The Ninth Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of a man convicted of intoxication manslaughter saying his blood sample was illegally taken without a search warrant.

Randy Blanchard was found guilty in the March 17, 2012 death of Francisco Chavez, 31, of Port Arthur. Chavez was driving his motorcycle in the 2300 block of Memorial Boulevard when police allege Blanchard failed to yield right of way and hit Chavez head-on. He was sentenced to 10 years probation.

The sentence was part of a plea agreement and as part of the plea, he was allowed to appeal, according to a July 11, 2016 story from KFDM.

According to court documents, in June 2016 Blanchard filed a motion to suppress, asking the trial court to suppress “both the blood seized from him as the result of a warrantless search of his person and warrantless seizure of his blood to search for alcohol.”

The court document further states that Blanchard admitted to an officer at the scene that he drank four beers earlier in the day. Port Arthur Police Officer Rogelio Meza noted signs of intoxication and gave the horizontal gaze nystagmus test, which checks for involuntary jerking of the eye that can be caused by alcohol.

Blanchard was seated on hospital bed at the time and Meza did not perform any other field sobriety tests because, according to the document, he did not know if Blanchard had sustained injuries in the crash that may have interfered wit the validity of the tests. When Meza asked Blanchard to give a blood sample, he refused and said he wanted an attorney. Meza then instructed a nurse to draw a specimen.

The appeals court contends that the prosecution failed to meet its burden to show that the police had the right to obtain and conduct tests on Blanchard’s blood without first getting a search warrant.

Chavez left behind a wife and three children at the time of his death, according to obituary information.