Abilene DWI Lawyer

If you Have been Charged with a DWI in Abilene, then the Attorneys at Grossman Law Offices Know how to Help

Abilene is a quite, Christian town; however, it’s also a college town, where more than a few young people like to have a good time. Thus, while not exactly a party town known for its nightlife, Abilene still reports a fairly high rate of Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) for a city of its size.

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If you have been arrested and charged with a DWI anywhere in Taylor County, then you require the assistance of a knowledgeable and experienced Abilene DWI attorney. Finding a lawyer isn’t hard, but finding the right one for your situation is. When it comes to DWI cases, punishments can be severe but also widely variant. Only a lawyer who has experienced both litigating DWI cases and handling them in the Taylor County can help you secure the best possible resolution of your case. When your DWI attorney has built a strong reputation within the court, he or she can make it easier to resolve your case favorably. Any lawyer will take your money and do the bare minimum to walk you through court just hoping the prosecution will take it easy on you. Our Abilene DWI lawyers at Grossman Law Offices, however, aren’t happy just cashing checks. We want to win, and we want to help Texans in trouble; thus, we apply the full power of our resources, time, and knowledge to every case and every client, doing everything we can to secure the best viable plea agreement or verdict.

Right now, you’re likely a little overwhelmed with the gravity of your legal situation. The only way you can put yourself at ease is by educating yourself. Of course, a DWI conviction will be accompanied by fines and a driver’s license suspension and could also include prison time. However, the damage suffered with a guilty verdict in a DWI case goes well beyond that – your reputation will be damaged and any potential employer can do a background check and discover this black mark on your record. To make sure your case ends with the most amenable resolution possible, you need an experienced and savvy Abilene DWI attorney. At Grossman Law Offices, our firm has been handling DWI cases in Taylor County and all around the Lone Star State for 20 years, so we’ve heard every story and seen practically every conceivable possibility in such cases. In order to discuss your case confidentially and without charge, you should call us at 1-855-427-0000 (toll free). Call now, and you can clarify your misconceptions and discover your legal options.

In the two decades we’ve been dealing with these cases, we’ve developed sympathy for what you’re feeling right now: confusion, anger, fear, and/or powerlessness. Thus, we want to help you learn more about the legal process and DWI laws and procedures, so you can feel more at ease with your situation. Our associates have compiled this treasure trove of DWI information to help you make educated choices about how to handle your situation. In order to plot the right legal path, a DWI defendant must be well-informed.

Different Kinds of Criminals

When it comes to most crimes, the criminals are intentional lawbreakers who are conscious of the fact that they’re hurting other people. However, this just isn’t the case with DWI defendants, who are usually normal law-abiding citizens who did something foolish after drinking too much alcohol. When someone becomes intoxicated, that person loses his or her ability to function physically and make decisions mentally. Thus, drunken drivers often are unconscious of the fact that they’re doing anything wrong at all while they are engaged in the act of drunken driving. However, the court system still treats drunken drivers just like any other person who has violated the law and can sentence them to jail or fine them heavily. When you turn to an Abilene DWI lawyer who knows the Taylor County courts and is respected within them, you enable your case to be resolved as painlessly as possible – if not with a full acquittal than at least with a probation sentence you can live with instead of jail time.

Understanding the Ins and Outs of Criminal Law

You’re not going to be able to understand the specifics of DWI laws unless you first have a basis of knowledge about the American legal system. Please don’t feel like we’re insulting your intelligence, but we just need to make sure all of our potential clients comprehend the basics. To begin with, the United States Constitution forms the foundation of American law, and with its first 10 amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, guarantees all American citizens certain rights. When the police are arresting someone or gathering evidence, they must respect that person’s rights, and in order to convict a defendant of any crime, the state must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant has committed the crime.

Just like individual people, various jurisdictions have the right to enforce community standards by passing laws, and different communities will have different standards. This is true for states, counties, cities, towns, and villages. In order to get a better grasp of this concept, let’s look at the use of cellular telephones while driving. While Texas Governor Rick Perry vetoed a bill that would have made it illegal for any adult to drive through a school zone in Texas while talking or texting on a cell phone, most individual communities in the state have already passed laws regulating cell phone usage in school zones. Some have outlawed the use of all cell phones in school zones, some allow only hands-free devices, others have only banned texting in school zones, and some have placed no restrictions on cell phone usage at all. In other states, the rules are different – in New York and New Jersey it’s illegal to use a cell phone while driving anywhere unless the driver is outfitted with a hands-free device. The Bill of Rights ensures that everyone has the “Freedom of Speech,” but it doesn’t guarantee your right to broadcast your speech over a cell phone.

