Waco DWI Attorney

Following a Drunken Driving Arrest in Waco Texas, You Need to Speak With an Criminal Defense Attorney ASAP

After spending any amount of time in Waco, you learn that this is a conservative town whose citizenry, many of whom are devout Baptists, look down on drinking. When you couple that fact with a no-nonsense police force and the large university in town – Baylor University – then you end up with more than a few drunken driving arrests every weekend.

If you’ve been arrested for Driving While Intoxicated in McLennan County, then you will need the assistance of a clever and experienced Waco DWI attorney if you are going to secure the best possible outcome to your dire legal situation. Baylor has its own law school and as the seat of McLennan County, Waco is not a hard city to locate a lawyer. When you’ve been charged with some form of drunken driving, you don’t need any attorney of the street, you need the help of the best drunken driving criminal lawyer you can find – one who has the necessary mixture of years of trial experience with drunken driving cases and within the McLennan County court system. In terms of punishment for drunken driving offenses, each different crime carries a wide range of punitive measures, with the severity of the punishment in accordance with the continued threat presented by the offender and the amount of harm caused by the crime. At Grossman Law Offices, our Waco DWI lawyers have been handling drunken driving cases for over 20 years. If the facts of your case enable an acquittal, then we will fight for one. However, if that’s not the case, then we will use or connections in the McLennan County courts built over two decades to make the court see you as a minimal threat, allowing you to achieve the possible outcome the facts allow. We’ve seen practically every drunken driving circumstance imaginable, so we’re prepared to help you with your case no matter what the details.

After 20 years of helping people fight DWI charges, we know the way you’re feeling after being arrested for drunken driving – you’re confused, leery, a little scared and possibly angry. We’ve learned the best way to feel more comforted in such an intimidating situation is to educate yourself. Thus, our staff has compiled this article designed to inform you about intricacies of the legal proceedings involved with DWI cases. When you’ve been accused of a drunken driving offense, you could go to jail if convicted and will definitely face stiff fines and penalties and a lengthy driver’s license suspension if you are found guilty. To lessen the severity of the negative fallout that you will endure or to flat-out neat the case against you, you will need a seasoned and savvy Waco DWI attorney working for and with you. You can call Grossman Law Offices any time for a free consultation to discuss your case at 1-855-427-0000. We’re to help you, In the meantime, read this article and familiarize yourself with the DWI legal process.

How DWI Offenders are Unique Compared to Other Criminals

Drunken drivers are not like other criminals who intend to commit their crimes and hurt people. In most cases, drunken drivers are otherwise law-abiding Texans just like everyone else, but they just made an error in judgment by drinking too much alcohol before attempting to drive. When you consider the physical and chemical reactions involved with consuming alcohol, you can understand why this is. Once someone has become intoxicated, he or she doesn’t just lose physical abilities but all mental acuity and decision-making skills. Thus, once someone is intoxicated, he or she is incapable of making an accurate decision of whether or not he or she is capable of driving safely. When assessing punishment to convicted drunken drivers, the court remembers that many of them don’t know whet they’re doing. Thus, a great deal of latitude is permitted in the sentencing process to take into account the danger presented by repeat offenders and by drunken drivers who injure or kill others in accidents. While our Waco DWI law firm wants to deliver acquittals, that’s not always possible given the evidence in each case. If a guilty finding appears likely, we know how to help present our clients as solitary offenders who deserve leniency from the court.

The Ins and Outs of American Criminal Law

Until we’re sure you understand your rights as an American as guaranteed in the Constitution, we can’t very well begin discussing the particulars of DWI laws in Texas. Starting with the first 10 Amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, the Constitution provides certain freedoms to all Americans. When detaining a suspect or gathering evidence, law enforcement officers must respect the suspect’s rights regardless of any suspicions of wrongdoing. In order for the suspect to be convicted of the crime for which he or she has been accused, the state must prove in court that he or she is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

In just the same manner, the government has the right to create laws enforcing the standards of any jurisdiction – federal, state, county, city, town, or village – so long as the laws of any jurisdiction do not contradict those of a higher authority or attempt to deny the Constitutional rights of individuals. In order to understand this concept better, we can take a look at how different jurisdictions handle the controversial issue of cell phone usage while driving. Talking on the phone, and even more so texting, have been statistically shown to be significantly more dangerous than driving unencumbered by distraction. In fact, some studies have shown texting and driving to be on par in terms of hazard presented with drunken driving. Thus, many communities around the nation of banned cell phone usage while driving through school zones. The states of New York and New Jersey have carried this concept a step further by banning cell phone usage without hands-free devices while driving anywhere in either state. The Texas State Legislature attempted to ban cellular phone usage in school zones in September of 2011, but Governor Rick Perry blocked the law with his veto power. Still, individual communities may still pass their own bans on cell phone usage, for Perry’s move doesn’t prevent different jurisdictions from establishing their own community standards in terms of this issue.

