Posted on
October 24, 2011 in
The criminal-defense lawyer’s Christmas that started last week with a grand jury going rogue and evicting the prosecutors while investigating possible wrongdoing in connection with HPD’s Breath Alcohol Testing, or BAT, vans, continues today with Pat Lykos giving the Houston Police Department a vote of no confidence:
Lykos tells us she still doesn’t know what went wrong inside that grand jury room last week that nearly led to the arrest of two of her top assistants, despite the fact one of them was in the room with us during the interview. What she does know is that she no longer wants HPD supervising its own DWI vans.
“That’s what perturbs me,” she said.
Lykos told us Monday she’s done trusting HPD to tell her the truth about DWI testing.
“We were never informed there were questions about whether the tests were valid,” Lykos said.
The obvious followup question: well, Ms. Lykos, if you don’t trust HPD to tell you the truth about DWI testing, why do you trust HPD to tell you the truth about anything?
There is a wide variance in the results of those tests, depending on the type of testing equipment used at the scene. Some are known to be inaccurate, yet they still get used. The older kit usually winds up in use in prisons, where I’ve seen a guy sober as a judge wind up getting tossed into the hole over a false positive. Guess who is standing up for his rights?? If you guessed “no-one”, you’re right. Ric
Mark, do you think a DA’s announced distrust of her entire police department creates real ethical issues under Article III of the Rules of Professional Conduct? I’d be inclined to construe narrowly and say her statements do not mean she *knows* a particular officer will testify falsely in a particular case, but I’m interested in your thoughts.
I’d be inclined to agree with your inclination.
Sounds like the Sergeant Schultz defense. How often do grand juries do stuff like this?
I have some questions for Madam DA: if you don’t trust HPD’s breath testing program why did your office seek to punish those very people who exposed the HPD breath testing program?
When did you have this epiphany that you could no longer trust HPD breath testing program?
Since you don’t trust it are you going to not rely on HPD breath testing testimony in any current or future prosecutions?
Are you going to investigate those DWI convictions obtained by Your Office wherein HPD breath testing testimony/ evidence was relied on?
This is where having a DA with integrity counts.
Well Judge DA Lykos what say you? Shouldn’t the DAs Office be for the truth? Or is the truth no longer relevant to the DA’s mission?
Robb Fickman
Robb, I am in the midst of a trial right now that involves a BAT van test from HPD. So the answer to one of your questions is, yes, she still intends to rely on testimony about those BAT vans in prosecutions. Truly hypocritical, in my humble opinion, but no one asked me.