Randy Travis' Round Rock Lawyer To Appeal DUI Video Release

ROUND ROCK, TX — The Round Rock-based attorney for performer Randy Travis plans to appeal a Thursday decision by a federal judge not to block release of video from a 2012 DUI arrest of the country music singer when he was found naked on the roadway.

U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks on Thursday denied the country singer's request for an injunction, according to multiple reports. As a result, the footage is set to be released on Friday but edited to shield Travis's nude body below the waist, multiple news outlets reported.

Travis previously sued the Texas Department of Public Safety and attorney general's office in September in an attempt to block the video's release. But a state appeals court ruled last year the footage should be released, the Dallas Morning News reported.

"This case is about the rights of all Americans to have their most personal moments that happen to be videotaped, occurring after a concussion or a physical injury or a mental health breakdown, remain private where they should be," the singer's attorney, Martin Cirkiel said, as quoted by the newspaper.

Cirkiel's arguments for not releasing the tape were predicated on health reasons for which privacy should be afforded under medical privacy provisions.

The lawyer vowed to appeal the ruling and ask the judge for a stay of his order. The case reached all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which denied his petition to keep the video private.

Travis, 58, was arrested shortly after midnight on Aug. 7, 2012 after crashing his car just outside the town of Tioga, Texas, located some 60 miles north of Dallas. According to reports at the time, a witness called 911 to report a naked man lying in the street.

According to earlier reports, state troopers smelled a strong odor of alcohol on Travis, who refused to submit to a breath test. A subsequent blood sample yielded an alcohol content of 0.15 percent, which is almost twice the legal limit to operate a vehicle. Once sprung from jail, Travis wore borrowed clothes and a hat lent to him by an attorney.

The media frenzy to get a hold of the footage emerged almost immediately, with Gov. Greg Abbott an early proponent to release the video — so long as his private parts were obscured through editing.

A Country Music Hall of Fame inductee, the Grammy Award-winning singer had a string of hits in the 1990s, most notably "Forever and Ever, Amen." He suffered a stroke the year following his arrest, leaving him with a limited ability to speak.

>>> Read the full story at Dallas Morning News

Randy Travis Aug. 7, 2012, booking photo via Grayson County Sheriff's Office