Denton DWI Lawyer

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

The University of North Texas is the second-largest university in the state, and with Texas Woman’ University across town it’s no surprise that Denton has more than a few bars and clubs that cater to the students. As with any college atmosphere, drinking is commonplace, and the Denton and campus police forces all keep busy chasing down drunk drivers.

If you want to see the conclusion you desire after being charged with driving while intoxicated in Denton County, then you’re going to need a savvy, experienced Denton DWI attorney standing by your side. You need an advocate working for you who has spent time in the Denton County courts – one who knows the procedures whose reputation is known among the prosecutors. You can throw a stone off the courthouse steps and hit 25 different attorneys who’d be happy to accept a paycheck in exchange for walking you through court and praying for some leniency from the judge or jury. However, you need an attorney who is willing to devote the necessary time and thought to your case. At Grossman Law Offices, we treat each and every case as if the client is a member of our own family whom we don’t want to see harmed. We will do whatever we can within the confines of the law to see our clients receive the best possible outcome to their cases.

Pay heed: a guilty verdict could mean jail time, huge fines, and a likely temporary revocation of your driver’s license. You must take this matter absolutely seriously. In order to obtain the most beneficial solution to your problem, you must have the assistance of a Denton DWI lawyer who knows what he or she is doing. At Grossman Law Offices, our team of attorneys has spent the two decades handling various kinds of DWI cases in Denton and all over North Texas. If you’d like to discuss the circumstances of your case with a DWI lawyer, then call us now for a free and confidential consultation at 1-855-427-0000 (toll free). After we’ve heard the specifics of your situation, we can give you a better idea of where you stand, and what options you have available.

While you’re mulling over which attorney to hire, we want to help you better understand a little bit more about the basics involved with drunken driving laws. Only an informed defendant can make the best decisions to secure the most favorable outcome in his or her trial. Therefore, we’d like you to peruse this informative article and familiarize yourself with the ins and outs of the different DWI offenses. After you’ve read and learned, you can start making important decisions.

A Different Kind of Criminal

Due to the nature of the criminal, DWI trials are not like criminal trials. In DWI cases, the defendant is a normal upstanding citizen who erred in judgment and not a hardened, deliberate criminal. No matter whom you are or how well you think you can drink, alcohol negatively affects your ability to make rational decisions. If you drink too much, then you could easily lose the ability to differentiate between whether or not you are capable of driving home. Despite the nature of the criminals, the prosecution still intends upon punishing those guilty of DWI just as if they have committed any other criminal act. If convicted, you will be facing the possibility of jail and the certainty of sizable fines and penalties. You’re going to need the help of a Denton DWI attorney you can trust if you want to hear, “not guilty,” or at least minimize the negative fallout of a guilty plea.

Understanding the Inner Workings of a Criminal Proceeding

Until you first comprehend the basics of criminal law, we can’t go into more depth about the process to resolve a drunken driving case. In the United States, the Constitution affords all citizens certain rights, with the first 10 amendments, referred to as the Bill of Rights, providing the rights most Americans have come to consider inalienable. Both the evidence gathering methods of the arresting police officer, and the laws of the municipality must respect your constitutionally protected rights, and you are presumed innocent until the state proves its case against you.

With that being said, individual counties, cities, and towns have the right to establish the guidelines by which their society is governed, so long as they adhere to the Constitution. To grasp this concept, let’s take a look using at cell phones while driving. Studies find that using a cell phone, particularly texting, while driving can be very dangerous. In Texas, some communities are starting to outlaw driving and texting, and most communities have already made it illegal to use a phone while driving through a school zone. Individual municipalities establish laws such as these, along with the range of punishment and penalties for violating the law. Anyone accused of violating this law must go to the applicable court and take care of the ticket either by paying the fine, fighting the ticket, or applying for defensive driving.

When someone commits more serious crimes, like conspiring to poison a water supply or assassinate the President, there are no geographical limitations to justice within the United States, and the federal court system takes over.

Complicating the process of trying or settling a case, each individual court, whether it’s a county court or a federal one, has its own distinct set of rules and even what would be called a “personality.” While each court has the same function, they are all different. To understand this better, consider the analogy of burger joint that you love. It might be a part of a national franchise of burger restaurants, but the one you love is bound to have a cook who makes the burger in a certain way. Or, perhaps there is a waitress who gives the best services you’ve ever had. When you go to another location from the same franchise, it will taste similar, but not exactly the same as the joint to which you’re accustomed. In just the same way, the procedures, penalties, and punishments associated with DWI vary in different locales; even though, the crime is illegal throughout the state of Texas. In order to secure the resolution you desire if you’ve been accused of a DWI in Denton, you need a Denton DWI lawyer who is familiar with the procedures in the Denton County courts.

