Lewisville DWI Lawyer

If You've Been Arrested in Lewisville or Flower Mound for Driving While Intoxicated, Call Grossman Law Offices Today

If you have been charged with driving while intoxicated in the South Denton County suburbs of Lewisville, Flower Mound, The Colony, Lake Dallas and North Carrollton, then a skilled and seasoned DWI attorney who has spent time in the Denton County courts can be of valuable assistance to you. An experienced attorney who is familiar with your county’s criminal courts, its procedures, quirks, and is also well-known to county prosecutors can secure the best possible resolution to your case; even if you are guilty.

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Any lawyer will gladly take your money, hold your hand through the legal process and then hope with you for a lenient sentence. But does that actually offer you the best chance for a favorable outcome? Is it the best way to spend your hard-earned money?

Even if the latest high-tech DWI detection device says you were drunk behind the wheel, is the data correct? Police officers, prosecutors will certainly claim that it is. But is it really? You need an attorney who is also your advocate; someone who will take your case and truly fight for your legal rights. Michael Grossman and the Denton County DWI lawyers at Grossman Law Offices approach every case like the unique situation that it is. We devote our time and best energy to every client, and do whatever we can to deliver the best possible results.

A DWI conviction comes with it, sizable fines and most likely, the loss of your driver’s license. Under some circumstances, the outcome, especially if you are legally under represented, could also include jail or prison time. You could have to serve a long stretch at TDC if this isn’t your first offense. But even if you dodge that bullet, your problems don’t stop with the “heavy black mark of a DWI conviction.” This albatross on your legal record is certain to cause problems in your professional life, today and for years to come after you’ve paid your debt to society. To not hire the best attorney possible for your legal challenge, nor devoting your own maximum effort to defending yourself will only bring sadness and regret to you and your family. For over 20 years, the Highland Village and The Colony DWI attorneys At Grossman Law Offices have been dealing with all types of DWI cases in Denton County and all over the Metroplex.

We believe the best clients are those who are highly-informed. Having a good working understanding of the essentials of DWI, its defenses and the consequences of a guilty verdict are essential as you decide what attorney to hire. And you need one: if not us, someone with real experience! Knowledge is power. It also enables you to ask the right questions of your prospective lawyers and choose the one you feel most comfortable with: an attorney you can trust with your future; and the fate of your family’s. Let’s face it, you’re in real trouble. And if this is not your first DWI offense, your situation is even more perilous.

The most important thing to consider is that the prosecution has a vested interest in seeing you pay a high price for DWI because cracking down on drunk drivers is a very popular political cause these days. District Attorneys and judges are often elected for their hard stance on drunk driving. And the more people they can catch in their “web of conviction rates,” the better it is for their careers: especially come election time. Police departments too, get thousands of federal and state dollars to fight those who drink and drive. So they have to show that the money is paying dividends if they hope to get more. To them, your case is a statistic. But to you, it’s your money and freedom that are at stake.

DWI trials are unique due to the nature of the alleged suspect. Most of them are not intentional, hardened criminals who care not if they hurt others with their actions. Often, DWI defendants are merely everyday people who just made one (or several) unfortunately bad decisions: and now they’re criminal suspect who – before bonding out – shared a jail for a few hours with robbers, rapists, burglars and other hard cases. That experience alone can scare many DWI suspects straight. Alcohol impairs mental and physical ability no matter who you are or how accustomed to the consumption of liquor you may be. Anyone is capable of drinking too much and then losing the ability to reasonably decide if they can safely drive home.

While those who drink can potentially be charged with DWI, they’re still treated as despicable criminals by the prosecution; due largely to the aggressive campaigns of MADD and other public interest organizations. The chances that you will hear the words “not guilty” or even obtain an acceptably lenient sentence without a Lewisville and Flower Mount DWI attorney on your side are very slim. To find out more about how we can help you, call us now for a free consultation at 1-855-427-0000 (toll free). We’re guarantee confidentiality and give you the opportunity to question a knowledgeable expert about your situation. We can clarify any legal issues to your full understanding and share with you our view of your best legal options.

Understanding the Criminal Law Essentials and How they Impact All DWI Cases

Before discussing the specifics of the laws involving drunk driving, you probably need to understand some of the basics of criminal law to serve as a foundation. To protect against unlawful prosecution, all who live in the United States are given certain rights by the Constitution; most notably within its first 10 amendments which are known as the Bill of Rights. When police gather evidence, they must respect these rights, as must prosecutors as the state tries to prove its case against you “beyond a reasonable doubt” if it hopes to deliver a conviction. If they trample on those rights, then you go free and the case is dismissed.

However, so long as towns, cities, counties, and states refrain from infringing upon those constitutionally protected rights, they can create their own rules and regulations for governing their own communities. Speed limits are the easiest ways to illustrate this practice of “variable community standards.” When you drive east out highway 80 or Interstate 20, the speed limit often rises as high as 70 mph or drops as low as 55. Each community along that highway has the right to establish its own speed limits within its jurisdiction and the amount of the fines to impose when people violate those laws. When you get a speeding ticket, you must go to the court to fight the ticket or follow whatever procedures it has for mailing in payment or a request for defensive driving.

No matter what type of court in which a case is being tried, there are always unique procedures specific to that venue. It’s almost as if each court has its own distinct personality. The purpose of all of these criminal courts is to deliver justice. But every jurisdiction has its own flavor, and every judge his or her own way of doing things. One could compare it to the differences in 7-11’s to better grasp this concept. The one in your neighborhood has subtle differences than others in different neighborhoods around the state. While all 7-11’s are all part of the same corporation, all are discretely different from the other. One will have the coffee bar in one area, and the next franchise might have it in another. In some of them, the hot-dog grill is serviced by an attendant, and in others it’s self-serve. Some 7-11’s sell beer and wine, while others are located in dry neighborhoods so they cannot. In some locations, the help is attentive and responsive, but in others, the employees hardly understand English at all.

