Texas Supreme Court Won’t Block Release of Randy Travis’ 2012 DWI Arrest Video
The Texas Supreme Court won't block the release of video footage from the night of Randy Travis' 2012 DWI arrest. On Friday (June 9), the court declined the country star's appeal of a prior ruling that said the video should be made public.
According to Austin's American-Statesman, Friday's ruling upholds a 2016 ruling from a three-judge panel of the Texas Court of Appeals, Third District. At that time, Travis' lawyers appealed the decision because, they said, "the public [does not have] a right to see individuals in the course of a mental health breakdown any more than they have right to see someone in course of an operation on their heart, kidney or brain."
The video footage involved in this ruling is police dashcam footage from Travis' Aug. 7, 2012, arrest. He was arrested around midnight, following a one-vehicle crash near Tioga, Texas, and was subsequently charged with driving while intoxicated, obstruction and retaliation, after allegedly threatening an officer.
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In January of 2013, Travis pleaded guilty to DWI and received two years probation, a $2,000 fine and a 180-day suspended jail sentence; the obstruction and retaliation charges were dropped. This incident was one of a number that preceded Travis’ life-threatening stroke in 2013.
A number of media outlets made Public Information Act requests for the footage from Travis' 2012 arrest. In May of 2013, Travis requested that all information pertaining to his arrest — including the dashcam video, which would be redacted to cut out images of Travis, who was naked at the time of his arrest, below the waist — be kept private.
Travis continues to make progress in his recovery; his wife, Mary Davis, calls his progress a series of “giant baby steps.” On Thursday (June 8), he made a surprise appearance during the 2017 CMA Music Festival.
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