Filed on: September 3, 2025
In Tarrant County, Kathy Ehmann Clardy and Sara Thornburg defended a client charged with DWI after a late night stop in Colleyville. The stop began with an allegation of speeding. From there, the case turned on field sobriety testing and on what the officer thought those tests meant. The video mattered, and it told a calmer story than the report.
The arresting officer was new to the job. Two training officers were present and pushed the testing in a direction the video did not support. On the horizontal gaze test, the State claimed a full set of clues. On the other tests, the officer initially marked only minor issues, then changed his call after pressure from his supervisors. Kathy and Sara brought that shift into the open. They walked the jury through what was done, how it was scored, and why the scoring did not line up with the actual performance.
The State also relied on a blood result taken about two hours after the stop. That number was above the legal limit. But the law requires proof of impairment at the time of driving, not later in a chair at the station. The defense showed the gap. A DPS analyst was asked to estimate the client’s level at drive time. The analyst could not do it. Without a reliable link between the later number and the earlier driving, the State was left asking the jury to guess.
The jury refused to guess. After hearing the evidence and watching the video, they found the client Not Guilty.
This verdict matters because DWI cases often rise or fall on details that get ignored. Timing, testing, and officer judgment are not small issues. They decide whether a charge is fair. At Dunham and Jones, we press those details in court and hold the State to its burden. If you are facing a DWI in Texas, we are ready to stand with you and demand proof, not assumptions.
