Powell Not Out of Spotlight Just Yet

Denton County prosecutors said they would move forward with two cases while Dallas County prosecutors were undecided on whether to proceed with 11 others, after completing a review of cases filed by a former Dallas police officer who made national headlines.

Former officer Robert Powell pulled out his gun and threatened an NFL player with jail instead of allowing him inside a hospital where his mother-in-law was dying. Powell recently resigned after being on leave for the March 18 incident when he stopped Houston Texans running back Ryan Moats' SUV outside a hospital after the vehicle rolled through a red light.

Denton County district attorneys said they planned to proceed with two theft charges Powell handled because other witnesses can be called to testify about the crime, according to Jamie Beck, first assistant district attorney.

They declined to file charges in a DWI case last week because Powell was the only witness, Beck said, and they plan to dismiss a marijuana possession charge for the same reason.

In Powell's Dallas County cases, "everything appears to be in order and done properly," said Jamille Bradfield, a spokeswoman for District Attorney Craig Watkins.

However, Bradfield said officials were determining whether they could prove Powell's remaining 11 cases, because of issues in other jurisdictions, The Dallas Morning News reported Wednesday in an online story.

Bradfield was referring to a case in Denton County, which was not a part of the recent review.

That case involves a discrepancy between what Powell allegedly said on a video and what he purportedly testified to at a driver's license revocation hearing.

On the video, Powell is heard saying that he did not smell alcohol on a man's breath before asking him to step out of his car and take field sobriety tests. Powell then testified at the hearing that he asked the man, who refused a breath test, to perform the tests because he did smell alcohol, the newspaper reported.

A state administrative judge declined to revoke the man's license, questioning whether Powell had probable cause for arrest. The Denton County district attorney's office dismissed the DWI charge last year, citing a lack of evidence.

Bob Gorsky, Powell's attorney, said Powell would be glad to know the review is complete.

"I had no reason to believe the DA's office would find anything," Gorsky said Wednesday. "The fact that they didn't doesn't surprise me."

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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