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Labor Day Weekend
source, Dallas Morning News
Don't test 'no refusal' DWI effort
08:34 AM CDT on Thursday, August 28, 2008
Whether it's a few too many shots of Patrón or a 12-pack too many of Miller Lite, you may find yourself in serious need of solid legal counsel if you combine either with a foolish attempt to drive.
Let us help. We'll spare you the $75-per-half-hour fee and include it in your 75-cent daily newspaper charge
If stopped by a sworn law officer, you may be offered a chance to take a Breathalyzer, right after you flunk your field sobriety exam. Our advice? Don't blow.
That's all we have for you. You knew better than to drink and drive. Throw yourself on the mercy of 12 there-but-for-the-grace-of-God fellow citizens in a jury trial. Your odds aren't bad, without the breath-test evidence.
Thing is, The Man knows that, too.
The Man got tired of juries letting you walk. The Man had about a 60 percent shot with a breath-test, which you could deny him. (Sure, if you did, The Man would suspend your license, but a judge would just give you a work-only privilege and off you went.)
So The Man road-tested a new strategy the past couple of holiday weekends designed to put your drunken behind in jail and secure that DWI conviction. It's built on the bulletproof evidence of your own blood, which will give you up every time.
Oh, you'd never agree to a blood draw, drunk or not. By the time The Man could get a search warrant, the evidence would have degraded. You knew it. The Man knew it.
But now you don't have a choice.
The Man calls it a "no refusal" DWI weekend. Forget the breath test. The Man hauls you to jail, where a judge signs a warrant on the spot and a nurse withdraws enough of your alcohol-enriched blood to put a conviction on your record.
So for that same 75 cents, here's our best advice. It's Labor Day weekend. The Man is out in force on another "no refusal" crusade. Drink if you like, drive if you must – but not both.
This time you will lose. Don't say you weren't warned.
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