The same can be said of each county court in which a DWI case is tried. The procedures of the court and the punishments it doles out often vary, depending upon the community (along with the makeup of the jury that will sit in judgment, and the judge who sentences you if your case actually goes to trial). When you are charged with a Denton County DWI, you need a North Carrollton and Flower Mound DWI lawyer who has spent time in our county courts courts and has perfected his approach to the account for the nuances of those courts, and is also known to the prosecutors, as well as the judges who will approve any settlement or hand out the penalties if the verdict ends up being guilty.

Keep in mind, a guilty verdict comes with huge monetary losses, a massive hit to your reputation, and the possibility of jail time. Granted, you can fight the charges, but should you? In many DWI cases, the defendant would be wise to negotiate a plea agreement instead of taking a case to court. And we’ll talk about the value of a plea negotiation over that of a jury trial further down in this article.

How a Lewisville and The Colony DWI Lawyer Can Help You with Your Case

A lot of people are accused of DWI offenses in and around Highland Village, Denton County Carrollton and Flower Mound as well. But a charge of driving while intoxicated isn’t necessarily a conviction of this offense, even if sometimes it seems that way.

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In most DWI cases, justice is rarely black and white. Courts often see the expediency of living in “the gray,” particularly when it comes to applying punishment. Criminals should be punished according to the threat they present to society. So a variety of punishments is possible that presumably fit any particular crime and often reflect a distinction between the habitual criminal and the first-time offender; depending on the degree of the offense. For instance, when a judge or jury has the discretion of levying a sentence of between two and 10 years in prison, only the most hardened DWI offender will get the 10 year punishment. Until your attorney forces the state to recognize the circumstances of your offense, prosecutors always assume the worst and seek the maximum sentence; especially if the defendant is represented by an inexperienced, lawyer or an attorney who is unknown to the prosecution.

When you hire Grossman Law Offices, our local DWI attorneys make sure the Denton County court views you as the person you are: somebody who just made a solitary - and probably dumb - mistake. Once you contact us, we first listen intently – and with no prejudice – as you tell the story of what happened during and after you were stopped for DWI. We cannot strongly insist enough that you be completely truthful, or we can’t mount the best defense possible. You’ve heard parents tell their children “tell me now because you know I’ll find out later.” There is a quid-pro-quo of truth that is essential to successful outcomes in DWI offenses. The client tells the real story to his attorney, and the lawyer can be totally honest about the client’s prospects; then mount the best defense possible. And no matter what you tell us about your case, we’ve heard worse and won’t sit in judgment of you. Your defense attorney must know the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth; or he is of little use in your fight for freedom.

Once you’ve told us your story, we’ll need to find out what the prosecution has to say about the case and take a look at the evidence they have against you. In a trial of any kind, both sides must share all of their evidence with the other. This is known as the discovery phase. This process can be easily drawn out when defense and prosecution are not familiar with each other because they have no previous working relationship. But our excellent reputation in the Denton County courts and familiarity with that county’s prosecutors ease the communication and streamline the process of learning how strong their evidence is and what punishment they are likely to pursue. Once we know how your side of the story meshes with the prosecution’s evidence, we devise a strategy for how to move forward with your case. It can take months between your indictment and trial date. Often, motions are filed and argued in what are called preliminary hearings in which you probably won’t need to appear. As we execute your defense strategy, we will keep you fully abreast of every development along the way as we pursue the best possible resolution to your situation.

Types of DWI Cases and the Punishments That Accompany Them

While challenging to win, it’s possible to secure an acquittal in DWI cases. All you need is the right balance of circumstances and an aggressive and skillful Southern Denton County DWI attorney. The next few paragraphs are an explanation of the various kinds of DWI cases, which will give you a better idea of whether or not the circumstances of your case could lead to a not-guilty verdict.

We all generally understand and accept why it’s illegal to drive a car while drunk. But, what does he law consider drunk to be? The term “intoxicated” – relative to drunken driving – has two definitions. A person can be ruled intoxicated:

• If his or her blood alcohol concentration (BAC) is greater than .08 percent.
• Or – if that BAC is not over .08 – if he or she loses “normal mental and physical” abilities due to the use of drugs, alcohol, or any combination of controlled substances while behind the wheel.

You’ve seen examples where some medications come with the warning not to drive or operate heavy or dangerous machinery after you have taken certain prescription drugs, either by themselves or in combination with alcohol, hence, the latter classification. And sometimes they can influence your DWI charges when you are in-fact, sober at a preacher at a revival.

Without a doubt, the second definition of intoxication is far more subjective and open to interpretation. Over time, this standard has come to apply only to what is normal for the particular driver in question and not what is normal for all drivers. But this creates a logical conundrum because there is no real base-line on which to support such charges: “How can a police officer know what normal is for you, in order to make this determination of whether or not to charge you with DWI?” So this relative question of legal intoxication can become a point of contention on which to base an effective DWI defense if there is an absence of objective evidence.

Now, you see why police officers are so reliant on breathalyzers and other BAC tests because they’re trying to secure evidence that can assure a conviction that is based on relative – rather than absolute – evidence. The second standard is far too debatable to stand on its own in court. Moreover, a BAC test can be important in assessing the correct fines on the offender. When someone has a BAC of .16 or greater, he or she must pay an annual surcharge of $2,000 for three years to retain his or her driver’s license, but for any DWIs featuring a BAC of less than .16 percent the surcharge is only $1,000 for three years.

If you have been charged with some form of drunken driving offense, the Lewisville, Denton County Carrollton and Highland Village DWI attorneys at Grossman Law Offices can help deliver the best possible result no matter if the case against you relies upon a blood test, a breath test, or just the subjective opinion of a law enforcement officer.

Texas DWI Penalties

In order to cope with the many kinds of criminals, Texas courts allow for a wide array of punishments in DWI cases. The severity of these punitive measures depends upon:

• The circumstances of the DWI offense.
• The defendant’s previous DWI history.
• If an accident was caused by the DWI driver.
• And the degree of injury to the occupants of the other vehicle.

