In Texas, You Can Face Criminal Charges for Buying a Woman a Drink

Yes, even in the conservative state of Texas, there are still places where the law is applied liberally.

Last year Nicole Nadra Baukus drove her pickup truck the wrong way down Interstate 45 in Montgomery County outside Houston and killed two teenagers, Nicole Adams and Travis Ryan Saunders. During the trial she claimed that a guy at the bar slipped drugs into her drink before changing her story and admitting she'd downed more than 20 drinks at a local bar before getting behind the wheel. A jury just sentenced her to 38 years in prison.

Now, prosecutors and the TABC are turning their attention to the man who supplied her with at least some of that booze.

Duran is now facing criminal charges for buying Baukus drinks. Most times, drink-supplying prosecutions are carried out under the state's "dram shop laws," which make bars and servers liable for selling alcohol to clearly drunk people. Because Duran wasn't a bartender, Diepraam says Montgomery County is going after him based on the "law of parties," which holds a person criminally responsible for aiding or abetting a murderer.

This raises an obvious question: Why don't they just use the Dram Shop Laws that already exist for this type of case and prosecute the bartender, not the poor sucker who was participating in an age-old mating ritual?

blogs.dallasobserver.com...

All I can do is sit here and shake my head. Guys (ladies too), keep a close eye on the outcome of this trial; as it may very well change the way you go about your weekend shenanigans.

For a state that preaches prides it's self on personal responsibility...

reply to post by LeatherNLace

nice catch.

this is horrendous! the guy who bought her a few of the many drinks she consumed DIDN'T make her get behind the wheel and drive.

don't do this, texas. we can all walk away and no one will be harmed, just don't do this.

I guess he held a gun to her head and forced her to drink them. This is a good example how the government can find alternate laws to nail anyone they want. And seeing this guy has a record as an arsonist and drug dealer, his chances of getting off are slim to none IMO.

Peace

Don't expect sympathy because a man thinks the way to court a woman is by getting her drunk, Excuse me? I think the bartender also should be prosecuted, just so you know. Given the number of people killed or maimed by drunk drivers every year, the penalties may not be harsh enough imho.

What? How about making people responsible for their own actions.

You know when you have had to much to drink and shouldn't be driving

Next they will be holding bars and liquor stores responsible..

I say good on this. 20 drinks is absolutely and obscenely drunk. (They rate 15-20 shots out of a 1/5th or 1.75 bottle for bartending as I was looking up) I think anyone responsible for getting someone into that condition shares in what they do if they just walk away and leave the person in that condition. A lawsuit already got the bar, so good for them in getting the guy who it sounds helped get her THAT bad entirely by design.

The moral of this story, IMO? Don't get someone drunk as a skunk then walk off.

reply to post by Iamschist


And in further bizarro world news, someone reads Iamschists post and agrees with them, goes out and kills a bartender for being tied to the road deaths caused by drunk drivers.

Police are now seeking Iamschist relating to charges of inciting people to act illegally on the internet.

Makes about as much sense as holding the guy responsible for the actions of someone else. Which you have no issue with.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


Well we don't know how she looked or was acting, we don't know how many drinks he gave her or if he was aware of her state, and we do know that she ditched him after taking his drinks.

Naww, this is stupid...

I've known people to drink an entire 750ml bottle of bourbon and act completely sober. Yet under this law, if someone were to give them a beer and they were then to drive and kill someone, the same thing could apply.

I can see the bar scene now.

"Excuse me miss, I find you particularly attractive and have intentions to seduce you with my pleasant manner. But before I engage in this activity with you and seek your consent, I will need you to blow into this breathylizer. A legal precaution you see, in case you're already intoxicated in which case I will have to refrain from buying you any drinks in a casual manner."

reply to post by winofiend


Getting someone massively intoxicated and then allowing them to walk or stagger away and go drive is not ok. I hope they nail him.

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000
I say good on this. 20 drinks is absolutely and obscenely drunk. (They rate 15-20 shots out of a 1/5th or 1.75 bottle for bartending as I was looking up) I think anyone responsible for getting someone into that condition shares in what they do if they just walk away and leave the person in that condition. A lawsuit already got the bar, so good for them in getting the guy who it sounds helped get her THAT bad entirely by design.

