McGaffey v. State
| Decision Date | 21 November 1962 |
| Docket Number | No. 35007,35007 |
| Citation | 363 S.W.2d 459,172 Tex.Crim. 650 |
| Parties | A. C. McGAFFEY, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee. |
| Court | Texas Court of Criminal Appeals |
No attorney of record on appeal for appellant.
Henry Wade, Dist. Atty., Neal English, Frank Wright and Emmett Colvin, Jr., Asst. Dist. Attys., Dallas, and Leon B. Douglas, State's Atty., Austin, for the State.
The offense is operating a motor vehicle upon a public highway while intoxicated; the punishment, 14 months in jail and a fine of $250.
Police Officer J. N. Crosby testified that about one o'clock A.M., after he observed that it had no tail light, he stopped the automobile appellant was driving on Southern Oaks Boulevard, in Dallas. He testified that appellant 'seemed a little confused the way he was talking' and that he smelled a strong odor of alcoholic beverage; that he asked the appellant what he had been drinking and 'he told me he drank 25 to 30 beers'.
The witness further testified that, as he walked to the squad car, the appellant 'was staggering and swaying quite a bit'; that his eyes 'seemed quite a bit watery' and that 'his speech was quite a bit confused'.
Officer Crosby further testified that appellant 'was still staggering quite a bit and had a hard time keeping his balance' as he walked from the car to the jail office.
Officer Crosby testified that he had had occasion to handle many intoxicated persons and expressed the opinion that appellant 'was very intoxicated'.
Patrolman G. D. Payton, who was on patrol with Officer Crosby, gave similar testimony as to appellant's statement and demeanor and expressed the opinion that he was intoxicated.
An intoximeter test taken with his consent, after he reached the jail, revealed that appellant's blood alcohol concentration at that time was 0.264 per cent. Dr. Mason, Toxicologist and Director of the Dallas City-County Criminal Investigation Laboratory, who testified to the result of the intoximeter test analysis, expressed the opinion that any individual attaining a concentration in his blood of alcohol as high as a tenth per cent or greater would be under the influence of alcohol. On cross-examination his attention being directed to Dr. Leon Greenberg's statement in his book published in 1959, he testified:
...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Johnson v. State
...cent concentration of alcohol in the blood would be under the influence of alcohol was substantially the same as that in McGaffey v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 363 S.W.2d 459. Testifying in her own behalf, the appellant denied that she was intoxicated, but admitted that she was driving the car and......