Here is a list of all of the various DWI offenses, and the spectrum of punishments that can accordingly be assigned:

First-time DWI

This is categorized as a Class B misdemeanor, and convicted offenders can receive up to 180 days in jail, a $2,000 fine, and a driver’s license suspension ranging from 90 days to 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

For a repeat offender, the DWI jumps to a Class A misdemeanor, which carries a maximum prison term of one year, a maximum fine of $4,000, and a driver’s license revocation of up to two years. .

Third-time DWI

Classified as “revolving door drunken drivers,” these offenders become felons upon the third conviction, which is classified as a third degree felony. It is punishable by a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, a maximum fine of $10,000, and a mandatory driver’s license suspension of two years once they are released from imprisonment.

Open Container Laws

When someone convicted of a DWI also has an open container with alcohol in the car, he or she only makes the punishment worse, adding an additional fine of up to $2,000 and a minimum six days in jail. The Texas Open Container law was recently modified to include any passenger inside the vehicle from the old standard of only a passenger in the front seat.

Intoxication Assault

The purpose of the court is to protect society, so punishments get harsher when a drunken driver physically harms others in an auto accident. This is known as intoxication assault and is a 3rd-degree felony and carries the same punishment as a third-time DWI: a prison sentence of between two and ten years and a $10,000 fine, in addition to mandatory driver’s license suspension of two years once they are released from imprisonment. .

Intoxication Manslaughter

This is doubtlessly the worst “negligent” DWI offense. It’s a 2nd-degree felony in which someone dies in an auto wreck with a drunken driver. Any driver convicted of this offense can receive as much as 20 years in jail and a fine of $10,000. But on rare occasions, if a drunk driver maliciously and purposefully causes an accident that kills people, an argument can be made that this is a capital offense, which is a first-degree felony.

BAC Testing in Texas DWI Cases: The Evidence is Not Always Ironclad

This section deals with the tests and events that typically occur beginning with the time you are stopped by the police. The first rule of how to respond when pulled over by a law enforcement officer who suspects you of drunken driving is a very simple one. Actually, there are two things to remember:

• Don’t panic and keep quiet unless you are asked a direct question by the police officer.
• And then keep your answer short, on-point and respectful. Losing your cool or getting angry with the patrol officer never pays: regardless of why you were stopped.

You will be asked to get out of your vehicle and submit to some field sobriety tests if the officer suspects you might be intoxicated after he or she asks you a few questions or smells alcohol on your breath. Remember, the definition of intoxicated pertains to what you would normally be able to physically do when you are not drunk. So, if you honestly feel you couldn’t pass the field sobriety test even if sober, then you can decline to take it. For instance, somebody who has dyslexia will have trouble reciting the alphabet, let alone doing it backwards while standing on one leg. This person would have every right to decline to do such a test when asked. And if you have taken some sort of doctor-prescribed medication which you later discover may have influenced your driving that might also be a reason for you to decline. But in the eyes of the law, refusal to take a field sobriety test strongly suggests to the uninformed officer that you are intoxicated.

However, before choosing to decline or not, you should remember that there is a significant downside to a refusal. When you decline one roadside sobriety test, the officer will ask you to take another one. Officers have been trained to then request a breathalyzer from anyone who declines a second field sobriety test. Citing concerns over the accuracy of these tests, you can refuse the breathalyzer too. But there is a harsh consequence attached to that refusal: your driver’s license is immediately suspended and you will be placed under arrest. At the jail, you will be asked to take a blood test. If you refuse, then the officer will likely attempt to get a warrant to draw your blood to test that, without your consent. However, in the middle of the night when most DWI traffic stops occur, the officer is not necessarily able to find an available judge top sign the warrant.

And yet, this delay in securing a warrant might disappear entirely depending upon the time of year and the circumstances. Certain judges in certain jurisdictions authorize warrants to take suspected drunken drivers blood without their consent for the purposes of BAC testing on certain holiday weekends when drunkenness is common – New Year’s Eve, Christmas, and the Fourth of July. And at times local jurisdictions put together task forces to “sweep the streets” of drunk drivers and a judge is usually handy to sign the warrant. So the police may be testing your BAC whether you like it or not. This problem is even worse for anyone who has been abusing illegal drugs to celebrate the holiday weekend. A breathalyzer doesn’t reveal this illegal behavior, but a blood test certainly will.

The purpose of this entire process is that the tools exist tot can catch DWI offenders dead-to-rights. But on the other hand, the procedures for securing that evidence are open to some interpretation: not to mention the actions of aggressive law enforcement officers who might be willing to risk circumventing the Constitution in order to secure a conviction. We won’t speak directly to that but sometimes we’ve seen certain law enforcement officials (and prosecutors) play “fast and loose” with the evidentiary rules in DWI cases. And that might factor into your situation.

If you have refused a BAC test or failed the one you took, then you need a seasoned and knowledgeable Flower Mound DWI attorney like those at Grossman Law Offices protecting your rights. We will make sure any evidence that was used against you was obtained legally and your rights were safeguarded throughout the entire legal process.

Using Medical Testing to Prove DWI: Most of the Time it is Reliable. But it’s far From Certain

As you already know .08 percent BAC is the established legal limit for intoxication when driving any motor vehicle (or are accused of public intoxication if you are not behind the wheel). What this actually means is that the blood pumping through your veins has become .08 percent alcohol as a result of what you have had to drink. Tests have shown that .08 percent BAC is the standard at which your normal physical and mental abilities allegedly become impaired. That is why the state has established .08 as the legal standard. Currently there are three ways of measuring BAC:

• 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.

