Trial against repeat DWI offender from Delta thrown out

Cape Girardeau County Circuit Judge William Syler granted a defense motion to throw out the jury trial against a Delta man for DWI today.

Dallis F. Coomer, a repeat DWI offender, was on trial for allegedly having a blood alcohol content nearly three times the legal limit while driving on Feb. 10 in Delta. At the end of court today, Coomer's defense attorney asked for and was granted a directed verdict of acquittal, which means not enough evidence was presented by the prosecution to make a reasonable judgment in the trial. 

The defense for Coomer called into question the validity of a breath test adminstered to him the night he was arrested.

Coomer was arrested in his driveway on Feb. 10, 2007, after leaving a bar in Delta and being followed home by police, who say he was well over the legal limit for blood-alcohol content.

After being arrested, police say Coomer's blood alcohol content was 0.234 as measured by a breath test. The legal limit in Missouri is 0.08.

But the defense said at trial that Cape Girardeau County Deputy Verlan Graham, who arrested Coomer and adminstered the breath test, made several procedural errors that call the validity of the test into question.

Among those errors was not administering a field sobriety test, and not giving the required 15-minute observation time before giving the breath test. Police are required to observe the subject of a breath test for 15 minutes to ensure the subject hasn't smoked, chewed gum, belched or done any of a list of things that could compromise the accuracy of the result.

Graham also testified that, as he followed Coomer home after he left the Delta bar, Coomer didn't weave or cross the center line.

Look for more on the trial later at www.semissourian.com.