After two years, the Chief Counsel of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission and former director for enforcement of the Office of Inspector General Jack Stick had a day in court on his DWI on Thursday.
Judge to rule on evidence
The Texas Tribune has reported that the judge in the case, County Court-at-Law Judge Nancy Hohengarten, will rule whether she will admit “blood test results and other evidence and whether an Austin police officer had probable cause to stop and arrest Stick” before another hearing apparently set for October 21st. TDMR has been unable to confirm the hearing date on the Travis County onlne docket search which so far shows that no future hearings have been set.
Stick challenging the arrest
Per the Tribune article, Stick is challenging the arrest, saying the arresting officer didn’t have probable cause although the officer’s dash cam video shows Stick’s vehicle driving erratically and even stopping part way into an intersection at a stop light as well as Stick’s refusal to take field sobriety tests.
A blood test was taken
A previous TDMR story on the DWI from September 2013 had speculated that Stick lied about taking a blood test because per the arrest documents he refused to take one yet told Emily Ramshaw of the Tribune that “I am confident blood test results and other evidence will vindicate me.”
It now appears that Stick was forced to take a blood test by warrant and that according to prosecutors in the Tribune article the results show that the arrest was by the officer was correct “because his suspicions were confirmed by the result.”
Unfortunately for Stick, if things go poorly for him, the HHSC appeals court has no jurisdiction over the Travis County Criminal Court. Otherwise it could simply reverse an adverse decision for Stick as it has done with his payment hold cases before the State Office of Administrative Hearings.