Unless you are some sort of medical and mathematical genius, or like o carry a breathalyzer around with you, it’s all but impossible to monitor your own BAC as you continue to down your chosen beverage. The state’s methods of detecting your BAC level are more reliable than self monitoring. But they’re still far from perfect. All of the modes for measuring BAC base their formulas on the norms for an average human being. And by one testing method, your BAC may be well over the legal limit, but by another you might not even be viewed as intoxicated. For example, a breath test could detect a BAC of .07 percent, while a blood test reveals the same person’s BAC at .09 percent – which is over the limit. While it will be hard to prove in court, any police officer can arrest you for suspicion of DWI without testing your BAC in the field. The officer can always claim that your “normal mental and physical” abilities were impaired; even though that’s very difficult to establish beyond a reasonable doubt until you arrive at the police station. Then, due to the variable results of these three tests, whether they confirm DWI or not, the actual arrest is based more on the suspicion of the officer then (hopefully for him) it is confirmed by the data gleaned from any or all of the measurement tests taken at the police department or the jail.

Breathalyzer Inaccuracies Further Add to the Confusion

Elapsed time between arrest and testing only further clouds the reliability of all BAC tests. In order to prove that a driver is guilty of a DWI, the state must establish that the driver was intoxicated while he or she was actually driving. Due to the laws that must be followed, BAC tests are usually not given until between 45-90 minutes after the driver has been stopped rather than immediately. And the moment that a person stops drinking, his or her body begins to recover and BAC levels move towards the normally accepted levels.

While it’s not a large amount of time in the greater scheme of things, an hour can have a significant impact on the BAC of a driver; especially if their BA level was in the .08 level to begin with. During that time the driver’s body is processing alcohol through its system. Some people do this faster than others, with several facets of the driver’s body make-up and behavior impacting the process such as: the weight of the driver, the speed at which the driver was consuming alcohol, the amount he or she had to eat that night, the various kinds of alcohol that he or she drank, and the consumption of illegal drugs.

Depending upon the driver and the circumstances, a delayed BAC test could either help or hurt the defendant. It’s possible after being stopped that a driver could naturally flush some of the alcohol in his or her blood and system through covert urination. This allows his or her BAC to drop below the level of being legally intoxicated when the driver was in fact drunk at the time he or she was pulled over. And in the grand scheme of things, if you are administered a BAC an hour after arrest that is .07, conjecture by the officer (or the prosecutor), that you must have had a level of .08 or higher is not viable evidence in a DWI case. But on the other hand, it’s equally likely that the driver was not legally intoxicated at the time of the traffic stop but still had alcohol in his or her stomach that had yet to be processed into the system. In the ensuing hour before the BAC test, the blood absorbed the alcohol, and the driver’s BAC soared over the level of legal intoxication.

It is also possible that the device used to measure your blood alcohol content may be improperly calibrated. These are complicated machines that must be in perfect working order if they are to be reliable. Sometimes, they are not properly maintained or calibrated. Or, unbeknownst to you at the time, the manufacturer of the device might have issued a bulletin suggesting different calibration factors that the officer did not heed properly. So just because the device gives a positive (as in you are drunk) the actual status of the device at the time you were tested can be called into question. This happens with some frequency, though you shouldn’t count on it.

If your BAC test was taken too long after you were pulled over to be legally accurate, then a savvy and experienced local DWI attorney will make sure that evidence, if not excluded from your trial, is just the same as if it was illegally taken without your consent.

Texas DWI Testing Procedures

If the state relied solely upon blood tests that were administered and managed properly, then BAC testing would be virtually infallible. Not only are these tests more accurate, but they allow for the blood sample to be cryogenically stored and re-tested in the event there is still a question about their validity. Unfortunately, blood tests cannot be given by the side of the road unless a medical professional rides with the officer; creating a delay before they can be administered. This can call into question the accuracy of the tests you might have been given. Breathalyzers may not be as accurate at blood tests, but they can be given in the field. This makes the breathalyzer the most popular BAC test used throughout Texas law enforcement.

Using an infrared light absorption method, one such device, the Intoxilyzer 5000, is the go-to breathalyzer for law enforcement officers in Texas. However, this machine is only slightly more advanced than an Intellivision (an older breathalyzer device), as the latter utilizes 30-year-old technology. And though there are plenty of Intellivision devices still in-use, it comes as little surprise that over the years, there have been ongoing concerns about its accuracy.

But the newer Intoxilyzer 5000 has also been known to mistake other substances commonly found in the breath for alcohol. However, that’s fairly rare. A much more glaring problem comes from the method by which this device measures alcohol in the blood, basing all of its calculations on a ratio of alcohol in the breath compared to the blood reading that would be considered normal for – again – an average human being (which is 2100 parts of alcohol in the breath), rather than the individual test subject. However, it’s possible for someone to have a breath/blood ratio as high as 3100/1, and then have a blood test score that is well below his or her actual breathalyzer test level (as low as 1100/1). The curious accuracy of BAC tests can also be thrown off by extremes in lung capacity, blood composition, height, weight, or muscle mass. Some breath mints and mouth washes have been known to throw-off Intoxilyzer tests too.

Making fears of inaccuracy with the Intoxilyzer 5000 even more disconcerting, only law enforcement officers may test the devices before they are used in the field. But its manufacturer refuses to guarantee its findings unless the devices are used by approved technicians. So it’s a case of “maybe” the results prove intoxication, but there is not a clearly-defined procedure to back-up the results.

What’s truly frustrating about the Intoxilyzer is that it has the capacity for much greater reliability if the Texas Department of Public Safety would change its policies. The Intoxilyzer can store breath samples which could then later be tested with a gas chromatographer; which is much more reliable and makes this process virtually foolproof. However, the current state intoxication laws do not require the DPS (and by-definition, local law enforcement because they use DPS standards) to confirm Intoxilyzer results with a second test through gas chromatographer: nor is the breath sample saved. What would happen if they did? Drivers who failed a BAC test might subsequently discover those tests were incorrect, allowing them to go free. It doesn’t take a genius to understand the DPS’ (and all law enforcement’s) motivation. They are apparently more concerned with conviction rates than actual justice.

Even law enforcement officers must admit all of these problems call the accuracy of the Intoxilyzer 5000 into question. If you are facing DWI charges and you failed a breathalyzer test, you can’t assume you’re going to be found guilty. If you suspect the results of your BAC test were inaccurate, then contact Grossman Law Offices, and one of our Mesquite DWI attorneys will listen to your story and assess your situation.