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When a law is violated, then the jurisdiction in which t law was broken is permitted to dole out the punitive measure that it sees fit. Of course, you can’t be given life in prison for a speeding ticket, but the individual community has a certain amount of leeway to dole out punishment within an acceptable range. When you are ticketed for talking on your cell phone while driving through a school zone, then you will have to pay the applicable monetary penalty in the method you are instructed to do so by the court. Unless you decide to fight the ticket in which case you will need to follow the procedures for doing so in the particular jurisdiction.

When it comes to major crimes like acts of terrorism or organized crime, the federal government has exclusive jurisdiction over the entirety of the United States.

Granted, all courts are working toward the same ends – to maintain a system of justice. However, the means to achieve this end will fluctuate from court to court. We’ve come along way from Judge Roy Bean sitting on his front porch and handing out hanging sentences like speeding tickets, but all judges still have the right to run his or her court more or less the way they’d like within reason. Moreover, the court itself will have established rules, procedures and punishments that differ from other locales. Among lawyers, we say that it’s almost as if each court has its own personality. To better understand this, let’s consider the analogy of grocery stores. They all exist for the same purpose – to sell groceries to the consumer. However, all stores go about trying to meet this goal in different ways, and no two will do so exactly the same. The produce will be in one place in one store and in another location in another store. The same goes for the meat counter, and the frozen foods. Different stores will have different foods offered. One store may be frequented by a large Hispanic population, so it has a large collection of Latino foods. In a wet area, the grocery store will have beer and wine, but in a dry area there will be none. Courts are essentially identical, all existing to dispense justice but each in its own way. In order to succeed in any court, you’re going to need the help of an attorney who knows the court’s personality. To secure the best possible outcome of any kind of drunken driving trial in Taylor County, you need an Abilene DWI attorney who has spent time in the courts and understands its personality.

With such drastic consequences involved with DWI litigation, you need to protect yourself. Anyone convicted is looking at thousands of dollars in fines, temporary loss of your driver’s license, and the possibility of prison time. All defendants of any crime in the United States have the right to request a jury trial, but this may not be the best route to lead you to the best possible conclusion to your case. Often times, DWI defendants find much better results by negotiating a plea bargain. In fact, in DWI cases, the defendant and the prosecution can both benefit from plea agreement. The positives for the defense are obvious – diminishing the severity of the punishment and staying out of jail with a probation agreement. The prosecutor isn’t risking his or her freedom in a trial, only his or her reputation and long-term employability. District attorneys expect their prosecutors to secure convictions, and the ones that can’t do so will be looking for work in the private sector after not too long. This practice isn’t necessarily fair to the prosecution since it’s prospects are directly tied into how well the arresting officer had done his or he job in detaining and gathering evidence against the suspect. When the officer infringes on the suspect’s rights during a traffic stop or a field sobriety test, then the prosecutor pays for the mistake when the case goes to trial. Even if the police officer has flawlessly gathered evidence, a skilled and shrewd Abilene DWI lawyer can occasionally convince a jury to ignore a blood alcohol concentration test due to their inherent inaccuracies. We’ll cover that subject later on in this article. By coming to a plea agreement, the prosecutor secures a win and avoids the ire of his or her superiors.

How an Abilene DWI Attorney Can Help You with Your Case

When it comes to DWI laws in the state of Texas, justice is anything but blind – at least when it comes to punishment. The jury considers several factors when assigning a sentence in a drunken driving offense: the harm caused by the crime, the offender’s previous DWI history, and the continued danger presented by the convict. Until the court has reason to act otherwise, it will seek the maximum sentence. You must have an Abilene DWI lawyer looking out for you who can convince the court that you are just someone who made a lone error in judgment and that you present only a minimum hazard to the public.

At Grossman Law Offices, our DWI lawyers have been dealing with drunken driving litigation for two decades. Through trial and error, we’ve developed a time-tested approach for dealing with cases that we’ve learned to rely upon. The first thing we’re going to want to do is hear your side of the story. When relating details of your case to your attorney, you absolutely must he honest. Your attorney is going to base his or her strategy for handling your case upon what you tell them and how your side of the story conflicts with the prosecution. If you withhold or alter facts, then you are doing irredeemable harm to your chances of securing the best possible outcome to your case. After we have heard your story about what happened, we want to know what the arresting officer had to say and what intentions the prosecution has in seeking a sentence. In a criminal case, both the prosecution and defense must share the evidence they intend to use at trial in what is known as the discovery period. Since our attorneys are known quantities in the Taylor County courts, the discovery period goes much more smoothly than otherwise. After we have all of the facts at our disposal, our Abilene DWI lawyers can decide whether or not it’s in our client’s best interest to head to trail or begin trying to arrange for a plea. Whichever course of action we decide to take, we make sure our clients understand the decision and are kept informed of all developments along the way to a resolution.

