Addison DWI Lawyer

If You’ve Been Accused of Driving While Intoxicated in Addison, then the Attorneys at Grossman Law Offices Can Help

With its heavy population of singles, some of the only bars and restaurants in the Metroplex that still permit smoking, and it’s proximity to the affluent northern suburbs, Addison is a very popular spot for people who like to party. Thus, the Addison police have been known to arrest more than their share of people suspected of driving while intoxicated.

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In fact, the police in Addison are infamous for placing a mark on the back bumpers of cars that have been parked outside bars for extended periods, so another officer can spot the possible DWI violator and pull him or her over for an allegedly random traffic stop. If your or a loved one has been arrested for a DWI in Addison, then you will need the assistance of a crafty and experienced Addison DWI lawyer who can limit the negative repercussions. To secure the most favorable outcome obtainable, you need someone who not only has spent enough time in the Dallas County courts to have developed familiarity with the system, but also someone whose reputation is known and accepted among the prosecutors. It’s best to have someone capable of greasing the squeaky wheel of justice. Granted, any attorney whom you hire is happy to take payment for his or her services and then just escort you through the legal process, doing nothing more to help you than praying for leniency. At Grossman Law Offices, Michael Grossman and his team of Addison DWI attorneys you’re not just a paycheck to us. We will treat your case like it matters, devoting the full brunt of our knowledge, energy and time to securing the best viable resolution to your situation.

A DWI conviction presents a far greater threat than the possibility you will have to pay fines, lose your license, and perhaps even spend time in prison. Additionally, a DWI could affect your reputation and ability to keep the job you have now or find a better position later. You need to take the charge against you utterly seriously and secure the counsel of a skilled Addison DWI lawyer, or you will most definitely regret your inaction later. At Grossman Law Offices, our team of Addison DWI attorneys have spent the past 20 years helping others accused of DWI in Addison, the rest of Dallas County, and all over the state of Texas. We have completed the learning curve so that people like you can benefit. Call us now for a free consultation at 1-855-427-0000 (toll free) to confidentially discuss your legal situation with one of our DWI experts. If you have questions about DWI, then you can ask them. Or, you can just listen to what we have to say about your different legal. We can clarify any legal principles you don’t understand and discuss your legal alternatives and how we can help you find a workable solution to your case.

First, we here at Grossman Law Offices understand that an informed defendant is best prepared to deal with his or her legal situation. Thus, we’re presenting you with this information article designed to clear up misconceptions people have about DWI laws and procedures. Only a knowledgeable defendant can choose the right path for securing the resolution he or she desires. We hope you read this and gain a better understanding both the generalities of the legal system and the specifics of DWI laws. We hope that you feel more at ease with the frightening situation in which you’ve gotten yourself after you have read more and gained a better understanding of DWI.

A Different Kind of Criminal

The first thing you need to understand about DWI law is that the nature of the criminal varies from most other violators of the law. People who commit DWI are just common everyday citizens who made mistakes. They’re not hardened premeditated criminals like someone who robs a liquor store. Since drinking too much alcohol actually affects a person’s ability to make rational decisions on top of impairing physical ability, people who are intoxicated actually lack the ability to determine whether or not they are drunk. It’s a vicious logical circle that can lead to anyone making the mistake of drinking and driving. However, even given this fact, the state still treats anyone who has committed a DWI like a criminal. Everyone who is convicted will have to pay fines and lose their driver’s license, and could be sent to prison in addition. Without an Addison DWI lawyer, you won’t just likely hear a verdict of “guilty,” but you will also see a much stiffer penalty than someone else who committed the same offense but chose to find savvy representation.

Understanding Basics of Criminal Law

Obviously, we can’t begin explaining the specifics of DWI laws until you have gained a better understanding of the criminal law in general. Particularly in its first 10 amendments know as the Bill of Right, the Constitution lays out certain rights afforded to all citizens of this country. No matter what crime with which you have been charged, the state must prove your guilt, and the police must conduct the arrest and their investigation in such a way as to respect your rights.

With that being said, any local governing body – be it a state, county, city, town, or village – has the right to rule itself with its own laws, so long as they do not conflict with the Constitutional rights guaranteed to all citizens. To gain a better understanding of this concept, let’s take a look at laws governing the use of cell phones. Practically all communities in Texas have outlawed the use of cell phones within school zones. However, some communities have now banned texting while driving, and others have banned the use of handheld phones while driving, altogether. Until texting is a constitutionally guaranteed right, each community can decide how it wants to address the use of cell phones while driving, and may set its own fines for violating the laws. If you are ticketed for texting and driving in a locale where it is illegal, then you will need to go to the corresponding court to either pay the applicable fine or request a court date to fight the ticket.