Living with a DWI Conviction: The Experience is Nothing Short of Life-Altering

A lot happens to you once you’ve been found guilty of DWI or accepted a plea: none of it good And you will begin living with the many negative outcroppings of your crime. Depending on your circumstances, the level of all the penalties below will be an embarrassing inconvenience and cost you an awful lot of money: several thousand dollars if you’re a first-time offender – and over a period of several years. Be also prepared to give-up a large chunk of your free-time for the foreseeable future, in addition to bearing the many other humbling experiences designed to “encourage” you to never make the mistake of drinking and driving again. If this is not a new experience for you, the penalties will be even more-harsh, expensive, embarrassing (and likely incarcerating). Your life will change. Even then, an experienced South Denton County DWI attorney can mitigate many of these, “for-the-worse,“ changes in your life. But we’ll tell you straight-up. No attorney can wave a magic wand and make a DWI conviction – and the personal price you must pay for it – go away. If any attorney tells you this, BE ON YOUR GUARD!

Getting your Drivers License Back Through an ALR Hearing after a DWI

As we’ve said, once you have refused to take a breathalyzer test, your driver’s license is instantly revoked by the arresting officer. After taking your license, the officer will issue a provisional license that lasts for the next 40 days. But you will have a chance to have the license revocation overturned before your trial. Once the arresting municipality or the DPS has formally contacted you to inform you of your license suspension, you have 15 days to request a Administrative License Revocation (ALR) hearing, in which your attorney can present evidence to try to get the license revocation overturned. If you do not file such a request within the prescribed 15 days, then you waive your right to such an ALR hearing.

In most cases, the court will not be able to schedule your ALR hearing within the 40 day expiration date of your provisional driver’s license. This is because the Denton County courts are fairly clogged. But don’t worry, your provisional license extends until the date of the ALR hearing if there is a delay. Should you lose your ALR hearing, you can appeal, but you must do so within the next 30 days, or you waive this right as well. By submitting an appeal, your provisional license is good for another 90 days. If you win the ALR hearing or subsequently your DWI trial, then the suspension is immediately ended and your normal driver’s license is returned.

Keeping Mobile with an Occupational Driver's Licenses

If you are convicted of a DWI, then your license is suspended regardless of what happens with your ALR hearing. However, everybody needs to get to work, do the shopping, and take the kids to school. And NCTA is still in its infancy and far less than adequate for most people who need to get around. But the state of Texas allows anyone who has had his or her driver’s license revoked due to a DWI to apply for an Occupational Driver’s License (ODL). Having an ODL is better than taking the bus or the light rail, but it’s a lot more expensive. The City of Mesquite will charge a fee to apply for the ODL; which can cost between $500-$1,000. Once you have an ODL, you must keep an accurate trip log that proves you are complying with the conditions of the license and keep track of all of the details of your journey every time you get behind the wheel: such as the date, intended destination, time you left and returned, purpose of the trip, and miles driven. But the municipality that issues your ODL can ask to review your trip logs at any time and match your records up with your odometer reading.

Your lawyer will need to draw up a special petition detailing the crime you committed, the type of license you need, and every purpose for which you will need to travel in order to convince the court to grant the ODL. While not as complicated as trying a case, applying for an ODL requires familiarity with the procedure. Otherwise, you risk alienating the judge. And you have enough problems on your plate right now. So you shouldn’t have additional concerns about how you’re going to get around. At Grossman Law Offices, our Southern Denton County DWI lawyers can relieve you of this procedural worry. We can put you back behind the wheel by making sure you get an occupational driver’s license. If you’ve lost your license due to a DWI, then call us now.

Driver’s License Surcharges

The above punishments aren’t the end of your financial ordeal. In order to reinstate your driver’s license after you’ve paid your debt to society and your suspension period ends, you must pay yet another fine: it’s actually known as a surcharge. After a first DWI conviction in which the driver’s BAC was less than .16 percent, an annual surcharge of $1,000 for three years must be paid to retain the driver’s license. This surcharges rises to $2,000 annually for three years if the driver’s BAC was higher than .16 percent. Not only does a second DWI conviction carry an annual three-year surcharge of $1,500, and a third DWI a surcharge of $2,000, but these all double if the BAC was higher than .16 percent. Moreover, if the terms of your surcharges overlap with previous DWI offenses, then you must pay all of the fines simultaneously. In other words, after two DWI convictions in which your BAC was .16 or higher, you will be looking at total surcharges of over $5,000 just to retain your driver’s license. These surcharges are just another way for the state to discourage you of becoming a repeat DWI offender.

Community Supervision

No matter how much time the maximum sentence you are facing might be, most people convicted of DWI offenses only receive probation: especially first-time offenders. The exceptions are intoxication assault and intoxication manslaughter which have much more serious jail times though it can be as low as 30 and 120 days in jail respectively for first-time offenders. But if the charge happens to be intoxication assault with a deadly weapon (your vehicle) probation is not an option.

Granted, probation is a massive step up from prison, but it’s nothing to look forward to either. You will be assigned a certain amount of time – usually the amount of time a judge would send you to prison – during which your behavior will be supervised by a community-appointed probation officer. You will be expected to meet a number of conditions set forth by the court. You will definitely be required to pay a $50 supervisory fee every month. In Denton County, your probation officer typically requires you to report to his office once a month where you’ll likely pay the monthly fee. However, some probation officers may allow bi-monthly in-person reporting or even non-reporting probation. In months you don’t report in-person, you merely need to mail in a form attesting that you have complied with the conditions of your probation along with your fee. The other conditions of your probation will likely contain: adhering to the law, refraining from alcohol, paying all court fees and fines that are due during that month, attending any required alcohol education classes and working a certain number of community service hours. Most of the time this involves the public embarrassment of picking up trash on the side of the road with other convicted DWI offenders so wave to your neighbors when they see you. While you won’t have to do so every month, Denton County will likely expect you to take a urine test to confirm that you are abstaining from alcohol; usually when you report to the probation office. If it has been proven that you have a history of drug and alcohol abuse, there is a much greater chance your probation officer will want you to regularly pass alcohol and drug testing as well. Should you fail to meet any of the conditions, then your probation could be revoked, and you will be sent to prison or the county jail for the balance of your sentence – depending on how much time is left.

