Will my DWI case in Houston be dismissed?
If your DWI breath test case was reviewed by Deetrice Henderson Wallace, a scientist hired by Houston area police agencies, to inspect Intoxilyzer machines you may be in luck. The Texas Department of Public Safety has invalidated all breath tests she reviewed. Thus, your case may be found to be lacking sufficient evidence for a criminal conviction.
I am confident that the Harris County District Attorney's Office will review each case individually in order to determine if they warrant a dismissal. The problem that I foresee is that the DA's office destroys all DWI video tapes after the case is over. Regardless, without a DWI tape or a breath test their DWI case becomes much harder to prove. I think they are going to find it problematic to review a DWI case when their key pieces of evidence are missing. Therefore, you may see more DWI dismissals by the Harris County Districts Attorney's Office after this announcement.
Ms. Wallace has been charged with the state jail felony of Tampering of a Government Record. The range of punishment for a state jail felony is from 180 days to two years. Her case will be heard in the 182nd District Court of Harris County, Texas. The presiding judge of that court is Jeannine Barr. I am curious to see what the outcome of this case will be considering the damage it has done to credibility of future breath tests.