What is a DWI Exactly?

While we won’t know how to proceed with your case until we’ve gathered all of the facts, we can help you gather facts about DWI by explaining more about this crime and punishments that are assigned to those convicted.

Unfortunately, the fact that you’re reading this means you are already personally aware that it’s against the law to drive a car while intoxicated. In fact, it’s illegal to operate any motor vehicle while legally drunk – even a motor scooter. But what does intoxicated mean? In conjunction with drunken driving laws, intoxicated can be defined two ways: when someone has a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 percent or greater, or when someone no longer has “normal physical and mental abilities” as a result of alcohol and/or drug consumption. The next question is: why is this seemingly arbitrary limit of .08 percent BAC imposed as the point of intoxication? Scientists have come to believe .08 percent BAC is the point at which a person begins to lose control of his or her mental and physical faculties.

The second definition of intoxicated is much more vulnerable to debate. The courts have come to recognize this standard as referring to what would be normal for the driver in question and not for an average driver. Of course, this creates the problem of how a law enforcement officer is supposed to know whether or not a driver is behaving normally when the two people have never met before.

Now, you understand why law enforcement officers try so hard to get drunken driving suspects to submit to BAC testing, because it’s so hard to secure a conviction based solely on the officer’s assertion that the driver was intoxicated. However, on September 1, 2011, the Texas State Legislature created another reason why a BAC test is a necessity – determining what crime has been committed. On that date, a new law went into effect creating a separate offense, known as Extreme DWI, for any drunken driving offender with BAC greater than .15 percent. Anyone convicted of Extreme DWI is subject to greater fines, a larger surcharge to reinstate his or her license, and a longer jail sentence. We will discuss this in greater depth later on in this article.

Whether you tested a BAC of .08 percent of .17 percent, or even if you were charged with DWI without taking a BAC test, our Abilene DWI lawyers at Grossman Law Offices understand what it takes to deliver he best possible resolution to your case.

DWI Plea Bargains vs. Going to Court and Other Options

Like we’ve already suggested, without an honest relationship with your attorney, you’re going to be without the best outcome to your DWI cases. Only if your lawyer is privy to all of the details of your case can the correct strategy be devised. If your rights have been infringed upon or if the state lacks the necessary evidence, then our firm will want to go to trial, prove your innocence, and secure your acquittal. In rare cases, the prosecution will even realize it lacks an adequate case and will drop the charges. In other instances, we are able to get to the judge to accept the lack of evidence as reason for a summary judgment in the plaintiff’s favor.

However, dropped charges are not commonplace in DWI cases because for the most part Texas law enforcement agencies know what they’re doing when it comes to stopping, questioning and gathering evidence against drunken driving suspects. Over time, law enforcement agencies have developed proven methods for conducting DWI investigations, and their officers seldom deviate from the protocol. When the police pull over a DWI suspect, they usually position their cruisers to record the whole stop in its video surveillance system. As the officer asks the suspect questioned intended to indicate whether or not the person may be drunk, the interaction is caught on film. Should the officer suspect the driver is intoxicated, then he or she can ask the suspect to submit to a roadside sobriety examination. Should the driver perform poorly on this field sobriety test or refuse to take it, then the officer will ask the driver to take a breathalyzer test. Again, the driver has the right to refuse but will be immediately placed under arrest if he or she does. If the driver’s BAC is under .08 percent, then he or she will be free to go with a warning to driving safely. However, if the driver turns down or fails the breathalyzer test, then he or she will be placed under arrest. As we will discuss later on, questions often arise regarding the reliability of breathalyzer tests, but it still might be a good idea to plea bargain if you’ve failed one. Keep in mind, juries tend to be naturally skeptical of drunken drivers, so convincing them that breathalyzer results may be skewed can be very difficult. Even the best Abilene DWI lawyers, like ours at Grossman Law Offices, understand that they’re only going to be able to successfully challenge BAC results in rare instances.

When you ignore the option of a plea agreement and compel the court to waste its time and resources trying its case against you, then the prosecution has very little incentive for leniency and may pursue the maximum penalties and punishment against you. On the other hand, deferred adjudication and a reduced probation sentence are much better likelihoods when the defendant works out a deal with the prosecution.

Texas DWI Penalties

We already told you that the punishment for a drunken driving offense depends upon the severity of the crime and the previous DWI convictions of the criminal, but now we’d like to provide you with more details about the specifics of these crimes. While should remember that probation is common in DWI sentencing, here is a list of the various DWI crimes and the corresponding punitive measures:

First-time DWI

So long as a driver’s BAC was less than .15 percent, a first-time DWI is a Class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to 180 days in jail, a maximum fine of $2,000 and a driver’s license suspension between 90 days and a year.

