Texas Judges Gets Busted for DWI – Cops Use New 2009 Blood Test Law

It was really early on Saturday morning after an obviously long Friday night when Mercedes municipal judge Rogelio Garcia was pulled over by a DPS Trooper in Harlingen (near the Valle Vista Mall, if you know the place).  The usual procedure followed.

Perceiving the driver to be “highly intoxicated,” the Trooper requested the driver to perform a field sobriety test or two.  He failed them.  Then, the Trooper asked the driver to take a breath test.  The driver declined. 

And, before you know it, Judge Garcia is down at the Police Department at 5:30 in the morning, facing charges of driving drunk and getting his blood tested under the new Texas law that allows law enforcement to draw blood to find a BAC (blood alcohol content) when a driver doesn’t take the breath test. 

Judge Garcia posted his $5000 bond and left the building.  He knows, and we know, it’s not over. 

Judge Garcia had already been busted twice before for driving while intoxicated.  This was his THIRD bust.  Which makes this a felony charge, and the possibility of 10 years imprisonment and a hefty fine ($10,000). 

Already, he’s on a leave of absence from the bench.  Hopefully, Judge Garcia’s family and friends are talking with him about this — his drunk driving arrests go back to February 1984, over twenty-five years ago. 

This lawyer and judge obviously has a problem and it’s time a solution was found.