Walton hearing set on ’11 arrest purge
Texan: DWI case ‘not that credible’
A hearing has been scheduled for Dec. 2 in Weatherford, Texas, to determine whether records related to Alice Walton’s 2011 arrest for driving while intoxicated should be expunged, said Sharena Gilliland, the Parker County, Texas, district court clerk.
No charges were filed against the Wal-Mart heir, and the two-year statute of limitations has expired. The Texas Highway Patrol trooper who arrested Walton on Oct. 7, 2011, has been suspended and couldn’t testify against her as a result.
Fred Barker, an assistant prosecutor in Parker County, said an expunction would likely be granted by the district court and all records pertaining to the case would be destroyed.
Barker said the case was “not that credible” to begin with, but he wouldn’t elaborate.
Walton won’t be required to attend the hearing, Barker said. She is being represented by Mac Smith, a lawyer in Weatherford. Smith didn’t return a telephone call and email seeking comment Friday.
Smith filed a petition for expunction with Parker County District Court on Oct. 10. In it, he notes that Walton was placed under a “custodial arrest” by the Texas Department of Public Safety for driving while intoxicated, which is a misdemeanor.
“No information or indictment was ever filed by the state and the statute of limitations for this offense expired on Oct. 7, 2013,” Smith wrote.
Prosecutor John Forrest said he didn’t pursue the charge against Walton because Trooper Jeffrey Davis was unavailable to testify in court. Davis was suspended in February pending the outcome of an internal investigation involving misconduct allegations.
Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Tom Vinger said Friday that the internal inquiry was ongoing and that Davis remained suspended.
On Aug. 23, Forrest sent a “notice of non-prosecution” to District Judge Mark Riley, who signed an order Aug. 26 setting aside commitment and releasing Walton from her appearance bond. Based on the document, Walton would be refunded the $1,000 bond she posted when she was released from jail the day after her arrest.
Under Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, Article 55.01(a) (2)(A), Walton is entitled to an expunction of all records and files related to the case, Smith wrote in the petition.
The daughter of the late Wal-Mart Stores Inc. founder Sam Walton, Alice Walton, now 64, was stopped by Davis at 10:04 p.m. on Interstate 20 near Weatherford while driving her silver 2010 Lexus RX 450 at 71 mph in an unattended 55 mph construction zone, according to the records.
Walton told the officer that she had dinner with friends for her birthday and was driving home to Mineral Wells, Texas, about 19 miles to the east. Walton told Davis she’d had two glasses of wine with dinner.
Walton was taken to the Parker County jail in Weatherford, where she was detained from 11:12 p.m. Oct. 7 to 8:39 a.m. Oct. 8, 2011.
Walton’s arrest occurred a month before the opening of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, which she founded.
A video of the arrest obtained through the Texas Public Information Act shows Walton wavering several times about whether to take a breath-alcohol test. Ultimately, she decided not to.
Davis arrested Walton based on her performance in field-sobriety tests, as cars and semitrucks whizzed by on the interstate about 30 miles east of Fort Worth.
In his report, Davis wrote that there was a strong odor of alcohol in Walton’s vehicle and that she showed numerous signs of intoxication during the field-sobriety tests.
“During the One Leg Stand, Walton showed three clues of intoxication, including: swayed, put foot down and used arms to balance,” Davis wrote.
In the video, Walton can be seen counting to 31 before dropping her foot to the ground in the “One Leg Stand.” She began counting with one, however, instead of 1001, as instructed by Davis.
Walton told Davis she would be unable to perform some of the tests “at any time.”
“I’m not balanced,” Walton said, referring to a leg injury that affects her ability to walk. “I can’t do that in any situation.”
As she was being arrested at the scene, Walton again asked about the blood-alcohol test, and Davis told her she could take that test after they got to the jail.
After handcuffing Walton and putting her in the police car, Davis searched Walton’s sport utility vehicle and retrieved her purse.
“I brought your purse with you,” Davis told Walton. “I noticed you had quite a bit of money in there.”
Walton is the eighth-richest person in the United States, with a net worth of $33.5 billion, according to Forbes magazine.
Throughout the hour-long video, Walton and Davis are polite to each other, referring to one another as “sir” and “ma’am.”
After they arrived at the jail, Walton asked Davis what would happen if she didn’t take the breath-alcohol test.
“If you don’t take it, you spend the night in jail and bond out in the morning, and we go from there,” he told her. “If you do take it, we know where you’re at, and we go from there. But it’s completely up to you. … If you come in under .08, then we’ll talk about that, OK.”
A blood-alcohol content of 0.08 is legally intoxicated under Texas law.
During the investigation of the case, prosecutors obtained two letters that physicians wrote Oct. 31, 2011, to Walton’s attorney, Dee J. Kelly of Fort Worth, saying Walton can’t walk or maintain balance normally, according to reports.
The physicians cited a severe motor-vehicle accident in Mexico in November 1983, which led to repeated operations on Walton’s left leg, leaving it substantially shorter than the right.