More serious crimes like hijacking a plane or kidnapping are tried in the federal court system, so justice is not confined by any geographical limitations in this country.

Each court, regardless of location, will have its own unique personality and distinct procedures and rules that must be followed. While every court exists to dispense justice, every judge has his or her own methods, and each jurisdiction reflects both his or her personality as well as that of the surrounding community. To understand this concept, think about Chili’s. There are Chili’s from coast to coast. While they’re all similar, they’re also not exactly the same. One menu might have regional specialties, the layout of the restaurants will be different, service won’t always be consistent, and even the burger might not taste exactly the same from one locale to another due to the different cooks manning the grills. Courts are much the same when it comes to DWI – the procedures the court follows will change from one community to another and so will the punishments. In order to stand the best chance of obtaining the end result you desire, you need an Addison DWI attorney who is familiar with the Dallas County courts and the prosecutors who try cases there.

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When someone is found guilty of DWI, he or she will be facing the prospects of tremendous financial losses in the tune of fines, loss of your traveling freedom with the suspension of your license, damage to your reputation, and even the possibility of completing losing your freedom in the form of jail time. While everyone is afforded the right to a jury trial, in most DWI cases, the defendant would be much better offer arranging for a plea bargain with the prosecution. The fact of the matter is that both sides in a DWI trial stand to gain substantially by coming to a plea agreement. Right now, you’re well aware of what you have to lose – your freedom, your money, and your license to drive. However, the prosecution has something at stake – albeit not as much as the defendant. Even one loss can get a prosecutor into hot water with the district attorney. Too many defeats, and the prosecutor will be looking for a new job, and the district attorney will be looking for a new prosecutor. At least you can hire an attorney of your choosing to decide the fate of your case. The prosecutor is stuck with the police officer who made the arrest and is completely dependent upon that officer doing his job properly. If the officer erred in his or her methods of pulling a suspect over, administering the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) test, or violated the rights of the defendant in any other way during the evidence gathering process, then the prosecutor will be desperate to work out a plea agreement to prevent a costly defeat in court. A skilled Addison DWI lawyer may even be able to get a breathalyzer excluded when it was extracted legally, so the prosecution may be willing to offer a plea bargain in cases where the evidence is strongly in its favor. A guaranteed win is almost always better than the uncertainty of a jury trial.

How an Addison DWI Attorney Can Help You with Your Case

Many people complain about the American justice system, but when it comes to the dispensing of punishment, the court system has the sense to provide some leeway to punish violators according to the severity of the crime and the danger presented by the criminal. Thus, for crimes like DWI, there is a wide range of possible punishments. If someone has committed intoxication assault, for example, he or she can be sentenced to between two and 10 years in prison. Somebody who has been convicted of previous DWI offenses may be given the maximum penalty, but someone who is only committing a first offense may be given a shorter prison term. You need an attorney who is capable of making the court see who you are, or the prosecution will seek the maximum penalty against you.

After two decades in this business, the Addison DWI lawyer at Grossman Law Offices, know how to present evidence to convince the Dallas County court that you are someone who just made a lone mistake and pose no continued threat to the community. We will begin helping you by doing nothing more than listening. We want you to tell us your story about how you got your DWI, and we must insist on your being honest and forthright. The only way we can effectively represent you is if we know all of the facts. Next, we will use the discovery period to find out what evidence the prosecution has and what sentence they will seek. Granted, the prosecution must share their evidence with your lawyer. However, our familiarity with the prosecutors in Dallas County will help speed the process along. After our attorneys can compare the prosecution’s version of the facts with your version of reality, we can begin to plan whether we will work for a plea agreement or what can of plan of attack we have if we decide to take the case to court. This is why your honesty is so important, so we can devise a strategy based upon the facts of the case. We also know how important this case is to you, so we make sure you know about any developments as they arise.

DWI Plea Bargains vs. Jury Trials and Other Options

Like we said, your chances of securing the most advantageous result to your case depends heavily on your attorney being well-informed. The only person you harm when you falsely color the facts is yourself. In some cases, your attorney may discover the prosecution has very little or very weak evidence, and you may want to take the case to court to get a not guilty verdict. If you’re really lucky, the state will realize that it just doesn’t have enough evidence to prove its case and will drop the charges altogether.

Only a few DWI cases in every thousand see the charges dropped, however. Over the course of many years chasing down drunken drivers, time-tested methods of gathering evidence have been mastered by most law enforcement agencies, and their officers have been taught to religiously follow these procedures. Every officer knows to set up his vehicle so its video system will be able to catch the entire interaction with the DWI suspect. The video will capture the drunken antics of the driver, and field sobriety test the officer makes the driver take. If the driver refuses the field sobriety test or doesn’t perform well on the tests, then the officer will ask the driver to take a breathalyzer. When you couple the natural inclinations of the jurors and judge to frown upon drunk drivers with whatever evidence the state has against you for failing or refusing a BAC test, then you have more than adequate incentive to work out a plea bargain.

