DUI 4th, DWAI and No Insurance / People v. B.D.

NOT GUILTY!!! of Felony DUI-DWAI 4th offense/ Resisting Arrest/ and No Insurance. Big thank you to the courageous jurors. We were in Walden, CO (pop. 1500) going against the Sheriff of the town and the #2 Undersheriff. Our client was a blue collared worker with a past of 3 DUIs (95,02,06) and a felony in 03.  He took the stand and told the truth in the face of the most powerful officers in the town. The State offered him misdemeanor deals, he refused. I had an easy defense of intox after the time of driving but the client said that was not true because he was never intoxicated. 599 days he has been stating his innocence and risked guaranteed prison time if we lost.

Client was going to show his son a cabin they dreamed of having. They made a u-turn on a highway to go back and the intox son told his dad to back up too far. Truck got stuck on the soft shoulder.  So he backed it down the slope and off the hwy. Got a ride back to camp with his son. Intox son grabbed some guys and went back to pull it out. Some passerby calls 911 and says drunk people slid off the road. #1 and #2 sheriff show up and run the plates. Get son to take them back to Dad at camp. Dad is pissed and drinking a beer. He didn’t stand a chance. Arrested and the cops say he fought back. Police also plagiarized their reports and alleged he was so drunk he urinated himself in his truck. They found him “passed out” in bed in urine covered clothes and he could barely stand.

The DAs only put on #2 sheriff and son. They didn’t bring the 911 caller or the 2 other police witnesses.  Our client testified and also expert David Keech on how bad the police investigation was. I knew that the jurors would have a hard time finding him NG and living in the town with those authorities. So we agreed that officers had probable cause but the DAs didn’t prove their case with the limited witnesses and evidence and that’s not how you prosecute a felony.

It took a lot of courage for the jurors of this small town to basically disbelieve the highest officials of their town on what I would say is an extreme DUI (3 priors, wreck, urinated himself, passed out, fighting back).  Cops alleged all of that happened. Client testified none of that happened. He owned up to all of his priors but the rest was pure lies by the #1 and #2 sheriffs in town.

Big thank you to my local counsel, Denton Walker. Denton crushed the investigator. Battled the CO law and moved for dismissals at every turn for hiding and destroying evidence. We stayed in an AirBnB one house over from the #2 sheriff as we were basically calling him out for poor investigation and fabrication. Didn’t get a lot of sleep this week. Tons of stories. Courage and truth prevail!

Thanks to God for seating the right people, in the right place, at the right time. Thank you to my staff for having me ultra prepared. Thanks to my wife for hold down the fort and booking us an AirBnB next to the main witness (who probably wanted to kill me after my cross of him). Not even a deadbolt on the front door!  Judge was very complimentary afterwards. Thank you to that jury for remaining true to your doubts and following the law. #wefightgiants #TLFstrong

(A juror stopped us on our way out to thank us for calling out the police. Apparently this is a big issue in this town. She wanted our cards to keep fighting and calling them out. I feel like we may be back and make a great 80s movie out of it!)