If a law is broken, say driving through a school zone in Waco with a cell phone, then the individual jurisdiction of McLennan County can then determine the applicable punishment. Of course, there are limits here – you can’t be sentenced to jail because you drove past an elementary school talking on a cell phone. The community may also establish its own procedural requirements for paying the applicable fine for a crime like driving in a school zone with a cell phone. Some will require the offender to appear in person; whereas, others will allow for payment by mail, Internet, or phone. If on the other hand, you wish to plead innocent, then you are guaranteed your right to be heard in court.

On the other hand, the federal government has imminent jurisdiction over all crimes of an imminent national threat, such as acts of terrorism or kidnapping. There is no boundary to federal jurisdiction in the United States.

Additionally, each court within each jurisdiction may create its own methods of operation to such an extent that lawyers describe individual courts as having their own “personality.” Consider the analogy of high schools. They all exist for the same reason – to provide a secondary education for their students. However, no two schools are alike. Some have thousands of students, while others have less than a hundred. Each school will offer different educational, sports, arts, and music options. Some will start at 7:30 a.m. and others not until 9 a.m. Courts are the same, they all weigh and dispense justice, but no two go about doing so in identical ways.

When you’ve been charged with a DWI, the jurisdiction is inconsequential to a certain degree of punishment if you are found guilty. You will have your driver’s license suspended, and you will pay sizable fines. However, the severity of the punishment will fluctuate from one jurisdiction to another, with prison time even being a possibility. Facing this prospect, you need a Waco DWI attorney to make sure your interests and rights are being fully protected.

Certainly, you don’t have to have a Juris Doctorate to understand how you benefit from arranging a plea bargain if you committed the crime for which you’ve been accused, and there is a compelling evidence to establish your guilt. You may not full comprehend that the prosecuting attorney also has reasons compelling him or her to work out a plea agreement rather than risk losing the case in court. Prosecutors are judged by their success rates, especially when it comes to controversial, high-profile crimes like drinking and driving. This can be particularly hard on the prosecutor, since he or she must depend upon the competency of the arresting officer in order to secure a victory. When the officer oversteps the bounds of proper investigation and violates the rights of the suspect or simply doesn’t adequately investigate, then the prosecutor pays the price with another loss on the record books. In some instances, prosecutors lose cases when the officer investigated perfectly but a clever Waco defense attorney will convince the jury to question the truth of the evidence. When the prosecution works out a plea bargain, conversely, he or she is a guaranteed a win without incurring any risk of loss.

What an Experienced Waco DWI Attorney can do to Help your Case

When legislators in Texas set out to address the mounting problem of drunken driving in this state, they crafted laws intended to punish violators according to the threat of harm they present to the public. In other words, those DWI offenders who commit repeated offenses and those who harm others in accidents will receive much harsher punishment than first-time offenders who were stopped and were only slightly intoxicated. When pursuing punitive measures, the prosecution will always try to seek the maximum sentence, until a trial-tested Waco DWI attorney who knows the particular court can convince them to see the offender as someone who doesn’t present much threat to the greater good because he or she just committed a one-time err in judgment.

For more than 20 years, our attorneys at Grossman Law Offices have been finding ways to help Texans accused of all sorts of drunken driving crimes realize the best possible outcomes to their cases – whether by going to court and fighting or sitting down with the prosecution and talking out an acceptable plea arrangement. In order to know how to move forward in your particular situation, we know we must first gather and examine all of the facts. To begin with, we’re going to want to sit down with you and listen to your version of the story involving all of the details of your arrest – what you drank before the arrest, the questions you were answered, the tests the officer asked you to perform, and the events after your arrest. It’s absolutely integral that you retell these events as honestly as possible, for only a true understanding of the situation enables our attorneys to devise the most effective trial strategy to secure the best possible outcome to your case. After we’ve listened to what you have to say, we will exchange evidence with the prosecution. Every case has a discovery period in which both sides are obligated to present each other with all of the evidence they intend on presenting in court. The prosecution will also tell us what punishment they will pursue. While required to do this, the long-standing working relationships we’ve developed in the McLennan County courts grease the wheel of this otherwise sticky situation. Once we have all of the facts at our fingertips, we can begin determining the best way to proceed with your case.