Extreme DWI

Even when convicted for a first DWI, someone who recorded a BAC of .15 percent or greater has committed Extreme DWI in Texas, a new Class A Misdemeanor punishable with up to a year in jail, a fine of up to $4,000, and a driver license suspension between 180 days and two years.

Second-time DWI

A second-time DWI is treated just like an Extreme DWI, a Class A misdemeanor with the exact same penalties.

Third-time DWI

The point of DWI laws is get drivers to refrain from drunken driving, so a third DWI ratchets up to a 3rd-defree felony, accompanied by extremely serious punitive measures: a prison sentence that can be as long as 10 years, a fine as high as $10,000, and a two-year driver’s license suspension.

Open Containers

The penalties for drunken driving are only made worse if the driver was so bold as to be caught while engaged in the DWI with an open container carrying alcohol in the vehicle. This foolish transgression results in a maximum of $2,000 being added to the driver’s fine and at least six days added to his or her jail time.

Driver’s License Surcharges

As we very briefly stated earlier when first discussing extreme DWI, after a DWI convict’s driver’s license suspension concludes, he or she must pay an annual surcharge for three years in order to get his or her driver’s license reinstated. For a standard DWI, then this surcharge is $1,000 annually for threes for a first DWI, $1,500 each year for a second DWI, and $2,000 each year for a third DWI in a 10-year period. However, if the driver has committed Extreme DWI, then the annual surcharge doubles for each of the three years. Moreover, if multiple DWI convictions overlap in this triennial period, then the DWI offender must pay all surcharges simultaneously. In other words, it’s possible for someone to obtain two DWIs in back-to-back years and have to pay $5,000 per year to continue driving.

Intoxication Assault

The state comes down extremely hard on drunken drivers who are found to have injured others in car accidents. Intoxication assault is classified as a third degree felony, accompanied by a fine as high as $10,000 and mandatory prison time with a possible jail sentence of a decade.

Intoxication Manslaughter

Even worse, when someone is killed in an accident with a drunken driver, then that’s the worst DWI crime, accompanied by the harshest DWI penalties. Intoxication manslaughter is a 2nd-degree felony, punishable with mandatory prison time, possibly as long as 20 years, and a maximum fine of $10,000.

Community Supervision

As we stated above, both intoxication assault and intoxication manslaughter convictions come with jail time required – 30 days for assault and 120 days for manslaughter. If you’re convicted of intoxication assault with a deadly weapon, then there is no probation allowed at all.

Compared with even one night in jail, most people would opt for probation, but don’t make the mistake of thinking probation will be easy. First, you will be instructed by mail to meet with a certain probation officer, with whom you will then be required to meet at least once a month for the remainder of your probation, paying $35 each time for a supervision fee. For the first two months, you will also have to pay small $10 Crime Stoppers fee. The reason for these meetings is that your probation officer will want to confirm that you are adhering with the other conditions of your probation: complying with all laws, refraining from drinking and hanging out in bars and clubs or with disreputable people, holding down a job, paying all of your fines and fees on schedule, working all of your community service hours, and attending alcohol awareness classes in the required period of time. In many other locales, probation officers will allow probationers who prove themselves repeatedly to report by mail on occasion, but this is not the case in Taylor County where all probationers are required to report in person. Furthermore, probation officers have the discretion of asking probationers to take drug or alcohol tests and may require attendance in Alcoholics Anonymous or a similar program. If your DWI involved some sort of drugs, or if you have a past history of drug usage, then you will be far more likely to be asked to take a drug test.

If someone is convicted of more than one DWI in a 10-year period, then interlock devices also come into play. An interlock device is attached to the convicted drunken driver’s ignition system, and it requires the driver to blow a sober breath sample into it in order for the car to start. If the driver is intoxicated, then the car won’t start, the driver can’t take another test for two hours, and the driver’s probation officer will be notified of the failed interlock test. These devices aren’t just a nuisance if the driver has been drinking – their embarrassing for other people to see. When your boss gets into your car for a business lunch, you don’t want him or her pointing at your ignition and asking, “What’ that?”

Very few drunken driving offenses can be expunged from the driver’s record, so the negativity of a DWI conviction will follow around a drunken driver forever. Even the few convicted drunken drivers who are able to expunge their convictions from their legal records discover that the offense remains on their driving record, skewing insurance rates upward for a decade to come.

