Jordan Stephens v. The State of Texas

Summary

The Texas Court of Appeals, Third District, affirmed Jordan Stephens’s misdemeanor DWI conviction. The court held that the evidence—including erratic driving, officers’ observations, field sobriety test performance, alcohol odor and containers, Stephens’s admission to drinking, and refusal to provide a blood sample—was legally sufficient to establish intoxication under the impairment theory.

Holdings

1. The evidence was legally sufficient for a rational juror to find beyond a reasonable doubt that Stephens lacked the normal use of his mental or physical faculties because of alcohol while operating his vehicle. The court therefore affirmed the DWI conviction.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the evidence was legally sufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Stephens was intoxicated, under the impairment theory, while operating a motor vehicle in a public place.

Disposition

affirmed