The Fourth Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and the United States Constitution were put to the ultimate test recently and both came out smelling like a rose. All the hoopla was centered around a San Antonio man named Donald Huff, who was convicted in 2013 of the drunken driving death of his fiance. Huff was recently granted a retrial based upon an interpretation of the 4th Amendment by the Fourth Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
Huff, 55, who was a three-time DWI offender at the time, was accused of crashing his Harley-Davidson motorcycle in far-north Bexar County in the 11500 block of Nacogdoches Road on August 6, 2009. Huff’s fiance, Arlene Harding-Watts, died at University Hospital later that night of multiple blunt-force injuries which she suffered in the accident.
According to witnesses on the scene, it was not immediately evident whether Huff or Harding-Watts had been operating the motorcycle. Other witnesses said that Huff had tried to put Harding-Watts back on the motorcycle in an attempt to drive her to the hospital. Huff was reportedly seen driving the vehicle at around 30-35 mph.
Huff failed an Eye-tracking Test and a Field Sobriety Test at the scene, which was administered by Officer Alfonso Peeler of the SAPD. Huff was then taken to University Hospital where he was evaluated for his own injuries. He subsequently was mandated to submit to a blood draw wherein he was shown to have a Blood Alcohol Content of 0.17, which was more than twice the legal limit.
Huff was convicted of intoxication murder in 2013. With the re-trial set to move along in the courts, and many wonder if justice is being done for Harding-Watts.
News 4 San Antonio’s Jocelyn Tovar recently reported that Huff will be getting a second chance at a trial due to a recent ruling by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals that Huff’s 4th Amendment rights had been unconstitutionally violated.
San Antonio defense attorney Shawn Brown has been paying close attention to this and other such rulings for a good while.
“This situation has been kind of percolating over time,” said Brown, who has been a member of the Texas Bar since 1999. “The Supreme Court has ruled that your blood alcohol content is dissipating over time and that is not exigent – requiring immediate attention — in and of itself, and that there are other factors in cases like this.”
Brown is very adamant about the U.S. Constitution and how it pertains in this and other legal cases that he subsequently is involved with.
“As American citizens, we don’t just check our rights at the courthouse door,” Brown said. “Before this ruling, the rule was that when a person was stopped for DWI, there was “no refusal. But now the court is actually following the law saying that there must be a warrant before drawing an individual’s blood. And before that, the courts relied upon a statute that was recently declared unconstitutional.”
And whatever happens from here on out, attorneys such as Brown will make sure that their clients will not be subjected to unreasonable search and seizures that our constitution protects against.
“Our clients are often in situations similar to this,” Brown said. “And now they have addressed this situation at the DA’s office where they have people on staff at the magistrate’s office to get a search warrant from the judge when individuals like this come in.”
“This testimonial, endorsement, or press release does not constitute a guarantee, warranty, or prediction regarding the outcome of your legal matter.”