The moral of this story, IMO? Don't get someone drunk as a skunk then walk off.

edit on 7-8-2013 by Wrabbit2000 because: (no reason given)

I suppose that you would have no problem with law enforcement using the bar's surveillance footage to identify and prosecute the folks that supplied this woman the other 19 drinks, right? The person that bought her first drink is just as guilty as the last person, right?

What happens when I get inebriated and then purchase this woman a drink? Did I just commit a crime; or is the bar responsible? I mean, my judgement was impaired and the bar kept "feeding" me...it's almost like they were begging me to drink and they were certainly taunting me into becoming the "Santa's Helper" of late night inebriation.

I'm in Texas. The bar I was a local at would serve people stumbling all over the place. Only time they stopped pouring was when people got violent. I broke up quite a few fights there over the years. High testosterone, drunken fools all around this area.

TABC....a mafia organization if ever there was one. They protect their "turf" with all manner of tax stamps, audits, and bully tactics.

I swear, you would think that booze were morphine with all the controls put in place. A TABC audit is a practice in ridiculous minutia. One auditor told me once, "You pay your 14% gross receipts tax for the privilege of selling beverages in Texas". LOL....privilege.

What a ratchet.

Originally posted by winofiend
reply to post by Wrabbit2000

 

Well we don't know how she looked or was acting, we don't know how many drinks he gave her or if he was aware of her state, and we do know that she ditched him after taking his drinks.

Naww, this is stupid...

I've known people to drink an entire 750ml bottle of bourbon and act completely sober. Yet under this law, if someone were to give them a beer and they were then to drive and kill someone, the same thing could apply.

I can see the bar scene now.

"Excuse me miss, I find you particularly attractive and have intentions to seduce you with my pleasant manner. But before I engage in this activity with you and seek your consent, I will need you to blow into this breathylizer. A legal precaution you see, in case you're already intoxicated in which case I will have to refrain from buying you any drinks in a casual manner."

Why is alcohol even needed to "seduce" a woman? What ever happened to conversation, snappy repartee, flirting, dancing? A great personality? How about buying her a cup of coffee, or a non alcoholic beverage? If you know people who have that kind of tolerance for large quantities of liquor, I would see that as a problem and I would worry for my friend..

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000
I say good on this. 20 drinks is absolutely and obscenely drunk. (They rate 15-20 shots out of a 1/5th or 1.75 bottle for bartending as I was looking up) I think anyone responsible for getting someone into that condition shares in what they do if they just walk away and leave the person in that condition. A lawsuit already got the bar, so good for them in getting the guy who it sounds helped get her THAT bad entirely by design.

The moral of this story, IMO? Don't get someone drunk as a skunk then walk off.

edit on 7-8-2013 by Wrabbit2000 because: (no reason given)

Yeah you're right, he should have clubbed her and taken her to a hotel room, where he'd have to deal with rape charges instead, because this woman does not want to take responsibility for her actions.

So not only are the drink buyer responsible, that makes the bar responsible, the company that makes the booze responsible, the deliverer, seller, all the way down to the farmer who's crops were used to make that bottle of booze.
Absolutely pathetic

Also, the bar settled with the victims families out of court. From the posted article:

That bar, the On the Rox Sports Bar and Grill, agreed to settle the case and paid $1 million to David Francisco Porras and the estates of the victims.

I still dunno why the drink buyer is responsible, she could have simply said NO

A woman who drinks twenty drinks and can still walk.....Is that even possible?

reply to post by Kharron


Sadly my friend, it seems the days of personal responsibility / accountability have been long dead. We can only hope one day it returns.



Always looking to blame others for their actions.

reply to post by rickymouse

A woman who drinks twenty drinks and can still walk.....Is that even possible?

I know in my parts of Texas it is.

This country continues to ignore the idea that people should take responsibility for their own actions. Nobody forced this women to over drink. We all know what our drinking limit is until we start losing our bearings. She ignored that fact and exceeded her personal limit.

Unless bars give breath analyzer tests to everyone before they buy a drink, it's next to impossible at times to realize if someone is over the limit. Some people can handle their booze much better than others. If you're dumb enough to get behind the wheel of a car when you've had that many drinks, you deserve what you get. It's sad and unfortunate that two teenagers had to pay with their lives for someone's poor lack of judgement.