The only way to secure the best possible resolution to your case and protect your reputation and pocketbook in the future is to find a skilled and experienced Abilene DWI attorney whom you can trust and rely upon. At Grossman Law Offices, we’ve amassed so much experienced in the past two decades by handling hundreds of drunken driving cases that we are prepared to deal with any eventuality. Even if the situation is too dire and the evidence to substantial to overcome, we can give you an excellent opportunity to limit the consequences.

Texas DWI & Child Endangerment

When children are told to get in the car by a drunken parent, most of them are going to do what they’re told. Thus, the state of Texas goes out of its way to protect these children by creating a separate state felony called DWI with a minor in the vehicle that is treated like child endangerment. Even for a first offense, the punitive measures can be very severe – a maximum fine of $10,000 or a maximum prison sentence of two years. For parents trying to raise their children on their own, the consequences are even more severe, as a conviction could shift custody to the other divorced spouse or possibly even the state if there is no other option. Nowadays, law enforcement officers won’t charge people with DWI until they’ve refused a breathalyzer test or failed it, but they will make a DWI with a minor in the vehicle arrest based upon their instincts alone to shield the children.

If you face the loss of your children if you’re found guilty of a DWI with a minor in the vehicle, then you need to find an Abilene DWI attorney with the skills and understanding of the law to get the jury to question the accuracy of the BAC test or the tactics used by the police officer to make the traffic stop or collect the evidence. Moreover, you need lawyer who is a known entity in the Jefferson County courts. At Grossman Law Offices, we will do what it takes to help you attain the best possible resolution to your legal situation.

Blood Alcohol Concentration in Texas DWI Cases

As you probably knew before you started reading this but you definitely understand by now, .08 percent BAC is the legal limit of intoxication in the United States. However, you might not have known how BAC can be measured. In the Lone Star State, law enforcement officers turn to one of three methods:

1. The amount of grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood.
2. The amount of grams of alcohol per 210 liters of breath.
3. The amount of grams of alcohol per 67 milliliters of urine.

Once you’ve imbibed five or six alcoholic beverages, you’re not going to be able to keep track of your approximate BAC even if you had a calculator and a handy pocket alcohol conversion chart. BAC tests provide are much more reliable than self-monitoring, but they are very far from full-proof. As we’ve repeatedly alluded, BAC tests can produce questionable results in some instances. This occurs because the formulas each method uses to calculate BAC relies upon the norms typical for an average person. Since very few people are actually “normal” in their body chemistry, a person can be legally intoxicated when tested by one method but not another. As we’ve also mentioned, a police officer does not have to have a failed or refused BAC test, but without one the prosecution will be left with a fairly weak case.

Breathalyzer Inaccuracies

Beyond body chemistry fluctuations, time can also cause problems with the accuracy of BAC testing. In most cases, a BAC test is not administered to a driver for 45 minutes to an hour and half after the driver is pulled over. The purpose of the BAC is to establish the driver’s level of intoxication while he or she was engaged in driving, but does a BAC test given 90 minutes later really accomplish that feat?

Quite simply, the answer to this question is probably not. While the seconds turn into minutes and the minutes into an hour, the body is doing what it can to process the alcohol out of the body. However, the speed at which this is accomplished depends upon the individual – what he or she had to eat and how long ago the meal was consumed, his or her weight, the rate at which the drinks were imbibed, and whether the use of alcohol was complicated by drug usage, as well. Depending upon the circumstances, a driver’s BAC could be skewed down or up by the passage of time. For instance, one person downs three shots right before getting in his or her car and then immediate is pulled over when his or BAC was actually under the legal limit of intoxication. However, in the ensuing amount of time, the driver digests the alcohol, raising his or her BAC over the limit and leading to an unfair arrest for DWI. On the other hand, a driver had been drinking but stopped consuming liquor and turned to ice water for a couple of hours before driving home. When he or she was pulled over and questioned for DWI, the driver was actually legally drunk, but before the BAC test could be administered his or her BAC drops underneath .08 percent.

If you failed a BAC test, then you need to consult with an Abilene DWI lawyer who knows the difference between a valid DWI test and one with questionable validity. At Grossman Law Offices, we will convince a jury to overlook your BAC test results if they were in any way suspect.

Texas DWI Testing Procedures

If it weren’t for the issue of time, blood tests would be far and away the surest method of blood testing, for they allow the blood sample to be kept and checked later with a second test if necessary. Unfortunately, blood tests cannot be practically applied in the field due to concerns over sanitation and implementation. However, blood tests cannot be used in the field, and so far-less accurate breathalyzer tests become the default BAC test on the roadside.