Rest assured that a plea bargain usually results in a much lighter sentence than if you wasted the court’s time and the county’s money by insisting on a trial. You are far more likely to be granted deferred adjudication if you arrange for a plea agreement. Such a deferred adjudication arrangement allows for the charges to be dropped after completion of community supervision probation.

Keep in mind: there is very point in having an attorney if you’re not going to be honest and give him or her the chance to give you the best defense possible.

Types of DWI Cases

Though it’s not easy for the defendant to prevail in a DWI case, it’s not impossible to secure an acquittal if you have the combination of the facts and a clever Addison DWI attorney on your side. In order that you can get a better understanding of what outcome your situation may warrant, we want to explain a little bit more about the various types of DWI cases.

Unless you’ve been raised under a rock (in dry county), you’ve probably heard that it’s against the law to operate a motor vehicle while intoxicated in the United States. However, was does it mean to be intoxicated in the eyes of the law? When it comes to DWI offenses, the term “intoxicated” is defined in two different ways: when a driver’s BAC has risen above the legal limit of .08 percent, or when the driver is so drunk or impaired by drugs or a combination of controlled substances that he or she has apparently lost “normal mental and physical” ability.

If you couldn’t tell instinctively, the first definition is concrete, and the second definition is highly debatable in a court of law. Common law has come to see this definition as meaning not what is normal for the average person but what is normal only for the driver who is suspected of a DWI. You’re probably wondering about the next logical question before we even ask it. How can a police officer who has never met the driver establish what that driver’s normal behavior should be.

Since this second standard is so vague, you can easily understand why law enforcement agencies have become so dependent upon on breathalyzers and blood tests as more reliable forms of evidence to prove drunken driving. Not only is second standard subjective in nature, but it allows the driver to escape the full financial responsibility for his or her actions in some cases. If someone tests for a BAC higher than .16 percent the annual surcharge he or she owes to maintain his or her driver’s license is $2,000 for three years. However, for less severe drunken driving when the driver has a BAC between .08 percent and .16 percent, the annual surcharge is half that – only $1,000 for three years.

Whether the foundation of the case against you was built on a BAC test of some kind or just the police officer’s feeling that you were too drunk for your own safety, the Addison drunken driving lawyers at Grossman Law Offices will help you obtain the most desirable solution if you have been charged with some form of DWI offense.

Your Rights in a DWI Case

When you were pulled over by a police officer who suspected you of drunken driving, hopefully you remembered to stay claim and not panic. The police officer is just doing his or her job, so it doesn’t make any sense to lose your temper. That will only worsen your situation. After asking you a few questions, the police officer will ask you to step out of your car and undergo some roadside sobriety tests if he or she suspects you of drunken driving due to the answers you give to thee questions. Since one of the standards for driving while intoxicated is losing your normal mental and physical abilities, you have every right to refuse to take a field sobriety test that you would not normally be able to pass. For instance, you are asked to stand on one leg and say the alphabet backwards, but you have a pair of surgically repaired knee. You likely could not do this when 100 percent sober, so you have every right to refuse the test.

Before deciding to take this tactic, though, you should beware that the police officer will only respond by suggesting you take some other form of roadside sobriety test. If you refuse all of the field sobriety examinations, then most police officers will demand you take a breathalyzer test. Due to the questionable reliability of breathalyzer tests, you do have the right to decline to take this test, as well, but there are immediate and serious negative fallout, as you may already know. Not only will the police officer put the cuffs on you the moment you decline the breathalyzer, but your driver’s license will also be suspended before he puts you in the cruiser and hauls you off to the station. Once you arrive at the station, they will allow you to take a more reliable blood test, but your license will remain suspended. In many cases, the officer will attempt to get a warrant and test your blood against your will if you refuse to take the blood test, as well. Of course, most DWI offenses don’t occur during business hours, so the judge is often hard to find in order to produce the warrant.

Of particular importance, you should note that this tendency changes on certain holiday weekends. When New Year’s Eve, Labor Day, Memorial Day, or the Fourth of July roll around and an uncommonly high number of people crack open bottles, certain judges preauthorize warrants, allowing officers to extract blood for BAC testing without getting the consent of the suspect. If you get pulled over on New Year’s Day coming back from a bowl-watching party, then the chances are strong that your BAC is going to be tested. This is of particular importance to people who use drugs in addition to alcohol. A breathalyzer test won’t detect this violation of the law, but a blood test will, putting the driver in more trouble than he or she would have been had the driver just relented to the breathalyzer.

