Our clients often approach our Fort Worth DWI lawyer with questions about field sobriety tests and how these affect their case. These coordination tests, such as dexterity, walking heel-to-toe and picking up buttons, supposedly indicate intoxication. Law enforcement generally administers these at the arrest scene. You are likely upset and scared, and road conditions and lighting are probably poor, which negatively impact test results.
Creating Reasonable Doubt During FSTs
Your Fort Worth DWI lawyer will work to create reasonable doubt by bringing up information about poor test conditions. Further, he or she will address the lack of objectivity in the tests and the related test difficulty. During cross-examination of the officer, your Fort Worth DWI lawyer will ask some of the following questions, and the law enforcement officer will likely answer yes to each one.
- Did you feel that the defendant was intoxicated after you gave him or her three FSTs?
- Did you continue with the second and third FST even though you felt that he or she was drunk after the first FST?
- Did you have probable reason to believe that the defendant would fail the second and third FST?
- Would you have been embarrassed if the defendant had been able to perform the second or the third test?
- If he or she had passed the second or third test, you might have been wrong about the results on the first test, correct?
- Were you the only person present when the tests were administered? Were you the only one who decided if the defendant passed the FSTs?
- Was your opinion based on the interpretation of the test results? Based on the officer’s affirmative responses to these questions, the court can see that the officer might be biased against you.
Contact Our Fort Worth DWI Lawyer
You can discuss your case with our Fort Worth DWI lawyer at the Law Office of Bryan P. Hoeller to find out your rights.