While you always have the right to have your case heard in front of a jury, you might be much better off coming to a plea agreement. In many instances, both sides, the prosecution and the defense, can gain from a coming to a plea agreement because they both have something to lose by going to trial. It goes without saying that if found guilty the defendant will lose money and possibly his or her freedom. While the prosecution doesn’t have as much to lose, the stakes are still personal. If a prosecutor loses, his or her reputation takes a hit. Too many losses in court, and the prosecutor could be looking for a new job. What’s make this situation hard the prosecutor is that he or she is relying upon the police do their jobs properly. If the police violate the defendant’s rights when collecting evidence, or fail to gather enough evidence to secure a conviction, then the prosecution is at risk. Even when there is evidence, like a failed breathalyzer test, it’s often not enough to secure a guilty verdict. In most instances, the prosecution would rather guarantee a “win” by coming to a plea agreement.

How a Lawyer Can Help You with Your DWI Case

Justice may be blind, as the old saying go, but it’s not black and white in most cases. When it comes to applying punishment in criminal cases, the legal system sees plenty of shades of gray, providing a wide range of punishment to account for the unrepentant habitual offender, as well as, the guilt-ridden first-time criminal who made a single, isolated error. If someone is convicted of an offense, then the judge or jury has the right to sentence the criminal for between X and Y years in prison, with those criminals who are viewed as the biggest threats to society receiving the stiffest punishment. However, when DWI charges are just initially filed against you, the state will be pursuing the maximum sentence because it doesn’t know which kind of criminal you are.

By contacting a Denton drunken driving lawyer like those at Grossman law Offices, you take the best stance in order to make the court see you as a person and not just another number on the docket. To begin with, our attorneys will want to hear your version of the facts. Whether you contact our firm or another, it’s essential that you be honest you’re your lawyer. Next, we’re going to need to ascertain the strength of the prosecution’s case and what sentence they will be seeking. In a criminal proceeding, everyone involved has the right to see the other side’s evidence during the discovery period. However, our familiarity with the Denton County courts will facilitate this process, as we’ve been doing business there for two decades and can ease communication with prosecutors with whom we’ve already dealt. After we’ve blended your version of the facts with the prosecutions, the whole picture begins to take focus, and we can start to plot the best course for resolving your situation. If you choose our law firm to represent you, our aggressive and experienced Denton DWI attorneys will protect your rights, and make sure you understand every legal action we take as we help you accomplish the best possible outcome of your case.

DWI Plea Bargains vs. Jury Trials and Other Options

As we’ve already mentioned, you need to give all of the facts to your attorney in a truthful manner or your counsel will not be able to adequately perform his or her job. The reason why your attorney needs to know the whole story before devising a strategy is simple: only a well-informed lawyer can plot the proper course for your legal process. If the evidence is weak, or the police erred in their methods, then benefit from a jury. When the evidence is particularly woeful, the district attorney’s office may even drop the charges in rare cases.

In most cases, the arresting officer sticks to his or her department’s time-tested procedures for stopping suspects and gathering evidence. Thus, the prosecution usually has at its disposal video footage of the driver’s drunken behavior, and either a failed blood or breathalyzer test or a documented refusal to take such a test. When you factor that in with the likely probability that the judge and jury are naturally inclined to be prejudiced against drunken drivers, and the defendant is usually best off arranging for a plea agreement than going to trial.

More often than not, the prosecution and judge are fare more likely to grant deferred adjudication or some other form of memo agreement. In that instance, the charges are officially dropped after a probation period is successfully completed.

Importantly, you must be honest with your attorney – that’s the only way your lawyer can help you obtain the best possible resolution to your case.

Types of DWI Cases

Due to the negative prejudices held against drunken drivers by most jurors, innocent verdicts in DWI trials are difficult to secure, but they can be obtained given the combination of an aggressive and knowledgeable attorney and the right details of the case. In order to help you comprehend whether or not the charges against you will withstand scrutiny, our firm wants to explain a little more about the different types of DWI cases.

