Attorneys accuse APD of playing dirty

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Attorneys in a high-profile DWI case said Austin police decided to play dirty when their case against an alleged drunk driver was thrown out of court.

They simply took it to another judge, got another warrant and started over again.

"That's not how the system is supposed to work," said Pat McNelis, an attorney representing former prosecutor Mindy Montford, who was a passenger in the car when Chris Didear, the driver, was arrested on DWI charges on Sixth Street in early June. Montford went to jail on public-intoxication charges.

So-called "judge shopping" is not illegal but is considered unethical in some circles if it is used as a way to skirt the spirit of the law against double jeopardy. Austin police did not immediately comment Wednesday afternoon.

The case involves the arrest of former assistant Travis County District Attorney and former District Attorney candidate Mindy Montford and her friend earlier this month on Sixth Street. She was seeing a band downtown with some friends from high school. It was then, according to Montford's attorney and law partner Pat McNelis, the driver of the car she was riding in hit a pipe in an alleyway. The police pulled the car over just seconds later.

Montford got out of the car and "advised her friend of his rights." The driver, Chris Didear, was arrested for driving while intoxicated and Montford was arrested for public intoxication. Both were booked and released.

Montford said Wednesday she has been advised not to comment on this situation and referred questions to her attorney. Travis County Attorney David Escamilla confirmed the first judge who saw the DWI case of the driver, found insufficient evidence and threw the case out. McNelis said APD turned around seven days later and got a different judge to sign a warrant for the driver's arrest for DWI.

Didear was booked and released from the Travis County Jail Wednesday morning.

Both McNelis and Didear's attorney, Sandra Ritz, called the tactic by Austin police "ridiculous" in separate telephone interviews Wednesday.

The Austin Police Department also announced Wednesday they are not releasing officer dash camera video show the arrest of Montford and Didear. The department is citing an exception to the open records law that allows law enforcement to withhold certain elements of an ongoing investigation if they choose.

APD is refusing to release the video from Montford's arrest. McNelis said Wednesday he did not know about APD refusing to release the dash camera video.

"I've certainly seen enough dash cam video on the news to know they do release it," McNelis said during a telephone interview Wednesday. "I haven't seen it, and I've made a request for it as well."

McNelis said if the police department does not have anything to hide, they should release it to the public.