On first DWI convictions, your state of inebriation will not be monitored prior to driving, but a second or third DWI conviction in the intervening 10 years, or a first-time intoxication manslaughter or intoxication assault conviction (assuming you are even given probation) will lead to an interlock device being installed on your vehicle’s ignition system which includes a breathalyzer. The driver must blow into this mechanism, and it immediately locks down the car if the device determines you have any amount of alcohol on your breath. When you fail an interlock test, your probation officer is then notified. Even if you successfully start your car every time you blow into the interlock device, it’s still an embarrassing inconvenience; a constant reminder of the stigma that you must now live with. And if you (or your family) have more than one car, breathalyzers can be legally placed on every vehicle you own. Every driver in your family might have to blow into the device.

In all likelihood, a DWI conviction will be part of your permanent record for the rest of your days. Very few DWI offenses can be expunged from an adult driver’s record, forcing him or her to carry that shame around for the rest of his or her life. In the rare instances where a DWI can be expunged from a criminal record, it cannot be removed from the driving record, leading to inflated insurances rates for at least the next 10 years.

The only smart move to make if you or a loved one has been charged with a DWI is to protect yourself with a Mesquite DWI lawyer. At Grossman Law Offices, we’ve dealt with every kind of DWI case in the 20-plus years we’ve been practicing law in Denton County. No matter how or why you were arrested, we’re going to know how (and how much) we can help you.

More on Texas Intoxication Assault and Manslaughter Charges

The disgrace that accompanies intoxication assault and intoxication manslaughter is far reaching. So do charges of DWI with a minor in the vehicle, which we’ll discuss in a moment. The penalties are harder for these crimes, and the court only needs to prove that the driver was drunk and harm was done; even if it was only assumed. No malicious intent must be established. As we’ve told you, the punishments are very hard: two to ten years for intoxication assault, 20 years of intoxication manslaughter, and fines of up to $10,000 for each offense.

The well-known saying that “people who represent themselves in court have fools for clients” has never been truer than when a defendant represents himself when facing 20 years in jail and a fine of 10 grand. Only a local DWI attorney who has experience and familiarity with both with DWI laws and Denton County court procedures, judges and prosecutors can devise and execute a trial strategy that will give you the best possible chance of achieving the best possible end to your case. At Grossman Law Offices, we’ve helped many who are accused of drunken driving in Denton County and the entire Metroplex. And the odds are that we can help you reduce the harmful impact of your DWI arrest, as well.

DWI Plea Bargains vs. Jury Trials and Other Options

You have much to lose from a DWI trial – your reputation, your money, and most importantly, your freedom. But, you might not realize the prosecution is taking a risk at trial too. A few losses can negatively affect a prosecutor’s reputation. Too many of them will find the district attorney’s office looking for a new prosecutor. This is not necessarily fair to prosecutors because their case is based on how well the police have investigated its allegations and whether they did their job thoroughly and legally. If the arresting officer did not take care to make sure the defendant’s rights were protected, or if insufficient evidence was found to warrant a conviction, or the officer did not protect the “chain of evidence” the prosecutor’s reputation takes just as much of a hit as the arresting officer. Even when the prosecution has evidence, like a failed breathalyzer test, a clever attorney could get the jury to question the validity of the test or exclude it altogether. The prosecution needs to guarantee a statistical win, so it has just as much incentive to negotiate a plea agreement as the defendant. But prosecutors must negotiate an “apparent” win without giving back too much to the defendant in return for getting “any guilty conviction” in return for the thousands of dollars a DWI trial will cost the county.

Cou8nty residents are randomly chosen every week to appear for jury duty. When they show up, it’s often reluctantly. You too have probably been called for jury duty and likely hoped to get out of it. Just like you, those empanelled citizens can think of a hundred better things they’d rather be doing than sit inside a courtroom and listening to a bunch of lawyers arguing your case. Juries alone are enough to explain why a trial is a very risky proposition for both sides. And it’s not hard to appreciate why only around one-in four DWI cases eventually end up in court. Lawyers – from both sides – who forced to argue a case in front of a jury see it as the law’s answer to Russian roulette.

As we’ve already stressed, if you mislead your attorney about the facts of your case, then you’re doing yourself a terrible disservice. Your lawyer can’t devise any effective defense strategy based upon lies or half-truths. Your attorney is the last one you want to have in the dark when it comes to knowing all the facts of your situation. Holding full disclosure back from your lawyer seriously harms your chances of the best possible outcome to your case. If the prosecution doesn’t have much evidence, then you should to go to court to force an acquittal. If the police have really dropped the ball when gathering evidence, the charges may even be even dropped, enabling you the defendant to expunge all mention of an alleged DWI from his record.

But generally, when it comes to most DWI offenses, the chances of the charges being dropped are not a realistic hope. Law enforcement agencies have refined methods and sophisticated tools; all of which are designed to produce viable, even airtight, evidence. And most police officers follow these procedures religiously. In all likelihood, the arresting officer positioned his vehicle to capture the entire roadside exchange on tape, and your drunken behavior has been visually documented, possibly with not only a dash cam in the police unit but another that is clipped to the officer’s shoulder. You were certainly asked to take several BAC tests. Whether you refused them or if you failed one or more, the state probably (but not always certainly) has good evidence against you. You also must remember that the judge and jury are probably going to look at you somewhat negatively before they even hear the evidence against you because most do not hold drunk drivers in high general regard. So maybe it is in your best interests to pursue some sort of plea agreement that is acceptable to prosecutors and the court.

