Court upholds life term for Williamson County serial DWI offender – Austin American


By Chuck Lindell

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF


Published: 7:29 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011

An appeals court on Wednesday upheld the life sentence given to Bobby Joe Stovall for his ninth Texas conviction for driving while intoxicated.

In July 2009, Round Rock police arrested Stovall, who had been driving a car that was involved in an crash near Dell Diamond, after he failed several field-sobriety tests. Stovall refused to supply a breath specimen, but blood tests ordered by a judge found a blood-alcohol level of 0.32 — four times the legal limit.

Stovall’s appeal argued that the blood test evidence should have been thrown out because it was based on an invalid search warrant that failed to properly list the date and time of the alleged offense, as required by law.

But the 3rd Court of Appeals in Austin dismissed Stovall’s argument Wednesday, saying the judge who issued the warrant had enough information to conclude that Stovall had been driving the car involved in the crash.

Police were dispatched “quickly enough to find Stovall, his damaged vehicle and a witness still at the accident scene,” the court wrote. “Stovall admitted twice that he had been driving, and the witness, who had observed the accident, also identified Stovall as one of the drivers.”

An affidavit from police also detailed Stovall’s poor performance in sobriety tests, giving the judge “a substantial basis to determine that evidence of intoxication would still be present in Stovall’s blood” three hours after the crash, said the opinion by Justice Diane Henson.

Stovall’s DWI charge was enhanced to a first-degree felony because of eight DWI convictions in six other Texas counties, as well as convictions for cocaine possession, credit card abuse and burglary.

clindell@statesman.com