Unless you’ve been raised by wolves, you probably know that it’s against the law to operate a motor vehicle while legally intoxicated in any state in the land. On the other hand, most people don’t full understand the legal meaning of the word “intoxicated” as it pertains to drunken driving. While you are correct in believing that someone who has a blood alcohol concentration of .08 or greater is considered intoxicated, the legal definition when it comes to DWI is more inclusive and also considers anyone intoxicated who has lost “normal mental and physical” abilities have due to the use of drugs, alcohol, or any combination of controlled substances.

Without a doubt, this alternative explanation of “intoxication” is far more debatable in a court room than the concrete .08 percent standard. The court has come to accept that normal refers only to what is typical behavior for the specific driver and not what is normal for an average person. Of course, this begs the question of how a law enforcement officer who has never met a driver can determine what normal behavior for that driver should be.

Understandably, law enforcement officers, therefore, always attempt to secure a BAC test to secure evidence that is harder to discredit. Moreover, the officer can increase the penalty collected by the state, if he or she can establish a higher BAC. Anyone who is found guilty of a DWI with a BAC of .08-.16 percent must pay a surcharge of $1,000 annually for three years to keep his or her driver’s license, while someone whose BAC is over .16 percent must pay $2,000 per year for years.

Whether the prosecution is basing its case upon a police officer who merely thought you were intoxicated or on an infallible drug test, our Denton DWI attorneys at Grossman Law Offices can help you if you have been charged with some form of offense related to drunken driving.

Your Rights in a DWI Case

Whenever you’re stopped because a police officer has suspected you of driving while intoxicated, the first thing you need to remember is: remain calm. Neither getting angry with the police officer nor panicking in general is going to help your situation whether you have been drinking or you haven’t. If the officer smells alcohol on your breath, or thinks there is anything fishy about the way you’re behaving, then he or she will likely ask you to step out of the car and perform from roadside sobriety tests. You may have a legitimate reason for believing that you could not pass the test under any circumstances. For example, say you have a wandering eye, and the officer asks you to take a Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus test in which your pupils must follow a light shone into your eyes. You won’t be able to perform this test and normal circumstances. Thus, you have every right to decline to take this test, since the basis of the definition of intoxication involves what is normal for you.

On the other hand, there will be repercussions for refusing to do what the officers asks of you. When you refuse to perform a field sobriety test for physical reasons, the officer will ask you to perform another type of test. If a driver repeatedly refuses to take field sobriety tests, the officer is instructed to then request a breathalyzer test. You also have every right to decline taking the breath test, since breathalyzer results have been proven to be highly suspect. However, this action carries with it even more dire consequences, as you will be immediately arrested and your driver’s license will be suspended on the spot. Once you arrive at the police station, you can take a blood test which is extremely accurate. Depending upon the time of day and the availability of a judge, the officer may try to get a warrant to extract your blood without your consent for the purpose of testing its BAC.

Be advised, before you make the decision to refuse a BAC test, there’s two other very important factors to consider: the date and the location. On certain holiday weekends – New Year’s Eve, Christmas, Fourth of July – when drunken driving is more widespread, the judges in certain counties authorize search warrants in advance to take blood samples without the consent of the driver. Typically, when a DWI suspect is pulled over, it’s late at night, and a judge cannot be reached to issue a warrant to extract blood. On holiday weekends, that’s often different. Anyone who has been using illegal drugs in addition to alcohol should take particularly notice of this warning, since a blood test will document the drug usage. In most cases, such a driver would be far better off by just relenting to a breathalyzer test.

You simply must have the protection of a skilled and seasoned Denton DWI attorney like those at Grossman Law Offices, if you have failed a BAC test or refused to take one. If your rights were violated in any way in the way you were stopped or the way your BAC test was administered, then we can make sure that evidence never sees the light of day in a courtroom.

Blood Alcohol Level in Texas DWI Cases

Since presumably yourself or someone in your family has recently received a DWI, you must now know all about the term blood alcohol concentration (BAC) if you didn’t already. As we’ve already mentioned, in the state of Texas, the concrete legal limit for intoxication when operating a motor vehicle is .08 percent BAC. Stated plainly, this means your .08 percent of your bloodstream is comprised of alcohol, and this is the scientifically proven point at which motor skills and reasonability become negatively affected. At the moment, BAC can be measured by detecting:

• The number of grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood.
• The number of grams of alcohol per 210 liters of breath.
• The number of grams of alcohol per 67 milliliters of urine.

