DWI laws in Texas a defense attorney's best friend

It's a not so well kept secret among criminal defense lawyers, but the ever increasing punishment for DWI cases is the defense lawyers best friend. Why? DWI cases, are offenses that an otherwise normal and productive citizen can run afoul of very easily. One too many drinks at an office happy hour, a lapse of judgement, and you could be looking at serious consequences.

Back when I was growing up, it was not uncommon to have Dad drive us kids around with a cold one in the console of the car. A DWI used to be a case where one could get deferred adjudication. No longer. Thanks to the good folks at Mothers Against Drunk Driving the laws have changed.

In Texas, the legal limit for intoxication is now .08 BAC (blood or breath alcohol concentration). It used to be .10

If law enforcement thinks your driving is impaired, you can be stopped and arrested for driving while intoxicated (DWI) regardless of your BAC. Penalties get worse with every DWI offense.

First conviction

$2,000 fine

Six months behind bars

Suspended driver's license for up to a year

$1,000 every year for three years to keep your driver's license

Second conviction

$4,000 fine

One year in jail

Suspended driver's license for up to two years

$1,500 every year for three years to keep your driver's license

Get two DWIs within five years and your vehicle will be equipped with an very expensive special ignition switch that prevents it from starting if you've been drinking.

Third conviction

$10,000 fine

Two to ten years in prison

Suspended driver's license for up to two years

$2,000 every year for three years to keep your driver's license

DWI with a kid in the car

Get arrested for drunk driving with a child under 15 in your vehicle, and it's a felony that comes with a $10,000 fine, two years in a state jail and losing your license for two years.

Needless to say, with these stiffer penalties, the otherwise law abiding and productive citizen (one who can afford a good criminal defense attorney) is more willing to fight such an accusation. After all, the key word in the list of penalties following a DWI conviction is just that, conviction.

So the irony is that the best friend of the criminal defense attorney in private practice are these increasingly draconian DWI laws. While I always sympathize with my clients, in the rare spells when business gets slow I sometimes joke with the police at the courthouse that they need to stop slouching off, get to work, and drum up some business for me.

(In truth, the best friend of the insurance defense lawyer is the plaintiff's lawyer, so the irony is not limited solely to criminal defense practice)

Questions or comments?

Please feel free to contact me via my website at www.arnoldlegal.com

Basement Flood Closes County Records Building

Basement Flood Closes County Records Building

Dallas County Criminal Database has DROWNED

For those of you not familiar with the wonderful local government we have here in Dallas county, it's the epitome of incompetence. Over the weekend the Dallas county records building flooded when an 8 inch water main broke. this flooded the basement where our wise county officials had the power and servers for all the counties computers. No one knows for sure if they will be able to get them up and running anytime soon, or if any data was lost. There was no offsite backup.

The Dallas county criminal courthouse is essentially shut down. If you have a loved one who was arrested over the Memorial day weekend, perhaps on a DWI, or a DUI, or any other misdemeanor criminal offense, it is going to take an extraordinary amount of time to get them bonded out and released from jail. In addition, the county just went" paperless", so all the criminal files including the indictments, police reports, etc. are unavailable to the defense lawyers, prosecutors, and judges. The Frank Crowley Courthouse is essentially shut down until that data can be retrieved and no one knows how long that will take. I will keep you posted if I hear anything new when it come available.

State Cases VS. Federal Cases: the snail and the rocket dockets

One of the biggest differences between State and Federal cases is the timeline. In a State case, your client may be arrested by a law enforcement agency and it could be weeks before the case is filed with the D.A.'s office, weeks before the case is presented to the Grand Jury (in the case of a Felony), and a few weeks before the trial prosecutors get the case and the real negotiations begin. If your client can't make bond for whatever reason, they could be sitting in jail for quite a while, but as a defense attorney you have a little time to do your own investigation before taking your initial stance with the prosecutors, and a great deal of time before the case would actually go to jury trial (if that is required).

Federal cases are a completely different animal. Because Federal cases must go to trial withing 90 days of the indictment being returned (unless that is later waived), the Federal law enforcement agencies and the US Attorney's offices investigate for months and perhaps years before they present their case to the Federal Grand Jury. The first time your client finds out that they are even under investigation may be after they are arrested on a post indictment warrant. When this happens, the attorney is given the discovery by the US attorney, usually a massive amount of information, and must make some key decisions in consultation with their client very quickly.

Case in point. I get a call yesterday at about 11:45 to represent a guy in Federal Court on a case. I am told to show up at 1:00. When I get there, I meet briefly with my client and at 1:01 the chamber doors open and the magistrate comes in and does the initial appearance hearing, the appointment of the attorneys, the arraignment, and detention hearings, all in about 10 minutes. I met the US Attorney handling the case and she gives me the discovery consisting of 5 Cd's of information! Today the judge issues a scheduling order giving us a motion deadline in two weeks and a trial date in May!

While I would never recommend choosing someone inexperienced in criminal jurisprudence to handle any criminal case, your buddy or relative who is an attorney might be able to get up to speed in the pace of a State prosecution. In a Federal case however, you had better go with someone who already knows what their doing because it's a fasten your seat belts, peddle to the metal game of chicken with a freight train in Federal Court.

Why I am here

As a former prosecutor with the Van Zandt County and Dallas County District Attorney's Offices and as a criminal defense attorney in private practice since 2003, I have had my share of battles, both in the courtroom and with all the characters that inhabit our criminal justice system. The purpose of this blog is to share some of the wisdom I have acquired that will hopefully help people who have to deal with "the system." Hopefully we can have a chuckle or two along the way.