Prominent defense attorney O. Rene Flores has been arrested on a charge of driving while intoxicated.
Jail records indicate the Texas Department of Public Safety booked Flores into the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center Thursday.
He bailed out on a $1,500 personal recognizance bond the same day.
Flores did not immediately return a call and text message.
An affidavit for his arrest said a DPS trooper pulled him over while he was traveling east on U.S. Highway 83 passing Tom Gill Road for failing to maintain a single lane.
The trooper said in the affidavit that Flores was coming out of the lane multiple times.
The vehicle was also bouncing within its lane, according to the affidavit.
The trooper said Flores appeared to be “confused/sleepy” and the officer suspected he was intoxicated.
“Two alcoholic beverages were located in the center console of the vehicle and a 12-pack box was located in the passenger seat floorboard,” the affidavit stated.
When the trooper asked Flores what was going on, the affidavit said Flores mentioned he was going through some personal issues with a relationship.
The trooper conducted standardized field sobriety tests, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit said Flores declined to provide a breath sample.
“Mr. Flores was transported to Hidalgo County jail without issues,” the affidavit stated.
The jail’s daily inmate report said Flores was booked at 1 a.m.
Flores is a fixture at the Hidalgo County Courthouse.
He is known for taking on some of the county’s toughest and most high-profile cases.
Flores currently represents Victor Godinez, the man accused of killing DPS trooper Moises Sanchez.
Godinez faces the possibility of the death penalty if he is convicted.
The defense attorney also represented Monica Melissa Patterson, who is serving life in prison for bilking the nonprofit Comfort House out of thousands of dollars and for her role in the murder of 96-year-old Martin Knell, whom she also stole from.
Flores also represented John Bernard Feit, the 85-year-old former Catholic priest convicted of killing 25-year-old schoolteacher Irene Garza over Easter weekend in 1960.
Feit has since died in prison.