Keeping track of your BAC as you drink is possible, but it’s not very probable. Not only would you need to know your weight and have access to a calculator, but you’d also need the mathematical skills of a mathematician. No matter which method of detecting BAC is used, its formulas are based upon what is normal for an average human being. IN other words, according to your body type, you might legally test over an intoxicated BAC by one method and not by another. In other words, a urine test could show a driver’s blood as being .09 percent alcohol, while a blood test could be as slow as .07 percent BAC. Even so, the police officer could still claim the driver is intoxicated by ruling his or her “normal mental and physical” abilities were impaired. You can be arrested for a DWI without the police officer ever testing your BAC.

Breathalyzer Inaccuracies

The accuracy of BAC tests is even more questionable due to the factor of time. To have absolutely irrefutable evidence, the prosecution must be able to prove that the driver was drunk when he or she was actually behind the wheel. That would require administering some form of BAC test immediately. However, most BAC tests are not administered until the officer has arrived at the jail with the suspect as long as 90 minutes after the traffic stop occurred.

An hour and a half may not seem like a lot of time, but it’s critical when trying to accurately determine the BAC of a driver and calls into question the accuracy of the test. A number of different factors can affect alcohol absorption; the driver’s weight, the amount he or she had to eat, the speed at which the driver was drinking, the different types of alcohol that were consumed, and the possibility the driver may have complicated the issue by taking illegal drugs, as well. When the BAC test is delayed, the results can be affected, either hurting or helping the accused. Say, for example, that a driver has a BAC of .07 percent when he or she is stopped by a police officer. It’s possible within the next hour that the driver processes the alcohol through his or her system and then takes a blood test, establishing his or her BAC of .05 percent, causing the state to drop its case. However, what if the driver still had liquor waiting to be absorbed into the blood stream at the time of the stop? Over the next 90 minutes, the stomach lining absorbs the alcohol, it enters the blood stream, and the driver’s BAC increases to .09 percent, leading to a sobering DWI charge and a night in prison.

Just the same as if a BAC test was illegally taken without your consent, a clever trial-tested Denton DWI lawyer an make sure a BAC test was taken too long after the fact is excluded from court.

Texas DWI Testing Procedures

In a perfect world, all DWI testing would be done with blood tests. For one thing, they’re more accurate, but they also allow for the blood sample to be easily stored and retested in cases of controversy. However, blood tests cannot be given in the field, so they make the testing process very inconvenient for all parties involved. While less accurate, breathalyzers are much more convenient, so most law enforcement agencies use them as the BAC test of choice.

In Texas, the chosen breathalyzer is the Intoxilyzer 5000, which can detect alcohol in the breath through its infrared light absorption monitor. Based on 30-year-old technology, the Intoxilyzer is about as technically advanced as a Commodore 64, but it’s still the chosen method in Texas for detecting alcohol on your breath. Can anyone feign shock that this machine isn’t foolproof?

First, other substances can be mistaken for alcohol on the breath by the Intoxilyzer 5000, but thinking Scope is a mint julep isn’t the most glaring glitch with this device. In order to detect the amount of the alcohol in the blood, the Intoxilyzer 5000 relies upon what is normal for an average person: a ratio of alcohol in the breath compared to the blood for of 2100/1. This method comes into question because people can have breath/blood ratios as low as 1100/1 or as high as 3100/1. Someone with a low breath/blood ratio will test as having an inaccurately high BAC, while someone with an abnormally high breath/blood ratio will have an inaccurately low BAC. In much the same way, abnormal extremes in height, weight, blood composition, muscle density, lung capacity, or temperature could all throw off the accuracy of a BAC test.

Concerns about the accuracy of the Intoxilyzer 5000 intensify when one considers that the manufacturer won’t guarantee its accuracy, and law enforcement officers are the only people allowed to the devices.

Making this situation exasperating, the Intoxilyzer 5000 has the capability of being a much more reliable testing device, for it can store breath samples for later testing. This would enable a much more reliable test, called a gas chromatographer to be administered to the sample. For some reason, the Texas Department of Public Safety is reluctant to mandate that officers save the breath samples and does not require does not require gas chromatography tests. Perhaps they’re fearful that such testing will reveal inaccuracies in the initial BAC tests, leading to too many innocent verdicts. The DPS quite possibly more concerned with taking a hard line on DWI than with the accuracy of its testing.

