Taylor M. Moser v. State, 04-13-00826-CR

Appellant Taylor M. Moser challenged denial of three suppression motions: arrest, DPS-directed blood test, and hospital blood tests after a fatal motor-vehicle accident.
At the suppression hearing counsel focused on whether the officer had probable cause to arrest for intoxication manslaughter and whether the statutory requirements of Tex. Trans. Code § 724.012(b) for a mandatory blood draw were met.
This court initially reversed suppression of the blood-test results under the Supreme Court’s Missouri v. McNeely decision but affirmed denial of suppression of the arrest (probable cause existed).
The State sought discretionary review; the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals vacated and remanded, directing this court to decide preservation of the McNeely-based Fourth Amendment claim and, if preserved, whether exigent circumstances existed.
Applying Douds v. State, the court held Moser did not preserve a McNeely-based Fourth Amendment challenge because his pretrial arguments were limited to statutory compliance and probable cause, not the constitutionality of a warrantless draw under McNeely.
Because the McNeely claim was not preserved, the court also addressed whether the officer reasonably believed the fatal accident was caused by intoxication under § 724.012(b) and held the officer could reasonably so believe; suppression was therefore properly denied.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Preservation of McNeely Fourth Amendment challenge	Moser argued blood draw was unconstitutional under Missouri v. McNeely	State argued Moser never preserved a McNeely-based argument at the suppression hearing	Not preserved — counsel confined arguments to probable cause and statutory compliance, so court lacked notice of a McNeely challenge
Probable cause for arrest (intoxication manslaughter)	Moser argued officer lacked probable cause, so arrest and downstream evidence must be suppressed	State argued officer had probable cause based on the facts known at the time	Held: Officer had probable cause; arrest suppression denial affirmed
Statutory "reasonable belief" under Tex. Trans. Code § 724.012(b)	Moser argued officer could not reasonably believe the death resulted from intoxication and thus mandatory-draw prerequisites failed	State argued officer reasonably believed intoxication caused the fatal accident, satisfying the statute	Held: Officer could reasonably believe intoxication caused the death; trial court did not err denying suppression under § 724.012(b)

Missouri v. McNeely, 569 U.S. 141 (2013) (warrantless nonconsensual blood draws require analysis of exigency rather than automatic exception)
Douds v. State, 472 S.W.3d 670 (Tex. Crim. App. 2015) (appellate preservation requires that the trial argument fairly apprise the trial court of the specific constitutional complaint)