Ex-cop loses appeal for DWI rollover conviction

A former San Antonio police officer convicted by a jury of misdemeanor driving while intoxicated after he flipped an undercover vehicle has lost his appeal.

Attorneys for Winder Amedalio Morales argued in front of the Fourth Court of Appeals last month that the verdict, along with the yet-to-be-served three-day jail sentence ordered by County Court-at-Law No. 9 Judge Walden Shelton, should be thrown out.

Jurors shouldn't have been allowed to consider a blood test that showed a blood alcohol level of .08 — exactly the legal limit — because it wasn't conducted until 5½ hours after the wreck, the defense argued. The appellate court disagreed.

Morales, who refused a breathalyzer test, told colleagues at the scene he only had a few sips of alcohol that night. The blood draw was used by prosecutors to contradict that.

Authorities blamed a shift change for the delayed test.