Even if you are a member of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, you can’t overlook the problems with the Intoxilyzer 5000. The results of this device are often suspicious, so you can’t assume you’re will be convicted just because you have failed a breathalyzer test. Contact Grossman Law Offices, and one our Denton DWI attorneys will explain how we can assist you in fighting a DWI charge that may have been based on a suspect BAC test.

Differences Between Public Intoxication and DWI

Though often coupled together in people’s minds, DWI and public intoxication share very little in common. In fact, even the word, “intoxication,” is defined differently for each offense. We’ve already explained the definition in terms of a DWI. In terms of a public intoxication charge, “intoxicated” is defined as when a person has become so drunk that he or she presents a danger to others and him or herself.

As we also explained earlier, every police department has an established procedure for gathering evidence against a driver suspected of a DWI. On the other hand, when it comes to public intoxication, there is no established procedure for gathering evidence – only an arresting officer who has determined the suspected to be a danger to him or herself and others.

Since those guilty of public intoxication create a much smaller danger to the world around them than someone committing a DWI, public intoxication is only categorized as a Class C misdemeanor and comes with no jail time and only a fine of $500. if you get a P.I. charge, then you can probably take care of it yourself. However, if you are up against a DWI charge, then you will surely need the assistance of a knowledgeable and experienced Denton DWI attorney if you want to minimize the punishment against you.

Texas DWI Penalties

In Texas, the court can dole out a wide spectrum of punishment for a DWI, depending upon the previous DWI history of the driver and the conditions of the arrest. The array of different crimes and punishments include:

Categorized as a Class B misdemeanor, a first DWI conviction is punishable with up to 180 days in jail and a maximum $2,000 fine. Moreover, the driver’s license can be suspended anywhere from 90 days to a 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.

Once the driver picks up a second DWI conviction, the crime becomes a Class A misdemeanor, punishable with up to a year in prison, a maximum fine of $4,000, and a revocation of your driver’s license for as long as two years.

Once the driver is convicted of a third DWI, he or she has become a felon, as this is a third degree felony. Such a crime comes with harsh penalties: a maximum prison sentence of 10 years, an automatic license suspension of two years, and a maximum fine of $10,000.

All of these serious offenses are only made more severe by carrying an open container holding alcohol in the car. An open container during a DWI arrest brings with it a fine of up to $2,000 and a minimum of six days in prison.

But wait, that’s not all. Should you want to resume driving after the end of your driver’s license suspension, you’re going to have to pay a tax called a surcharge. First time offenders are forced to pay an annual surcharge of $1,000 for three years, unless their BAC was greater than .16 percent, at which point the surcharge increases to $2,000 annually. A second DWI conviction comes with an annual three-year surcharge of $1,500 which again doubles in case of a BAC of .16 percent or higher. When someone accumulates multiple DWIs within three years, then the fines also accumulate. In other words, someone who blew a BAC of .21 percent for a second DWI after blowing .17 percent on the first DWI will be paying a grand total of $5,000 per year to maintain his or her license during the overlapping years of the fines.

When the drunken driver causes physical harm to others, the severity of the crime increases. When someone is injured in an auto accident with a drunken driver, and the driver is convicted, he or she faces a 3rd-degree felony called intoxication assault, which can carry a sentence of between two and ten years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

If someone dies as a result of an auto wreck with a drunken driver, then driver can be charged with intoxication manslaughter. This 2nd degree felony can be punishable with up to 20 years in jail and a maximum fine of $10,000.

Excluding intoxication assault and intoxication manslaughter which entail jail time for those convicted (and intoxication assault with a deadly weapon for which probation is forbidden), most people found guilty of DWI charges receive probation. The mandatory minimum sentence for intoxication assault it 30 days in fail, while for intoxication manslaughter it’s 120 days in prison.

While community supervision is far more amenable than prison, it’s still not fun. The court gives you a given amount of time in which your behavior is supervised and you must meet conditions provided for your probation. In the event you fail to do so, you could be forced to serve your entire jail sentence. In most cases, you will be forced to report to a probation officer every month and a $50 supervisory fee. Some jurisdictions and probation officers allow the probationers under their charge to report every other month or sometimes even not at all. They’re only compelled turn in a monthly form that documents the probationer is following the conditions of probation. In most cases, probationers are required to remain crime- and alcohol-free, complete a certain number of community service hours, pay all court fees and fines, and attend a DWI and alcohol education classes. In some counties, you may have to take urine tests for drugs and alcohol, particularly if your arrest involved illegal drugs or you have a history of drug usage.