Understanding the Workings of a DWI Case

Ok, now we know that you have a basic understanding of how our legal system in this country operates, we can begin explaining the specifics involved with DWI cases. Unfortunately, you’ve already learned that drunken driving is illegal in Texas, or you wouldn’t even be reading this would you? Let’s face it, you knew some vague information about DWI before you got arrested, didn’t you? However, even people who think they know about DWI laws often hold great misconceptions about the specifics involved with them. While most people understand that the legal definition of Driving While Intoxicated is operating a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration of .08 percent or higher. However, most people don’t realize there is a second definition of DWI which states that a person was operating a motor vehicle after becoming so drunk to have lost “normal physical and mental abilities.”

Proving this second standard without a BAC test in excess of .08 percent can be very difficult, for Texas courts recognize this definition to mean the abilities that are normal for the specific driver in question and not the average for all drivers. Thus, if the police officer who is questioning the driver is making this determination, how does he know how the behavior of the driver, whom he or she has never met, differentiates from the driver’s normal behavior?

To avoid this conundrum, the protocol police officers in this state are trained to follow for DWI investigations demands that they attempt to secure a breathalyzer test before apprehending a suspect. Starting back in September of 2011, Texas law enforcement officers were given a second incentive for getting drunken drivers to take BAC tests – the creation of Extreme DWI, also known as Aggravated DWI. Any driver recording a BAC over .15 percent is now subject to greater penalties and punishments than one whose BAC ranged from .08-.15 percent. After considering studies that show the worst drunken driving accidents are caused by drivers who are severely intoxicated, the state chose to punish these drivers more severely as a deterrent to their crimes. We will delve into this DWI category in more detail later on in the article.

Whether you were only slightly over the legal limit when your blood alcohol concentration was tested or extremely over the limit, the Waco DWI lawyers at Grossman Law Offices can help you find the best possible resolution to your precarious legal situation.

Should you Go to Trial or Work out a Plea Bargain?

If the officer who arrested you didn’t gather enough evidence or violated your rights in any way, then of course our Waco DWI lawyers will advise you to go to court, for an experienced and knowledgeable Texas drunken driving attorney should be able to win that case in court and maybe even get the judge to rule a summary judgment, throwing the case out of court without a trial.

On the other hand, summary judgments are extremely rare in DWI cases for Texas law enforcement officers are usually competent professionals who adhere to the protocol they’ve been instructed to follow, and the DWI investigate strategy of Texas law enforcement has been proven over time to be extremely effective. Upon spotting a car that is driving erratically, the officer will slip in behind it and begin videotaping its driving with the surveillance system located in the cruiser. Once the decision has been made to stop the vehicle, the officer aligns his or her car to continue taping the interaction with the suspected drunken driver. The officer will ask a line of questioning to the suspect designed to gauge whether or not he or she may be drunk. If the answers supplied confirm this suspicion in the mind of the officer, then he or she will next ask that the suspect to submit to series of field sobriety test designed to assess physical and mental acuity. If the suspected drunken driver declines to take the roadside sobriety test or performs poorly on it, then the officer will request the driver to take a breathalyzer test. If the driver agrees to take the test and has a BAC below .08 percent, then he or she will be free to drive home. However, if the driver declines the breathalyzer or records a BAC over .08 percent, then the suspect will be arrested. Those who decline to take the breathalyzer will also have their driver’s licenses revoked on the spot. Just because you failed a breathalyzer test doesn’t mean that you will necessarily be convicted. A skilled Waco DWI attorney may be able to call into question the accuracy of the BAC test, depending upon the specific details of the case. However, most people who have been arrested for drunken driving after failing a BAC test of some sort will probably be forced to work out a plea agreement. When a defendant attempts to discredit a BAC test only to fail to convince the jury, the prosecution usually punishes the offender with a stiff sentence. Our Waco DWI law firm at Grossman Law Offices only wants to take the course of action that will best benefit our client’s future – this is why it is so important that you relate an honest assessment of your case when explaining your version of events to your lawyer.

Blood Alcohol Concentration for DWI Cases in Texas

As you likely were aware long before you were charged with drunken driving, .08 percent BAC is the legal limit for intoxication when it comes to DWI in the state of Texas. In order to assess drunkenness in DWI suspects, Texas law enforcement officers use one of three methods:

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

When someone proceeds through a night of partying, he or she is going to lose track of how drunk he or she has become regardless of how intelligent he or she is. Remember: drunkenness causes a lack of mental ability. Thus, BAC tests are definitely more reliable than self-monitoring when it comes to intoxication level, but they are far from completely infallible. No matter which BAC test we’re talking about, it bases its calculations on the body chemistry of a typical human being. When someone’s body chemistry fluctuates from that norm, so do the BAC test results, occasionally bringing the test’s reliability into question. Depending upon the body chemistry of a test subject, it’s entirely possible to be ruled intoxicated by one testing method and still score a BAC below .08 percent when measured by another.