However concerns over the validity of Texas’ breathalyzer tests only worsen the more you learn about them. The Intoxilyzer 5000 is the breathalyzer used in Texas, monitoring alcohol on the breath using infrared light detection. The manufacturers refuse to guarantee its accuracy, law enforcement agencies won’t let anyone but officers test the machines, and the Intoxilyzer 5000 is based upon 30-year-old computer technology. Yet, law enforcement agencies in Texas still rely on this machine when nobody in their right mind would think about using a 30-year-old desktop computer.

Of course, the concerns with the Intoxilyzer 5000 are realized when it goes into action. The machine has occasionally confused otherwise harmless substances like mouthwash for alcohol, but there is a far larger problem with this machine. The formula used by the Intoxilyzer 5000 depends upon the average blood to breath ratio of 2,100/1, but not everyone is average. Some people can have a blood to breath ratio 1,000 parts higher or lower than the norm. Such extremes in blood to breath ratio could lead to a sober person with a low blood to breath ratio testing as intoxicated BAC or an intoxicated person with a high ratio testing as sober.

What drives our lawyers up the wall is that the Intoxilyzer 5000 could be much more accurate if its capabilities were fully actualized. There is another test that can be performed on a breath sample after the fact called a gas chromatography test that is much more accurate than the initial breathalyzer, and the Intoxilyzer can store breath samples. Motivated by a need to secure convictions and not let drunken drivers go free, the Texas Department of Public Safety does not require police officers to conduct the gas chromatography test nor even save the breath samples.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, you’re not necessarily going to be convicted just because you recorded a BAC of .08 percent or higher on a breathalyzer test. Depending upon the details of your arrest and BAC test, our Abilene DWI attorneys at Grossman Law Offices may be able to get the jury to ignore the BAC test results.

Your Rights in a DWI Case

While you are guaranteed the freedom of speech, it’s not always a good idea to exercise that right by flying off the handle and losing your temper with a police officer who has pulled you over for suspicion of drunken driving. If you anger the police officer, then you’re only going to be making your perilous situation worse. It’s probably best to remain calm and answer the police officer’s questions, as he or she interviews you in an effort to gauge whether or not you may be intoxicated. If the officer is not pleased with your answers, then you will next be asked to subject yourself to a field sobriety test. As we already told you, the standard for intoxication is a person who has lost his or her “normal mental and physical abilities.” Thus, if you could not normally perform the roadside sobriety test the officer asks you to do, then you have the right to refuse. Someone with a wandering eye, for instance, will fail the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus (HGN) test for pupil reaction; thus, he or she can decline to take such a test.

However, if you refuse one form of sobriety test, the officer is only going to counter by asking you to take another. All along, your answers and actions are being reported, and you’re going to look extremely guilty if you refuse too many sobriety tests – especially if your excuses cannot be proven in court later. Moreover, the officer will only shift gears and request that you take a breathalyzer test instead. Of course, you can cite your concerns over the accuracy of breath tests and refuse to take the breathalyzer, but this action will result in your being arrested and your driver’s license being revoked immediately. Once you arrive at the jail, you can then demand a blood test, but time elapse could affect the outcome of this test, as well. If you refuse a blood test, the arresting officer will try to obtain a search warrant to draw your blood for testing against your will, but this depends on access to a judge in a timely fashion.

When it comes to certain jurisdictions, however, this is not the case. Many towns change the rules on holiday weekends in which drinking is commonplace, like New Year’s Eve, Labor Day, or the Fourth of July. Judges in some locales authorize their law enforcement officers to draw blood without the driver’s consent given a holiday. In fact, Bexar County, which contains San Antonio is even experimenting with allowing this practice on all weekends, starting with Labor Day 2011. These practices are extremely important to be aware of if you have been taking drugs in addition to alcohol. While a breathalyzer will not detect drug usage, a blood test will.

The only way to find the most favorable possible solution to your case after failing a breath or blood test is to hire a clever and experienced Abilene drunken driving attorney. Our lawyers will get the jury to see the BAC evidence for its true value and not just the percentage it spit out.

More on Texas Intoxication Assault and Manslaughter Charges

If you’ve been charged with intoxication manslaughter or intoxication assault, it’s very challenging to overcome the negative perceptions most jury members are going to have about these crimes. Plus, the burden of proof leans decidedly toward the prosecution, which benefits from laws that allow the blood of suspects for either of these crimes to be extracted against their will. All the state must prove is that you were drunk, and you were involved in an accident that killed or injured another human being. Meanwhile, the price to pay for these crimes is very steep – jail time guaranteed and as long as 20 years, coupled with an enormous maximum fine of $10,000.

Very seldom in any type of trial is it a good idea for a defendant to represent him or herself, but it’s borderline lunacy to try it when facing 20 years in prison and the shame and stigma of a conviction for either of these offenses. The only smart move is to find yourself a smarter Abilene DWI attorney with the experience to help you secure the best possible outcome to your case.