So long as it’s your first DWI conviction, the state will not require an interlock device to be installed in your vehicle. However, if you are convicted of a second or third DWI in 10 years or intoxication manslaughter or intoxication assault, then the state will only permit you to drive a car with an interlock device, which attaches to the ignition and requires the driver to blow legally sober breath sample before the car will turnover. If you fail the interlock test, then the car will not even permit another test for two hours, and your probation officer will notified about the failed test.

In school, they always used to warn you about misbehavior going on your permanent record, but when it comes to DWI, this isn’t an idle threat. In all but the rarest incidences, someone who is convicted of a DWI will carry around the conviction for the rest of his or her life because it cannot be expunged. Even an expunged DWI still remains on the driver’s license record of the driver, causing insurance rates to inflate.

If you or anyone whom you love has been charged with a DWI, you must protect yourself by calling the Denton DWI lawyers at Grossman Law Offices immediately. In the 20 years we’ve been handling drunken driving cases, we’ve encountered nearly every imaginable scenario and know how to help you no matter what the circumstances of your arrest.

2nd & 3rd DWI Charges in Texas

Like we suggested earlier, severe punishments for multiple DWI convictions can destroy your lifestyle, strapping you with frightening jail time, enormous fines, time-consuming community service, and boring alcohol awareness seminars. Then, think about what it must be like to blow into an interlock device every time you start your car – it’s a not-so-subtle reminder of the BAC tests that got you into this fix in he first place. You simply cannot go into court representing yourself or with inexperienced counsel if you already have DWI convictions on your record and are facing another DWI charge.

If you want to secure an outcome to your case that you can life with, you need someone in your corner who is not only familiar with DWI law, but with the procedures and personality of the Denton County courts, as well. With over 20 years of experience handling DWI cases in Denton County, Michael Grossman and his associates at Grossman Law Offices know what tactics we can utilize in this court, and we understand the parameters for what evidence we can attack, regarding the legality of the traffic stop and the dependability of the BAC test. The charges are as good as beaten if the defendant can get the BAC test excluded. If we can’t get the test excluded, then our attorneys will at the very least present the evidence to the jury of just how unreliable these tests are. If this isn’t your first time facing DWI charges, our Denton DWI attorneys know how to help.

Texas DWI & Child Endangerment

The state of Texas goes out of its way to protect children from adults who knowingly drive with minors in the car while they are intoxicated, so the Texas Legislature enacted a separate charge called DWI with a minor in the vehicle, which is designed to take a much harder stance on those who do so. A form of child endangerment, DWI with a minor in the vehicle is categorized as a state felony, carrying maximum punishments of two years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Much worse, any single parents will likely lose custody of his or her children, with either the ex wife or the state assuming custody. While it’s not very likely to be arrested for DWI without a BAC test or a refusal of such a test, concerns for protecting children could lead to an office making a DWI with a minor in the car arrest with administering a BAC test.

Without a doubt, you’re going to need only the most competent Denton DWI attorney on your side if you are facing a DWI with a minor charge. Avoiding prison times and fines is one thing, but you are fighting to keep your family together, and you need the best to question the accuracy of the breathalyzer and the exaggerations and false accusations of the arresting officer. After dealing with other DWI with a minor cases, our lawyers know what it takes to prove that your child was safe at the time you were pulled over. By representing yourself or hiring a novice attorney, then you will likely end up with a verdict or plea agreement you don’t want and could be facing the very real prospect of losing your kids.

Texas Intoxication Manslaughter Charges

Just like with a DWI with a minor charge, intoxication assault and intoxication manslaughter charges carry an unwanted negative perception, as inarguably the most damaging DWI offenses for society as a whole. Not only does the court dole out harsh penalties, but the evidentiary necessities are not hard to meet. The prosecution must only establish that the driver was drunk and was involved in an accident that resulted in the death or injury of someone else. They don’t need to prove that the driver intended harm to anyone – just that harm was done.

While the evidentiary requirements are easy in an intoxication manslaughter and intoxication assault cases, the punishments are very hard. A third degree felony, intoxication assault carries a maximum punishment of 2 and 10 years in jail and a fine of $10,000. While the maximum fine remains $10,000 for intoxication manslaughter, the jail sentence rises to a maximum of 20 years for this second degree felony.