Whether it was a breathalyzer you failed or a blood test, or you were arrested for refusing to take any test at all, then you need an experienced and crafty Addison DWI attorney like those at Grossman Law Offices to safeguard your rights and help make sure you see the best resolution possible for your situation. If the police officer did not follow proper procedure when gathering evidence against you, then we know how to convince the court to ignore that evidence.

Blood Alcohol Level in Texas DWI Cases

If you’ve received some form of drunken driving violation, then you are probably known more than you’d like about blood alcohol concentration (BAC) already. As we’ve discussed previously: when driving a car, the legal level of intoxication is.08 percent BAC. However, do you understand what this means? In your blood stream, the fluid is .08 percent alcohol. The reason why the federal government has lobbied heavily to have every state recognize .08 BAC as the established standard for DWI is that scientific studies have found that this is the level at which your normal and physical abilities become impaired, which is of course the more vague definition of intoxication. BAC can be estimated using three methods:

• Measuring the amount of grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood.
• Measuring the amount of grams of alcohol per 210 liters of breath.
• Measuring the amount of grams of alcohol per 67 milliliters of urine.

While he’s reached a level of intoxication, not even Stephen Hawking could accurately calculate his own blood alcohol level as he continued to drink. The accepted forms of measuring BAC are likely more accurate than doing one’s own math, but they’re still quite flawed. In order to make their calculations, all of these methods rely upon formulas that are based off the norms for human beings and not off of your specific body chemistry. Thus, you may come up with different BAC results when you take one test or another and be considered to be intoxicated when you are not or legally sober when you are not. Even if you haven’t taken a BAC test, a police officer can still arrest you for suspected DWI, but a prosecutor will have a tough time proving this case in court based merely upon the officer’s assertion that your normal mental and physical abilities were impaired.

Breathalyzer Inaccuracies

When time passes between the crime and the BAC test, the reliability of the examination comes even more into question. To secure a conviction, the state will need to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the defendant not only was intoxicated, but also, that he or she was drunk while actually behind the wheel. In most cases, a BAC test is not administered right away and in many cases may not be given until and hour and half after the police officer pulled the driver over under suspicion of a DWI.

In the greater scheme of things, one hour may not seem like a terribly long time, but when it comes to measuring BAC – it might as well be an eternity. As time flies, so does the alcohol through he defendant’s system, with the rate of absorption into the blood and removal from the system fluctuating depending upon the victim’s weight, how much he or she had eaten, the speed of consumption, the types of alcohol consumed, and whether or not the driver had also been taking illicit drugs. After an hour has elapsed, a BAC test could be unreliable both in favor of the defendant or the prosecution. If the driver was intoxicated at the time of the traffic stop but had stopped drinking some time before getting into the car, then he or she could process enough of the alcohol he or she had in his her system out of the blood stream in order to test below a BAC of .08 percent. By the same token, the driver may have been below a BAC of .08 percent when stopped but with a belly full of recently consumed liquor. Then, in the hour between being pulled over and taking the BAC test; the alcohol is consumed, causing the driver’s BAC to shoot past the intoxication point before the test is given.

If the amount of elapsed time between your traffic stop and your BAC test calls the accuracy of your test into question, then you need the help of a seasoned and crafty Addison DWI attorney to ensure that evidence is excluded from your trial.

Texas DWI Testing Procedures

What makes the weaknesses of the current BAC testing difficult to stomach is that blood tests are far more accurate than breathalyzers and allow for the sample to easily be kept for later testing. However, it’s impractical to expect police officers to administer blood tests on the side of the road, so there’s always a lengthy period of time before they can be administered. As we’ve explained, delaying in testing affects the reliability of the test. While lacking the reliability of blood tests, breathalyzers have become the chosen BAC test of Texas law enforcement agencies because they’re portable and can be administered anywhere.

In Texas, law enforcement agencies prefer the Intoxilyzer 5000 which uses an infrared light detection system to estimate BAC by the amount of blood on the breath. Unfortunately, this is machine is based on woefully out-of-date 30-year-old technology. You don’t still rely upon an electric typewriter to do your word processing, but the state is still using similarly out-dated technology.

While not at all common, instances have been known to occur in which the Intoxilyzer 5000 mistakes harmless substances for alcohol. A much more common glitch with this system is the flawed method by which it measures BAC. All of the Intoxilyzer’s formulas to calculate BAC use the average blood to breath ratio of 2100/1. The problem with this is that person can have a blood to breath ratio that differs from this average by as much as 1,000 parts in either direction. Someone with an abnormally high blood-to-breath ration would score a BAC far below what it was in reality, and someone with an abnormally low blood-to-breath ratio would have an abnormally high BAC.