If you agree to a plea bargain, then the prosecution has far more incentive to agree to a sentence involving deferred adjudication than they would be after a costly trial; especially if you are not a repeat offender or there was not an accident involved, or some aspects of the case suggest that the prosecutor now has a conviction, leniency becomes more appropriate in his or her mind. Prosecutors are people too and they know some defendants make mistakes of omission rather than commission; especially first-time offenders who have good driving records. Once you complete the prescribed community supervision period during deferred adjudication, the charges are officially dropped.

These are a few of the many reasons why it’s critical that you remain truthful with your lawyer, or there is very little point in having one because you’re bootstrapping the very person you are paying to help you out of your predicament.

The Differences between Public Intoxication and DWI

Curiously enough, not all know that it is illegal to be drunk in public anywhere in Texas, even if it’s in your front yard.

But don’t make the mistake of confusing DWI with the far less pejorative crime of public intoxication (PI). As a matter of fact, Texas law defines the term, “intoxication” differently, relative to DWI and PI. As we’ve explained, DWI laws define intoxication as when someone is over a BAC of .08 percent or has lost “normal mental and physical ability.” However, for someone to be arrested for PI, he or she must simply be viewed to be so drunk as to be a danger to him or herself, or others. And history has shown that public intoxication is based on subjective observation by a law enforcement officer more than any of the tests that are used to determine intoxication for the purposes of a DWI case. Sometimes Public Intoxication is used as an excuse for an officer to arrest someone due precisely to the nefarious subjectivity surrounding the charges. And as often as not, PI is used as an excuse to arrest people who may be guilty of committing other offenses. It can be viewed as a “charge of convenience” since it’s a jail able offense (before being bonded out) and easy to drop, then replace with other charges later, as we will see below.

Earlier in this article, we discussed the established procedures for compiling evidence against a drunken driver and how most police officers religiously adhere to the rules of their department. Conversely, for someone to be arrested for PI, a police officer merely has to make a judgment-call that the person presents a hazard to him or herself and others.

Moreover, PI differs from DWI in the punishment. People who are intoxicated in public create far less of a hazard than somebody who is drunk and piloting a 3,500-pound missile that’s cruising down the highway at 70 mph. This is why public intoxication is only a Class C misdemeanor, and brings a fine of $500 and no jail time (unless you can’t afford to pay the $500). If you’ve only been charged with public intoxication, then you don’t need a lawyer. Just show up in court as directed, and pay the fine.

However, just because you make it home without being stopped, but a police car pulls-up as you are getting out of the car in your driveway, the officer might arrest you for PI, take you to jail, establish testimony that you were observed driving immediately before you were arrested, and a blood test administered at the jail proves you were intoxicated. Then the DA can increase the charges to DWI. In some Denton County communities, that’s a common occurrence.

If you are facing any type of a DWI charge, that’s a wholly different kettle of fish and you are going to need the help of a seasoned and skilled Denton County Carrollton and Highland Village DWI attorney to help get an acquittal or at least limit the severity of your penalty.

Texas DWI & Child Endangerment

Since children have to go where their parents take them without complaint, the State of Texas created a law that protects children who cannot protect themselves. DWI with a minor in a vehicle makes it a crime of child endangerment. Its purpose is to take a clear, strong stance against people driving drunk with children in the car by punishing the offense worse than a standard DWI. This felony offense is punishable by up to two years in jail and a fine of up to $10,000. However, that’s only the beginning of a parent’s problems; especially if you are single. Should you get a DWI with a minor, then you stand a very strong chance of losing custody of your children to your ex-spouse or even the state (which means foster care for your children). Someone suspected of DWI with a minor in the vehicle stands a much greater chance of being arrested without a BAC test, since police officers will err on the side of caution to protect a child. Plus, once you have served your time in jail, you will then have to go through the arduous process of getting your children back. And that begins with clearly proving to Texas Child Protective Services (and Family Court) that you are fully rehabilitated and deserve to have your children returned to you.

You simply can’t put the fate of your family in the hands of an inexperienced attorney or your own layperson’s understanding of the state’s complicated DWI laws. If you face a charge of DWI with a minor in the vehicle, you can’t go into court with anything less than the best Denton County DWI attorney you can find on your side. You’re not just fighting to stay out of jail or dodging hefty fines. You’re literally fighting to keep your family together. You need a clever and trial-tested attorney who knows how to question the flawed judgment, exaggerations of the arresting officer and the validity of a BAC test. At Grossman Law Offices, we’ve helped many parents who were pulled over with the kids in the car after having one too many at company dinner. So we know how to convince the court that your children were in no danger when you were stopped. If you try to save money by going with a cheap attorney or no representation at all, then you could only end up losing your children, and spend countless hours (and dollars) trying to get them back once you serve your jail sentence.

Dealing With Minors Under 21 who are Charged With DWI & DUI

The laws regarding driving with alcohol in your system change entirely if you are below the age of 21. Since 21 is the established drinking age in Texas, nobody under that age can operate any type of motor vehicle with any amount of alcohol in his or her system under any circumstances! And though in many cases, 18 is considered the age at which a person becomes an adult. When it comes for drunken driving laws, a minor is anyone under the age of 21. A minor who gets behind the wheel with any alcohol at all in his or her system has committed the offense of Driving Under the Influence (DUI) of alcohol.

Minors can refuse to take a field sobriety test or a breathalyzer just as if they are adults. But they will see some of the same consequences as people who are over 21. When a minor is convicted of a DUI after refusing a breathalyzer, his or her driver’s license is revoked for 120 days. If caught after a first DUI conviction, the minor’s driver’s license is revoked for 240 days after a refused BAC test.

But on the other hand, minors who are convicted of a first-time DUI after failing a breathalyzer test only receive a 60-day suspension of his or her driver’s license. A second DUI after a failed breathalyzer leads to a driver’s license suspension of one year. Despite what most teenagers think, driving is a privilege, not a right, just like adults. Moreover, if the court decides a minor is a severe alcoholic who compulsively drinks, it can revoke his or her driver’s license until he or she turns 21. And in cases when drugs are a problem with a teen who repeatedly runs into trouble with DWI and DUI laws, the court can order rehabilitation and in some cases, incarceration in a juvenile detention facility for periods ranging from a few months until the chronic-offending teenager’s 18th birthday; depending on the nature of the offense and the teenager’s condition.