With 20 years of your life and $10,000 on the line, you can’t afford to be the punch-line to the old joke, “anyone who represents him or herself in court has a fool for a client.” To devise and execute the most effective strategy for providing you with the best possible outcome of your case, you need an experienced and successful Denton DWI attorney thinking and acting for you. Navigating complex DWI cases in the unique Denton County courts calls for someone who has been there and done that, if you’ll excuse the colloquialism. At Grossman Law Offices, our Denton drunken driving attorneys have helped many other Texans minimize the fallout from their DWI arrest, and we’re confident we can help you too.

Underage Drunk Driving Criminal Attorney

For anyone pulled over and accused of a drunken driving offense when he or she is less than 21 years-old, the laws change entirely. No one under the age of 21 can legally drive a car with any alcohol in his or her system since no one under the age of 21 is allowed to legally drink. When it comes to alcohol laws, a minor is considered to be anyone under the age of 21. When such a minor gets behind the wheel in the state of Texas even after one beer, then he or she is committing Driving Under the Influence (DUI).

Just like someone who can legally drink, a minor has the right to decline a BAC test when one is requested by a police officer. Although, just like with someone who is drinking legally, this refusal will lead to consequences. A minor who wouldn’t take a breathalyzer for a first DUI conviction, receives a driver’s license revocation for 120 days. An immediate driver’s license revocation goes into affect for 240 days upon a second DUI conviction.

Now, if a minor relents to a breathalyzer test after being stopped and tested for DUI, and the test confirms he or she has consumed any alcohol, then this will trigger a 60-day driver’s license suspension. Upon being found guilty of a second DUI, the minor loses his or her driver’s license for a year. Remember, driving is a privilege. Any court can strip a minor of his or her right to drive, if the court decides he or she is addicted to alcohol.

Moreover, the court can order rehabilitation in a case where a minor is addicted to drug or alcohol, and DUI is not the only drunken driving charge that can be levied on a minor. If their BAC is greater than .08 percent, then minors can still receive DWIs. Any minors who are older than 17 and receive three DUIs or one DWI can be sentenced to as much as 180 days in jail.

First-time DUI

While only considered a Class c misdemeanor for a minor, a first DUI is isn’t anything to brag about. While you are in court, your parents will be required to accompany you. if convicted, you will be forced to do 20 to 40 hours of community service and attend an alcohol awareness class that makes algebra look interesting. The only real advantage afforded by a first DUI is that is can be deferred adjudicated and is one of the few drunken driving offense that can be easily expunged. If you meet the obligations of your community supervision program, then the conviction can be expunged upon your 21st birthday.

Second-time DUI

A second DUI convictions carries with it only a two minor changes in punishment – 60 hours of community service hours, and it cannot be expunged from your record (even though the charge can still be differed adjudicated).

Third-time DUI

If you are convicted of a third DUI, then that’s classified as a Class B misdemeanor and deferred adjudication will no longer be available. If you are over 18 years old, then a third DUI can receive a sentence of up to 180 days in prison and a fine ranging from $500 to $2,000.

In all likelihood, you or your teenager has already made a pretty big mistake, or you wouldn’t be reading this article. Don’t add to the errors of your past by making another in your future and entrusting your DWI case to an inexperienced lawyer or trying to handle it on your own. Call Grossman Law Offices today and get the assistance of a seasoned and crafty Denton DWI lawyer to help you get the best possible resolution to your case.

Your Rights When Suspected of a DWI

DWI doesn’t involve the Patriot Act, if you face DWI charges your rights are always protected by the Constitution so long as you are a United States citizen. While you have the right to refuse any test you’re ordered to take, the state has the right to punish you for doing so by revoking or suspending your driver’s license. While not necessarily fair to the drunk driver, this is a necessity to prevent suspected drunken drivers from avoiding punishment by simply refusing to take the test. After all, the state argues that only a guilty person would refuse the BAC test. The state’s logic is that anyone who refuses a breath test must be hiding something. If you have already been found guilty of a DWI, then refusing a breathalyzer during any point in the ensuing 10 years after the conviction leads to a two-year driver’s license suspension, and the prosecution can use the refusal as evidence in the trial against you. If you are suspected of committing Intoxication assault or manslaughter, then your blood can be taken and tested without your consent.

Conversely, someone who takes and fails a BAC test only has his or her driver’s license suspended for 90 days.