Minors Under 21 DWI & DUI

The laws regarding drinking and driving differ from all other facets of law in that the limit for adulthood is 21-years-old instead of 18. Twenty-one is the legal drinking age, so anyone under 21 is considered a minor in regard to DWI laws. Barred from legally drinking, anyone under 21 is also barred from driving with so much as a drop of alcohol running through his or her blood stream. When someone violates this rule, he or she has committed Driving Under the Influence (DUI). If your son or daughter or you, yourself, have received a DUI, then you require an Abilene DWI lawyer whom you can rely upon.

When suspected of a DUI, minors have the same rights as adults being questioned about a possible DWI – field sobriety tests and breathalyzers can be refused, but there are prices to pay. Declining a breathalyzer will lead to the minors arrest, an embarrassing phone call from the drunk tank to the minor’s parents, and then loss of driving privileges. When a minor refuses a breathalyzer, he or she will be hit with a driver’s license suspension of 120 days for a first DUI and 240 days for a second time. For a first time DUI stop, the teenager actually benefits from taking a breathalyzer, limiting a driver’s license revocation to only 60 days. On the other hand, minors gain nothing by opting to wait and take a blood test, like an adult who can hope his or her BAC drops in the ensuing hour. The minor will still receive a DUI because he or she will still have some amount of liquor in his or her system. This is not the case for repeat DUI offenders who lose their licenses for 12 months after refusing a breathalyzer after receiving a DUI in the past.

On top of a driver’s license suspension, the court is given the discretion of sentencing a minor to mandatory rehab or stripping him or her of his or her driver’s license if the minor is determined to be an alcoholic or drug addict.

However, it should also be noted that minors are not immune from prosecution for a DWI just because they can also be given DUIs. Any minor driving with a BAC greater than .08 percent can receive a DWI, and any minor with a BAC over .15 percent can be charged with Extreme DWI. A DWI conviction treats a minor who is over 17 essentially like he or she is any other drunken driver, with a possible fine of $2,000 and a jail sentence as long as 180 days. Minors under 17, on the other hand, can be sentenced to juvenile detention for a DWI.

First-time DUI

While a DUI conviction does not carry as severe admonishment as a DWI, it’s still rated as a Class C misdemeanor. Parents will need to accompany minors to court, and convicted minors will must complete 15 hours of alcohol and DWI awareness classes and 20-40 hours of community service. Moreover, the parents of the minor can be required to attend alcohol awareness classes, as well, if their actions have contributed to the minor’s drunken driving. There is a small upside to first-time DUI. The minor can enter into a deferred adjudication program, complete it, and then expunge the conviction from his or her record upon his or her 21st birthday.

Second-time DUI

Second DUIs differ only slightly from the first. The driver’s license suspension can be extended to the year, and community service hours rise to a mandatory 60. Furthermore, while deferred adjudication is still permitted, expunction is not.

Third-time DUI

After a third DUI conviction, minors start to be punished as if they are adults. This is a Class B misdemeanor punishable with a maximum jail sentence of 180 days and a fine ranging from $500--$2,000 for any minors over the age of 17.

Let’s face it. You wouldn’t be reading this right now unless you or your teenaged daughter or son had done something the whole family regrets. You’ll only add to your regrets if you choose not to hire an experienced and savvy Abilene DWI attorney to handle your case. You need not only someone who has dealt with a large amount of DUI cases, but someone who has done it Taylor County and is aware of procedures dealing with minors there.

ALR Hearing After a DWI

Whether an adult or a minor, anyone who refuses a breathalyzer test requested by a police officer will have his or driver’s license revoked on the spot. But, in America, everyone is innocent until proven guilty, so the officer will then provide the driver with a temporary license that is initially valid for 40 days, allowing the driver to contest the license suspension..

Once the driver is officially notified by mail of the driver’s license revocation, he or she has 15 days to file for an Administrative License Revocation Hearing (or an ALR hearing).

While the driver waits for his or her opportunity to challenge the suspension at the ALR hearing, the temporary license period often subsides. Thus, all provisional licenses are extended until the ALR hearing can be scheduled in the crowded court system. Should the driver convince the judge at the ALR hearing that the license suspension was unfounded, then the license will be reinstated. On the other hand, a defendant who loses the ALR hearing is given 30 days to file an appeal; therefore, extending the provisional driver’s license another 90 days. An acquittal at trial for the DUI or DWI also immediately lifts the driver’s license suspension.

At Grossman Law Offices, our Abilene DWI attorneys might be able to get your license back after it’s been revoked, so don’t lose hope. Contact us.

