keep him informed of his current address. The court permitted the first attorney to withdraw on February 8. Williams’ surety retained a private investigator to locate Williams. The investigator found him in Madison County on July 17, and he was placed in custody.

On October 20, the court appointed a second attorney to represent Williams. The second attorney filed a motion to withdraw on February 16, 1996, asserting that Williams had asked him to withdraw. He attached a letter written by Williams asking him to withdraw because he “could not defend [him], or could not find a defense for [him], or want to defend [him].” The court granted the motion to withdraw on February 22 and appointed Shimek to represent him.

PRETRIAL Motions

Shimek filed a motion to dismiss the indictment because the State had lost the videotape depicting Williams performing sobriety tests at the Brazos County jail. Williams filed a pro se motion to dismiss the indictment alleging the State destroyed a printout from the intoxilyzer which indicated that his alcohol concentration was less than 0.10. Shimek adopted the pro se motion, and the court heard both motions before trial.

Williams testified at the hearing on the motions to dismiss. He recalled that he spoke “normally” during the video recording. He also explained to Department of Public Safety Trooper Kelvin Dawson during the recording that he had sustained a back injury in April of 1994, which limited his ability to perform the sobriety tests requested by the officer. Williams told the court that his prior record prohibited him from testifying on his own behalf at trial. Shimek testified that the district attorney’s office informed him the videotape had been lost. The court overruled Williams’ motion to dismiss because of the lost videotape but stated that at trial Williams would be allowed to establish through Dawson that the State lost the tape.

Williams also testified about the intoxilyzer test. He explained that after the submission of his first specimen of breath, the intoxilyzer displayed a result of “.002 something.” He testified that Dawson took the result of the first specimen “and wadded it up and throwed it in the trash.” Based on Williams’ observation of the first result, he concluded that he “passed” the test (ie., that his alcohol concentration was less than 0.10). Williams offered in evidence Dawson’s probable cause affidavit which reflects that the result of the *891 first test was “.23.0” and that Williams was unable to complete the second test. He also offered the offense report prepared by Dawson which noted that the result of the first test was “0.23.7” and that Williams was unable to provide a second specimen of his breath. The court overruled this motion.

The State presented no evidence at the hearing on the motions to dismiss.

The TRIAL Evidence

The trial testimony reveals that on June 6, 1994, Williams and his father Ervin went to see some friends of Ervin, the Lenzes. According to Ervin, Williams had been drinking on the way to the Lenzes’ house. Williams argued with Ervin at the Lenzes’, and Ervin asked him to leave. While Williams was attempting to leave, Ervin reached for his cap in the front seat of Williams’ car. According to Ervin, Williams backed over him as he attempted to retrieve his cap. Someone at the Lenzes’ called the police and reported that Williams was driving while intoxicated.

Brazos County Deputy Constable Steven Cruse initially stopped Williams after hearing the dispatch report and seeing Williams driving in an erratic manner. Cruse observed Williams’ car drifting from the center line of the road to the edge of the improved shoulder and back. Cruse noted that Williams was traveling more slowly than the traffic flow, and he saw other cars passing Williams’ car. Cruse testified that the road was “pretty heavily traveled [at] that time of day.” When Williams saw Cruse, he immediately pulled over.

On the side of the road, Cruse repeatedly asked Williams to provide some form of identification. Williams never complied with this request. 1 Cruse ultimately removed Williams’ billfold from his pants and extracted his Texas identification card.

Trooper Dawson joined Cruse at the scene on the eastbound shoulder of United States Highway 190/State Highway 21. Cruse described Williams’ erratic driving to Dawson and handed him Williams’ identification card. Dawson decided not to administer any sobriety tests to Williams on the side of the road because of Williams’ apparent intoxicated state. 2 Dawson testified that this was a “peak traffic” time on the highway.

Dawson arrested Williams for DWI and transported him to the Brazos County jail. At the jail, Dawson got a blank videotape and took Williams to the intoxilyzer room. In this room, Dawson asked Williams to perform the heel-to-toe test, the one-leg-stand test, and the nose-touch test. Dawson recorded Williams’ performance on the videotape. Dawson testified that Williams did poorly on each test. Dawson took a still photograph of Williams in the intoxilyzer room which was offered in evidence at trial.

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Williams v. State, 946 S.W.2d 886, 1997 Tex. App. LEXIS 2904, 1997 WL 292675 (Tex. Ct. App. 1997).

946 S.W.2d 886 (Williams v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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