No matter whether you decide to take a BAC test or refuse it, whatever you do and say is being recorded by the video system in the officer’s cruiser.

In addition, you don’t have the right to confer with your lawyer as you’re sitting in your car and waiting for the police officer to demand you step out of the car and take a field sobriety test. Despite what you’ve seen in cop shows and movies, you only have the right to an attorney if you’re being interrogated for a criminal offense. On the other hand, you always retain your “right to remain silent,” and you don’t have to respond to the officer’s questions or say anything for that matter. While you will still be arrested, the office will have very little evidence to base his or her charges.

ALR Hearing After a DWI

The arresting officer will confiscate your driver’s license if you refuse to take a breathalyzer test. Until the suspension is made official, the officer will issue you a temporary provisional license that is good for 40 days. Just because you have refused a breathalyzer doesn’t mean your license is necessarily gone for 180 days either.

Everyone who has his or her license revoked is permitted request an Administrative License Revocation Hearing (or an ALR hearing) to challenge the revocation by requesting. A short time after you are arrested, the DPS or the arresting officer will inform you of the intention to suspend your license, and then you have 15 days to ask for an ALR hearing. If no request for an ALR hearing is filed within 15 days of receipt of this notification, then the right to ALR hearing is officially waived.

Our courts in Denton County are clogged, so it’s highly likely your ALR hearing will not be scheduled before the 40 days have expired on your provisional license. When this occurs, the license period is extended until the hearing can be held. Within 30 days of losing the ALR hearing, you have the right to file for an appeal, or you lose the right to do so. Filing for this appeal extends your provisional license for an extra 90 days. Any driver’s licenses suspensions then are immediately lifted if you are found innocent.

If you’re worried about how a driver’s license suspension due to a DWI will affect your life, then call the Denton DWI attorneys at Grossman Law Offices. We will put you back in the driver’s seat.

Occupational Driver's Licenses

Even if you are able to prevail in your ALR hearing, your license will still be suspended for an extended period of time if you are convicted of the DWI with which you have been charged. On the other hand, the state is not heartless and realizes that most Texans cannot maintain their lives – caring for children, attending school, or going to work -- without their cars. Public transportation in Texas is usually little help to get where you’re going, so Texas allows you to apply for an Occupational Driver’s License (ODL) when your normal driver’s license has been suspended due to a DWI. An ODL can relieve the stress of not being able to drive, but only a small amount. The fee depends upon the county in which you were convicted, but the licenses are generally expensive, and they can only be used for essential purposes. Anyone with an ODL must keep a detailed log documenting all of the essential information about the trip taken: date, time, destination, purpose, and the length of the trip in both time and miles. While tedious, this option is still far better than taking a cab or spending all day making bus transfers.

In order to convince the applicable court to grant an ODL, a special petition must be filed that details the license you need, the places you’ll need to drive on the license, and the details of the crime committed. Only someone who has dealt with these special petitions stands a chance of correctly applying for an ODL. You can’t rebuild your life without your car, but you shouldn’t have to go through additional stress regarding applying for your ODL. By hiring Grossman Law Offices, you eliminate this concern. We will make sure you secure an ODL, allowing you to again take the wheel of your own life. To legally drive again, call us immediately.

Grossman Law Offices Can Help

After two decades handling both criminal and civil cases, the Denton DWI lawyers at Grossman Law Offices are prepared to help you no matter what the specific details of your DWI case. While we can’t guarantee an acquittal in every case, we can assure you that we will do everything we can to make sure you see the best possible result to your case as is possible.

If you’re a minor who happened to get pulled over after just one beer, then we can help you. If you’re a middle-aged woman who had a couple of margaritas at dinner before getting pulled over on the way home with the kids in the car, then we can help you. If you’re a grown man, who caused a fatal wreck while well beyond the legal limit, then we can help you. If you refused a breathalyzer test and are concerned for how your life will be affected, then we can help you too. After 20 years dealing with these cases, we can help you no matter what the details of your case. Let our expertise and familiarity with the Denton County courts go to work for you. Call us now for a free and confidential consultation at 1-855-427-0000 (toll free). Any time 24/7, our attorneys are eager to discuss your case. After you’ve told us tour tale, we will explain your legal options, clarify any concepts you don’t understand, and outline a plan to get you the best possible resolution to your case. You can’t deal with this alone, so call us now.