Compounding these concerns, the manufacturer of the Intoxilyzer won’t guarantee its reliability, and law enforcement agencies only will allow their officers to test the machines.

On the other hand, if the Texas Department of Public Safety altered its regulations, then the Intoxilyzer could be a much more accurate and reliable machine. There is a test called a gas chromatographer that is much more reliable than the breathalyzer, and the Intoxilyzer has the ability to preserve breath samples until the more accurate test can be administered. Despite these obvious advantages, the DPS refuses to mandate that law enforcement agencies preserve the breath samples and then conduct the gas chromatographer. If they did so, BAC tests that otherwise would have delivered convictions might be revealed to be incorrect, leading to acquittals.

On the other hand, if the Texas Department of Public Safety altered its regulations, then the Intoxilyzer could be a much more accurate and reliable machine. There is a test called a gas chromatographer that is much more reliable than the breathalyzer, and the Intoxilyzer has the ability to preserve breath samples until the more accurate test can be administered. Despite these obvious advantages, the DPS refuses to mandate that law enforcement agencies preserve the breath samples and then conduct the gas chromatographer. If they did so, BAC tests that otherwise would have delivered convictions might be revealed to be incorrect, leading to acquittals.

Texas DWI Penalties

As we also mentioned earlier, the courts provide a significant amount of leeway when sentencing DWI offenders. The previous DWI history and the damage caused by the crime determine the gravity of the punishment. Here is a list of some of the crimes, and the according range of penalties and punitive measures:

First-time DWI

The court can sentence anyone convicted of this Class B misdemeanor to a maximum of 180 days in jail, a $2,000 fine, and a driver’s license suspension of between 90 days and one year. If the person's BAC (blood alcohol concentration) is at or above .15%, the charge is automatically bumped up to a Class A misdemeanor.

Second-time DWI

When someone has been convicted of a second DWI offense, the crime amps up to a Class A misdemeanor, punishable with a maximum prison term of one year and a fine not to exceed $4,000. Moreover, the drunken driver’s license could be revoked up to two years.

Third-time DWI

Upon the third conviction, a drunken driver has committed a third degree felony, and can be sent to jail for up to 10 years, fined up to $10,000 and lose his or her license for as long as two years.

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Open Containers

By carrying an open container holding alcohol in it when pulled over for drunken driving, a person guilty of DWI must have minimum of six days added to his or her prison sentence and a maximum of $2,000 added to his or her fines.

Driver’s License Surcharges

The fines aren’t over with a DWI after you have merely paid the court-ordered fines and fees. Should you want to drive again after your driver’s license revocation ends, you will need to pay a pricey surcharge for the next three years. If you merely had a BAC of less than .16 percent, then the surcharge is $1,000 per year. However, extremely intoxicated people with BACs over .16 percent at the time of arrest must pay $2,000 annually for three years. For second convictions, the surcharge raises to $1,500 for three years, and the prices climbs another $500 per year for a third DWI. These fees can be particularly overwhelming when the crimes overlap, for the offender must pay them simultaneously. It’s not unheard of for someone to have to pay upwards of $5,000 per year just to maintain a driver’s license after multiple DWIs.

Intoxication Assault

Since DWI penalties are designed with the public well-being in mind, punishments get far more severe for the more harm done by the drunken driver. When a driver gets into an accident that results in someone else being injured, then the driver has committed a 3rd-degree felony and could be sentenced between to and ten years in prison and fined as much as $10,000.

Intoxication Manslaughter

Quite frankly, there is no comparison – intoxication manslaughter is the most severe crime related to drunken driving. When someone dies in a car accident with someone who is intoxicated, then the drunken driver can be charged with this 2nd-degree and sentenced to as long as 20 years in prison and fined as much as $10,000.

Community Supervision

While all of these crimes can involve prison time, intoxication manslaughter and intoxication assault are the only crimes that come with mandatory terms actually in prison – 30 days for intoxication assault and 120 days for intoxication manslaughter (intoxication assault with a deadly weapon has no possibility of probation at all). Most people found guilty for most of these other DWI crimes plea bargain into probation.

While probation is infinitely preferable to a jail sentence, it’s still not someone you’d aspire to do. Someone sentenced to probation is given a certain amount of time in which his or her behavior will be monitored by probation officer appointed by the community. This probation officer will make sure you follow all of the parameters of your probation. In Dallas County, you must pay $50 per month as a supervision fee, but that’s only the beginning of the requirements you must fulfill. You will be required to meet with a probation officer every month at the beginning of your probationary period. If you fulfill all of your probationary mandates and build trust, then your probation officer may permit you to report once every couple of months in person, mailing in probationary reports when you do not appear in person. The other things you will be expected to do in order to comply with your probation will include: abstaining from drinking any alcohol, not committing any crimes other than perhaps a traffic violation, fulfilling a prescribed amount of community service hours, paying all court fees and fines on time, and attending and alcohol education classes. As well, you could be asked to take a urine test to confirm you have not had anything to drink; although, you will not be asked to do so every month. If your DWI incident also involved drug use or possession, then you will be more likely to be tested and will more often be tested.