In addition, teens that drink and drive can face DWI charges in addition to DUI charges, if their BAC exceeds .08 percent. When a minor between 17 and 21 years-old is convicted of DWI, the first time, he or she could be facing a maximum jail sentence of 180 days just like any other adult who is found guilty of DWI. Anyone under 17 could face the prospect of juvenile detention. And it is not unusual for a 17 year old convicted of DWI who kills someone, to begin serving their sentences in juvenile detention facilities until they turn 18 and then be transferred to the Texas Department of Corrections to serve-out the rest of their sentence.

• First-time Minor DUI - While your teenage son might try to tell his friends differently, a first-time DUI is nothing to brag about. While not accompanied by jail time, it’s a Class C misdemeanor punishable with 20-40 hours of community service and mandatory attendance of an alcohol awareness class that makes your grandparents’ speeches about life in the 1950’s sound like a tiptoe through the tulips. There is one small positive to a first DUI conviction, but only in comparison to all other drunken driving offenses. A first DUI can be deferred adjudicated and expunged from the record upon the driver’s 21st birthday provided all of the conditions of the probation are met.
• Second-time Minor DUI - There are only two slight differences between a first and a second DUI conviction. Second DUI offenses cannot be expunged from the record (although the offender is still eligible for deferred adjudication) and 60 hours of community service must be completed.
• Third-time Minor DUI - This was recently upgraded to a Class B misdemeanor. A third DUI also disallows deferred adjudication. But more noteworthy, anyone 17 or older can receive a fine of between $500 and $2,000, and a maximum sentence of 180 days in jail. However, probation is a strong possibility but is predicated on the facts of the case and if the court is convinced that this third-time teenaged offender is indeed repentant and that probation is an effective remedy.

Let’s face it: you wouldn’t be reading this right now if you or your son or daughter hadn’t already done something that you regret. If you decide to handle your own case or hire a novice lawyer, you will only be adding to your family’s troubles. Help yourself secure the best viable resolution to your case by calling a crafty and cagey Mesquite DWI attorney like those at Grossman Law Offices.

Protect Your Rights When You are Arrested for a DWI

Your rights must be protected when you are accused of a DWI, regardless of whether you are a citizen or not. Remember, you can decline to take any field sobriety or BAC test, but the state can immediately suspend your driver’s license if you refuse. This might not seem fair. But like your teenaged son or daughter, you must remember that driving is a privilege and not a right.

Also, for many years suspected drunken drivers dodged justice because they could refuse to take a breathalyzer test and until a few years ago, there was nothing that law enforcement, county prosecutors or judges could do about it. The state views DWI suspects from the perspective that “only a guilty person would avoid a test that could clear his or her name.” But there are exceptions to every rule (and opinion). And it doesn’t mean that the state can’t yank your driver’s license for two years for refusing a breathalyzer test once you have been convicted of a DWI any time in the 10 years prior to your being stopped of suspicion. It can also use the declined BAC test as evidence against you in court. When you are suspected of intoxication assault or manslaughter, then your rights are even further limited and your blood can be taken without your consent. Sometimes it’s hard to not believe that the prosecution’s real position is “guilty until proven innocent,” rather than the other way around which – according to the Constitution – is the actual case.

In order to encourage people to take breathalyzers, the driver’s license suspension is only 90 days when you willingly take – and then fail – the breathalyzer test. Also, don’t forget that everything you do or say is being recorded by the camera in the officer’s cruiser (or the minicam on his or her shoulder, which are more prominent every day).

While you’re pulled over on the side of road and trying to remain calm as the police officer is walking toward your window, you can’t try to squeeze in a call to your lawyer. The only time you have “the right to an attorney” is when you have been booked for DWI (or suspicion of that offense) and are being interrogated. However, like you’ve seen on the cop shows, you do have the “right to remain silent.” You don’t have to volunteer any information, and you can remain absolutely silent as the police officer asks you questions. However, this won’t get you out of being arrested. And while it might limit the amount of evidence the officer can collect, it could possibly result in an obstruction of justice charge, as well; even if it’s dismissed later, it helps make a better initial case for the prosecution.

Grossman Law Offices Can Help

At Grossman Law Offices, our Lewisville, Flower Mound, The Colony, Highland Village and Denton County Carrollton DWI attorneys have been handling criminal and civil DWI cases in your county for over 20 years. In all that time we’ve learned all of the ins and outs of DWI law, prosecutorial behavior and court procedure in Denton County. Not knowing the facts of your case right now, we would never tell you to expect to be exonerated even if we could. But we can guarantee this. We will devote our full energy and resources to delivering the best possible result to your case that the circumstances warrant.

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We can help no matter what the circumstances of your DWI arrest are. If you’re a minor who got stopped by a cop after just a beer, or if you’re a mother of four who had a couple too many glasses of wine at a company function and then got pulled over after picking up the kids at the babysitters we can help. If you’re a professional who had a BAC of .19 percent when you injured another driver in a wreck, or if you’re a construction contractor who refused a breathalyzer test and don’t know what will happen next, you have legal options. And much as police, prosecutors, and the general public might want to have you tossed into a dark, damp cell because DWI is the popular “cause du-jour,” you still have rights that deserve to be protected.

We can help you no matter what the details of your case may be. You will, benefit from our expertise and familiarity with the Denton County courts. To discuss your situation with one of our DWI experts, call us now for a free consultation at 1-855-427-0000 (toll free). If you prefer, fill out the contact form at the top of this page. We’ll get back with you very quickly. And the moment we begin speaking, rest easy. All consultations are fully confidential, regardless of whether you decide to hire our firm or not. Tell us your tale. Ask us all the questions you need to make an informed decision on whether or not we’re the attorneys who are best for you. We’ll answer your queries, share your legal options, and explain how we can effectively assist you in protecting your rights if you want to minimize the negative fallout from your pending DWI case.