Police Officer Aquitted of Drunken Driving
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Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Fort Worth) Copyright (c) 2004 Fort Worth Star-Telegram. All rights reserved. January 17, 2004 Section: Metro Police officer is acquitted of drunken driving FORT WORTH--An off-duty Fort Worth police officer who was arrested in October 2002 after officers said he failed a field sobriety test has been found not guilty of driving while intoxicated. Officials said jurors deliberated about 30 minutes Thursday before acquitting 31-year-old Luke Wesley Stout, who was hired by the Police Department in October 1997. Officials have said that Stout was stopped by Fort Worth police in the 5300 block of Azle Avenue about 2:50 a.m. on Oct. 6, 2002, after an officer clocked him traveling 51 mph in a 35-mph zone. Police noted a strong odor of alcohol on Stout's breath, and he was arrested after he failed a field sobriety test, officials have said. Inside his car, police found an open bottle of beer, officials said. Two breath tests administered later measured Stout's blood alcohol level at 0.158 and 0.148, officials said. Texas' legal standard for intoxication is 0.08. During the two-day trial in Judge Daryl Coffey's court, defense attorney Wes Ball called no witnesses but argued that the videotape of Stout performing a field sobriety test indicated that he was not impaired. "He was standing on the one-leg deal and walked the line, and it was pretty much perfect," Ball said. Ball said his case was bolstered by the fact that prosecutors called only one of the three officers who were at the scene when Stout was arrested to testify about his condition. Ball also maintained that the breath tests, which were taken later at a police station, weren't "reliably performed." The combination of all those issues established reasonable doubt, Ball said. "The jury thought, 'We don't buy it,' " Ball said. "They were out about 30 minutes and came back and said, 'Not guilty.' " Assistant District Attorney Christy Jack, who supervises prosecutors in the misdemeanor division of the Tarrant County district attorney's office, said Friday that the two other officers were not called because they were not involved in administering the field sobriety tests or investigating the offense. Furthermore, Jack said, Stout was videotaped performing the field sobriety tests two hours after he was stopped for driving while intoxicated. "The easiest way to reconcile his performance on the field sobriety test and high breath tests is that this officer has a high tolerance for alcohol," Jack said. "We stand behind the reliability of the Intoxilyzer, as does every other police department in the state of Texas." Lt. Jesse Hernandez, a police spokesman, said the department has 30 days to determine whether Stout, a former gang officer who has been suspended without pay, will return to work. "He was a good officer," Ball said. "I have spoken with other officers who spoke well of him. He has been through an ordeal here. If the verdict went the other way, his police career would have been done. He wants to get back on" the police force. |