When you are convicted of a first DWI, the state will NOT install an interlock device on your car. However, multiple DWI convictions within 10 years will likely lead to this device, which forces the driver to blow into it and confirm he or she is sober before the car will start, being installed on your ignition. If the driver has been drinking, then the car will not start, and the driver must wait for two hours before blowing in it again. Moreover, the driver’s probation officer will be informed of the failed interlock test. Even when someone who has been convicted of multiple DWIs manages to remain sober and successfully start the interlock mechanism every time he or she tries, doing so is still embarrassing and a painful reminder of the difficult situation in which the driver has gotten stuck.

Only very rarely can DWI convictions be expunged from someone’s record, so unfortunately, if you’ve been convicted of a DWI, then you will never be able to escape what you’ve done. Even when it’s possible to expunge a DWI, the conviction still remains on the record for your driver’s license, causing your insurance premiums to skyrocket for the next 10 years.

If you’ve been arrested for a DWI, then you need an Addison DWI attorney protecting your rights or you’re taking unnecessary chances with your future. Over the course of the last 20 years, the attorneys at Grossman Law Offices have handled all different kinds of DWI case in Dallas County, so we have the knowledge, skill, and expertise to help you no matter what the conditions of your arrest.

Minors Under 21 DWI & DUI

When someone has not reached the legal drinking age of 21, the laws regarding driving and alcohol are completely different. While 18 is the point at which a person becomes an adult legally speaking for most laws, this is not the cases when it comes to drinking and driving, where anyone under 21 is a minor. No one under 21-years-old is permitted to legally drive a car after drinking ANY alcohol. Any minor doing so is guilty of Driving Under the Influence (DUI).

Despite what you might think, driving is not a right but a privilege. If a breathalyzer finds any alcohol in a minor’s system at all, then he or she will have his or her license suspended for 60 days. While they’re’ minors, those under 21 still have legal rights when stopped under suspicion of DUI just like any other person. Minors are not compelled to take roadside sobriety tests, but there is a price to pay for doing so just like for adults. Minors who are found to have had alcohol in their system when refusing a breathalyzer after driving will have their licensed revoked for 120 days upon the first DUI and 240 days for a second. In other words, if you’re under 21 and have been drinking, then it might be a wise decision to relent to a breathalyzer test. This isn’t like with a DWI where it’s possible to lower your BAC with time. Even an hour later, a blood test will still detect some alcohol in your system. Unless you’re facing a second DUI conviction because a positive breathalyzer test will result in your driver’s license being suspended for a year.

However, this is just the tip of the punishment iceberg. Any minor whom the court determines to be an alcoholic may lose his or her license permanently until he or she becomes an adult. In addition, such a minor, or someone under 21 who is determined to have a drug problem which contributes to his or her tendencies to accumulate DUIs may also be sent to court-mandated rehabilitation.

While DUI is the most common drunken driving charge for minors, they can also be convicted of DWIs if they’re found to have had a BAC over.08 percent when they’re behind the wheel. Minors who are 17 or older face the same sentence as adults convicted of a DWI – a maximum sentence 180 days in jail and a fine of $2,000, plus any applicable surcharges to reinstate their driver’s licenses. Those minors younger than 17 could be sent into juvenile detention for a DWI.

First-time DUI

While definitely not as sobering as a DWI conviction, a first-time DUI must be taken seriously. A first-time DUI is a Class C misdemeanor which threatens no jail time but plenty of community service – between 20-40 hours. Plus, the minor must be accompanied by his or her parents to every court appearance, and he or she must take alcohol awareness classes. In some cases, the minor’s parents will also be forced to take the classes, a swell. On the other hand, minors convicted of DUIs for the first time are usually given the opportunity of deferred adjudicated instead of a standard probation period. When the driver turns 21 and has completed the terms of probation, then his or her record is then expunged.

Second-time DUI

Second DUI convictions differ from the first only that the driver’s license is suspended longer as mentioned, and community service hours are extended to 60 hours. Moreover, expunction is no longer an option; even though, the convicted minor may still enter a deferred adjudication agreement with the state.

Third-time DUI

When a minor has committed a third DUI, the crime is upgraded to a Class B misdemeanor and deferred adjudication is no longer an option. If the minor is older than 17, then this can be punishable with a prison sentence as long as 180 days and a fine between $500 and $2,000. As is the case with adults, though, the convicted minor is likely to be sentenced to probation instead of prison.

