No Refusal & Vehicular Crimes
Safer Roads. Safer Communities.
Montgomery County continues to have some of the most deadly roads in the State of Texas. Year after year, a Montgomery County resident is more likely to be involved in a vehicular related crime than all other crimes combined. Additionally, the offense of Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) is the number one crime committed in the County. Consequently, the District Attorney Brett Ligon continues to devote resources and efforts to prevent deaths on Montgomery County roadway.
The Vehicular Crimes Section is composed of prosecutors and investigators that handle the most serious crimes involving vehicles such as Intoxication Manslaughter and Intoxication Assault. From the moment the crash happens, these individuals will respond to the scene to assist law enforcement with any legal matters they may have during the crash investigation. These prosecutors work closely with law enforcement and will be involved in the decision to file criminal charges and will handle the case to its ultimate disposition.
In addition, the Vehicular Crimes prosecutors and investigators coordinate the District Attorney’s Office Nationally Recognized No Refusal Program.
Our No Refusal Program has been adopted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as a model for how to effectively and efficiently obtain blood samples from impaired drivers.
On weekends, holidays, and other random dates, the No Refusal program ensures that the scientific evidence of guilt or innocence in DWI cases is collected in each DWI arrest. The process of the No Refusal Program is as follows: 1) Officer Makes a DWI arrest, ask for a breath sample, and the person refuses; 2) Officer calls on duty prosecutor and request a search warrant for the suspect’s blood; 3) prosecutor meets with officer and drafts a search warrant; 4) prosecutor sends search warrant to an on-call Judge; 5) Judge reviews the warrant to ensure that probable cause exists to take the person’s blood; 6) if Judge finds probable cause, they sign the warrant and send back to prosecutor. If no probable cause is found, no blood warrant will be taken; 7) prosecutor receives the signed warrant, gives it to an investigator who shows it to the suspect; and 8) nurse then takes a sample of the person’s blood.