Texas is the deadliest state in the nation when it comes to DWI fatalities.  Texas statutes designed to decrease the carnage on our roads have been effective to a degree, but many measures seem to have limited success in further curbing the number of deaths.  Public perception of how these crimes should be prosecuted has fallen victim to the 'CSI effect'; jurors now have a somewhat glamorous view of what evidence is needed in DWI prosecution.  And the refusal of many DWI suspects to provide a scientific or chemical sample to a law enforcement agency after a DWI arrest is a significant problem in ensuring justice in Texas courts.

Theoretically, every person stopped for DWI in Texas should provide a chemical sample to a law enforcement officer.  All Texas drivers have impliedly consented to provide a sample of breath or blood when such a sample is lawfully requested by a police officer making a DWI arrest.  However, roughly half of suspects refuse to provide a sample.

For suspects, there are collateral consequences for refusing to provide a sample, such as administrative license suspensions.  And for prosecutors, there are evidentiary consequences, such as admissibility of the subject’s refusal as evidence of guilt.  Although these consequences are evident, the number of DWI arrestees refusing to provide a chemical sample has remained at roughly 50 percent.

To combat the problem, the Criminal District Attorney’s Office and local law enforcement agencies in Fannin County have agreed on a multi-joint “No-Refusal” DWI Campaign. 

In explaining the program, Richard Glaser, the Criminal District Attorney said, “Upon the arrest of a suspected drunken driver, he or she will be asked if they would submit to blow into a breath-test machine or take a blood test.  If the driver refuses and says no, officers will obtain an immediate search warrant signed by a judge on call to have blood drawn by a nurse or phlebotomist.”  Glaser added, “It is the intent of all law enforcement agencies that this effort will act as a deterrent, persuading people to avoid driving while intoxicated because they know that police officers will be conducting sobriety testing with or without driver’s consent.”

The Criminal District Attorney’s Office and Fannin County law enforcement hope through the coordinated effort of each agency and our judges, this will be a safer New Year in 2009.