In all likelihood, you would not have come upon this website and begun reading this article if you or your teenager had not already made a pretty big mistake. Don’t make another one by foolishly attempting to deal with your legal situation on your own or by hiring an inexperienced lawyer who has no idea what he is doing. You need a skilled and savvy Addison DWI lawyer like those at Grossman Law Offices to limit the extent the damage.

ALR Hearing After a DWI

Whether an adult or a minor, anyone refusing to take a breathalyzer test will have his or her driver’s license immediately revoked. However, the arresting officer will issue the suspect a provisional driver’s license which lasts for 40 days, as the defendant is afforded the chance to challenge the suspension.

Once your license has been suspended for a refusing a breathalyzer, you will receive notification by mail, and then you’re afforded 15 days to submit a request for an Administrative License Revocation Hearing (or an ALR hearing). Failing to file the request within the allotted 15 days waives the right to have an ALR hearing. At this hearing, your representation can attempt to argue why you should be allowed to keep your license.

Unfortunately, the Dallas County courts are fairly clogged with cases, so it’s highly unlikely that your ALR hearing will be scheduled before the 40 days allotted on your provisional license run out. When this occurs, the limit of the provisional license is lengthened until you’ve had your ALR hearing. After losing an ALR hearing, the defendant has an additional 30 days to file an appeal, which automatically extends the provisional license for another 90 days. By prevailing in the ALR hearing or later at trial, the defendant forces the driver’s license suspension to be lifted.

If your driver’s license has been suspended due to a DWI or DUI, don’t assume the world is coming to an end. The Addison DWI attorneys at Grossman Law Offices may be able to get that suspension lifted, putting you back behind the wheel.

Occupational Driver's Licenses

Even if you’re convicted of a DWI and your driver’s license suspension is upheld, the Addison DWI attorneys at Grossman Law Offices can help you recover the right to drive. The state of Texas wants to punish DWI violators, but it also has an understanding that all Texans need to work or get an education, provide for their families, and care for the kids. Moreover, DART, while much better than it used to be, still doesn’t make it easy to get everywhere you need to go. Even when your license has been taken away as a result of a drunken driving incident, you can still apply for an Occupational Driver’s License (ODL). While preferable to not driving at all, ODLs are expensive and come with limits on your driving rights. In order to drive on an ODL, the convicted DWI violator must keep a driving journal that tracks all of the details of every voyage: the destination and purpose of the trip, the date, the time elapsed on the journey, and the length of the trip.

In order to receive an ODL, on top of coming up with the fee, the court will need to see a special petition that describes in detail the license you need, the nature of your DWI crime, and all of the places to which you will need to drive on the ODL license. You don’t want to take the chance that you alienate the court by incorrectly applying for the ODL. At Grossman Law Offices, our attorneys can take one of the problems off your plate right now by handling your ODL license application and getting you back behind the wheel.

Differences Between Public Intoxication and DWI

In their mind’s eye, most people lump public intoxication and DWI together. However, that’s a gross over-simplification, as the two crimes don’t even define the term “intoxication” the same. You already know the definition of intoxication for DWI offenses -- a BAC in excess of.08 percent or the loss of “normal mental and physical” ability. When it comes to public intoxication, the offender is considered to be intoxicated if he or she has become a danger to him or herself or others.

When it comes to DWI, there is a rigid procedure for gathering evidence to which law enforcement officers must comply at risk of termination. However, there is no set procedure for dealing with someone suspected of public intoxication. All that is required is a police officer to come into contact with the drunk and make the determination that he or she is a danger to others.

Also, public intoxication differs from DWI in the nature of the danger presented to the public. Someone who is passed out in a stranger’s backyard after stumbling through the fence from the bar next door does not present nearly as big of a threat to the public as someone who is swerving down the highway in super-cab truck. Since public intoxication presents significantly less of a threat, it is classified as a Class C misdemeanor carrying a much lighter punishment. There is no jail time for public intoxication, and it’s only punishable with a $500 fine. In fact, if you’ve been charged with P.I. you really don’t need an attorney at all. You can just pay the fine. When it comes to a DWI charge, however, you’re playing with fire if you show up to court alone. If you want to avoid being convicted or at the very least minimize the extent of your punishment, then you will need a clever Addison DWI attorney who has extensive familiarity with such cases.