Occupational Driver's Licenses

Even when someone loses his or her ALR hearing, our attorneys know how to get him or her back in the driver’s seat again. When making DWI laws, lawmakers in this state understood that most people need to get to work or school and take care of their children. Since public transportation in Abilene is woefully insufficient, people who have lost their driver’s licenses due to drunken driving offenses still need to get around, so they’re allowed to apply for Occupational Driver’s Licenses (ODLs). While much better than walking or waiting for a bus (good luck with that in Abilene), an ODL comes with many drawbacks, For one, it’s expensive to apply for an ODL. In addition, the driver must track all of his or her travel in a detailed log, accounting for the date, time, destination, elapsed time, and miles driven of each and every trip, and the driver can only go somewhere for expressly approved purposes.

Preparing an ODL properly as required by the Taylor County courts is not easy. If the forms and briefs are not prepared in the right manner, detailing the need for the ODL, the crime committed, and the intended destinations, the application may be rejected. To make sure you’re able to get back behind the wheel legally, you will need the help of an Abilene DWI attorney.

Differences Between Public Intoxication and DWI

While most people tend to think of DWI and public intoxication (P.I.) as being essentially the same offenses, that’s just not the case. The two offenses don’t even define intoxication the same. In contrast to the DWI definition that we already know, intoxication in terms of public intoxication means that the person in question has become so drunk as to present a danger to him or herself and others.

Moreover, these two crimes differ in the way they’re investigated. Unlike the established protocols for identifying a drunken driver, there is no time-tested method for identifying when someone has committed P.I. A public intoxication arrest merely requires that a police officer decides the subject presents a danger to him or herself or others due to excessive drunkenness.

Since our government creates laws to protect its citizens, the state of Texas is more lenient against public intoxication offenders than drunken drivers. Isn’t it obvious that a drunken driver presents far greater peril than someone who falls asleep in a bush outside a fraternity party? Someone convicted of PI is guilty of a Class C misdemeanor and faces no jail time, but he or she must pay a $500 fine. Excluding people who wish to fight the charges, nobody needs a lawyer to deal with a P.I. charge – only a checkbook and $500 in the bank. A drunken driving charge, on the other hand, demands the skills and guidance of an Abilene DWI lawyer.

Your Rights When Suspected of a DWI

As we’ve already explained, you have rights when accused of a DWI, but driving is not among them. You are not compelled to take field sobriety or BAC tests, but your license will be yanked if you go that route. In the eyes of the state, this is necessary in order to prevent suspected drunken drivers from denying evidence to the state, for the dangers of DWI are seen as far greater than the lack of reliability of the BAC tests. Moreover, the refused breathalyzer test can be presented in court as evidence. It’s often a better idea just to take a breathalyzer test since failing one comes with a much shorter driver’s license suspension, and your attorney may be able to discredit the BAC test anyway.

Whatever you do when pulled over under suspicion of drunken driving, you must remember that your actions are being recorded on video. Even if you’re not forced to take a BAC test, the appearance of drunkenness can be damning in court.

One right you don’t have when pulled over for a suspected DWI is calling your attorney. You don’t have a “right to an attorney” unless you’re being interrogated about a criminal investigation. That excludes DWI traffic stops. However, you do still have the Miranda right, “to remain silent,” and can refuse to answer the police officer’s questions. We don’t recommend this ploy since it will only make the police officer more determined to be your arresting officer.

Grossman Law Offices Know how to Help

At Grossman Law Offices, our Abilene drunken driving lawyer have spent two decades helping hundreds of Texans who’ve gotten into trouble after drinking and then getting behind the wheel. Through that trial and error, we’ve spent more hours in court than can we can count, as we’ve enabled our clients to secure the best possible resolutions to their cases.

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We’ve learned the ins and outs of the courts in Taylor County while at the same time becoming familiar with all of the types of DWI and DUI offenses, as well as, the countless combinations of circumstances. We can’t write that we’re going to land a not guilty verdict for you, because that would be unethical before hearing the details of your case and foolish even after we have heard your story. All we can do in honesty is assure you that will devote the full brunt of our knowledge, resources and time to helping you secure the best outcome to your case that you can expect. Our experience has prepared us to help anyone accused of a drunken driving offense – someone who declined to take a breathalyzer test, someone who injured a family of four in a drunken driving wreck, someone who is under the age of 21 and was pulled over after a couple of drinks, or someone who had one beer too many at dinner and then got stopped driving the whole family home with the kids in the car. Contact us now, for a free consultation to find out how we can help you. Call us anytime at 1-855-427-0000 (toll free) and tell us your story. We will then answer your questions, explain your various legal options, and tell you what we can do to assist you.