Texas DWI & Child Endangerment

Since children are often unwittingly stuffed into a car as their parents get behind the wheel while drunk, the Texas Legislature seeks to protect them by creating stiffer penalties for drunken drivers who endanger children. In Texas, DWI with a minor in the vehicle is considered a form a child endangerment and is a state felony carrying a maximum prison sentence of two years and a fine as high a $10,000. There is a far greater chance a police officer will arrest a person suspected of this offense even without a drug test, as law enforcement agencies train their officers to do what is necessary to protect the children. For single parents, that’s the far less severe form of punishment. After being convicted of DWI with a minor in the vehicle, a single parent stands the very real threat of losing custody of his or her children – if not to the ex but also to child protective services.

Since your family’s fate is at stake, you need to find the help of a seasoned and skilled Addison DWI attorney who has experience in the Dallas County court system and knows what needs to be done in order to call the accuracy of the BAC test and the judgment of the arresting officer into question. If the circumstances of the case permit it, our team of DWI experts at Grossman Law Offices knows how to prove no threat was presented to the children in your vehicle. If you try to do this yourself or you choose the wrong attorney, you could regret doing so forever.

More on Texas Intoxication Assault and Manslaughter Charges

Just like a conviction for a DWI with a minor in the vehicle, intoxication assault and intoxication manslaughter convictions are extremely negatively perceived by the public. When it comes to these two last offenses, the punishments may be very hard, but the burden of proof for the prosecution is very easy. To get a conviction, the state doesn’t have to prove any harmful intent just that the driver was intoxicated and the accident caused the injury or death of someone else. Moreover, when suspected of intoxication assault or manslaughter, your blood will be taken without your consent. Like we mentioned earlier, there’s also very stiff consequences when convicted -- $10,000 fines for both offenses and between two and 20 years in prison, with at 30 days mandatory.

Granted, the old saying is that “anyone who represents himself in court has a fool for a client.” Don’t end up as an anecdote that lawyers use on their websites to convince people to hire them. In order to secure the best possible resolution to your case, you must hire a knowledgeable Addison DWI lawyer with experience handling DWI cases in Dallas County courts. At Grossman Law Offices, we know we can help you.

Your Rights When Suspected of a DWI

When accused of a DWI, your rights are protected by the Constitution so long as you’re a U.S. citizen. It’s not like a drunken driving violation brings the Patriot Act into play. Declining a breathalyzer test is your right, but it will lead to your driver’s license being taken from you. Since the state gives you the privilege of driving, it has every right to take this privilege away. In fact, the punishment for refusing a breathalyzer was installed to stop drunken drivers from avoiding convictions by simply refusing to take the BAC test. Despite the concerns over the accuracy of breathalyzers, Texas lawmakers sided with the belief that only someone with something to hide would refuse to take such a test. If you are being accused of a second or third DWI, then a breathalyzer test refusal can be presented as evidence against you at trial. On other hand, the state will only suspend your driver’s license for 90 days if you take and fail a breathalyzer test.

Whether you decline or agree to a BAC test, you need to remember that the video recording system in the officer’s car will be capturing all of your actions and comments. If you appear intoxicated, this will hurt you in court.

Despite any false conceptions you developed from too many cop shows and movies, you don’t have the “right to attorney” during a traffic stop. You can only demand a lawyer if you’re being questioned about a criminal offense. On the other hand, if you know the Miranda Rights by heart, you do have the “right to remain silent.” While the video recorder in the cruiser is capturing everything you say, you don’t have to say anything. You’re not required to answer the officer’s questions or volunteer any information. This tactic will surely end with you being arrested, but it may also cripple the state’s case because they lack any evidence of your guilt.

Grossman Law Offices Can Help

For over 20 years now, the Addison DWI lawyers at Grossman Law Offices have been helping people wrongly accused of DWI go free and others who have been justly arrested for drunken driving offenses limit the extent of their punishment. Over the course of this time, we’ve learned virtually everything there is to know about DWI law and mastered the court procedures specific to Dallas County.

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Even if we were familiar with the specifics of your case, we couldn’t guarantee you will go free. Nobody can. We can only pledge our devotion to doing whatever is in our power legally to help you secure the best viable result to your case. We have the ability to help anyone who has been accused of a DWI. Minors who get DUIs after one beer, parents who drank one margarita too many before driving the family home from dinner, adults who hurt innocent victims in auto accidents while well over the legal limit of intoxication, people who decline to take breathalyzer tests – we know how to help all of you obtain an outcome with which you can live. We’ve spent two decades accumulating our experience and knowledge, and you can now benefit from the time and effort we’ve invested. Call us now for a free consultation at 1-855-427-0000 (toll free). You will have the opportunity to confidentially tell your story to a skilled Addison DWI attorney and ask any questions you may have. Once we know the circumstances of your case, we can explain how we can help and provide the answers you seek. The only way to avoid a guilty plea or limit the discomfort of a conviction is to hire an attorney you can trust, pick up the phone and call us now.