Explaining BAC Testing Inaccuracies

In order to convict a suspect, the state must prove that the driver was intoxicated while he or she was actually driving a motor vehicle of some sort (yes, motorcycles, boats, ATVs, and even scooters are included). However, a great deal of time passes between the moment the car was stopped and the administration of the BAC test, and it’s this gap that causes the biggest questions when it comes to the accuracy of BAC testing. A breathalyzer test is usually not given until at least 30 minutes after the stop, and a blood test will not be administered until the suspect has arrived at the police station often 90 minutes to two hours after the traffic stop.

During the elapsed time between the stop and the administration of the BAC test, the suspect’s body is busy working the alcohol he or she has consumed through his or her system, and the passage of time can both help and hurt the suspect, who wants to test below the legal limit. The speed at which the alcohol works its way through the suspect’s system depends upon many different factors: the speed of the driver’s metabolism, his or her weight, the amount of food that was consumed, the speed at which the alcohol was consumed, and the different kinds of alcohol the driver drank. For example, one driver has a moderate night of drinking, but then he or she makes the mistake of downing a couple of shots immediately before driving home. When the driver is pulled over minutes later, he or she was not legally intoxicated, but the extra shots are then digested, causing the driver’s BAC to rise above .08 percent. On the contrary, another driver could drink more heavily for a few hours, but then stops drinking booze and switches to a couple of cups of coffee for an hour or two to sober up before driving home. When this person is pulled over, he or she had a BAC over the legal limit, but his or her body is able to work enough of the alcohol through his or her system to test a BAC under .08 percent when a blood test is given an hour later.

As you can see, just because you failed a BAC test of some sort doesn’t mean you are necessarily doomed to a drunken driving conviction. This possibility is why you must speak with one of our Waco DWI attorneys at Grossman Law Offices, so you can learn whether or not the BAC test that led to your arrest was fair or questionable.

Breathalyzer Tests in Texas

There’s an unfortunate paradox when it comes to BAC testing – blood testing is bar far the most reliable BAC test, but blood tests are too dangerous and impractical to administer beside the road. When given in the police station an hour after the traffic stop, blood tests lack reliability due to the time that has passed.

Left with this conundrum, Texas law enforcement runs to breathalyzer tests as the BAC test of choice – namely the Intoxilyzer 5000, a device that detects alcohol on the breath by using infrared light sensors. Although, the computer that runs the Intoxilyzer 5000 uses 30-year-old technology that you wouldn’t trust to run a word processor, let alone make life-altering calculations. These concerns only magnify when the Intoxilyzer 5000’s manufacturer refuses to guarantee its findings, and Texas law enforcement agencies refuse to let any other than officers test the Intoxilyzer 5000 for accuracy.

Furthermore, the way Texas law enforcement agencies use the Intoxilyzer 5000 in the field only bring up more questions. While the device has been known to mistakenly find harmless substances like mouthwash was alcohol, the far greater problems comes from the way it uses the standard blood-to-breath ratio of 2,100 to 1 that is typical for an average human being to make BAC calculations. The problem is that not all suspects have this average blood-to-breath ratio, and when someone’s blood chemistry shifts dramatically from the norm, the Intoxilyzer 5000’s findings could be grossly inaccurate. Someone with an abnormally high blood-to-breath ratio could record an incorrectly low BAC, and vice versa for someone with irregularly low BAC.

What makes the problems with the Intoxilyzer 5000 so hard to accept is that the device could be far more accurate if properly utilized by Texas law enforcement agency. The device can easily store any breath sample for later testing in the same way blood tests can be stored and tested later. Moreover, there is a far more accurate breath test called a gas chromatography test that can then be run on the stored breath samples, but the Texas Department of Public Safety neither instructs officers to store breath samples or perform the gas chromatography test. Why is this? Could it be that Texas law enforcement is more concerned with high conviction rates than they are with accurate convictions?

While all of these glitches with the Intoxilyzer 5000 seem frustrating to those who first learn of them, the upside is that someone who has recorded an intoxicated BAC may be able to challenge the accuracy of that finding in court. In fact, a competent and trial-tested Waco DWI attorney may be able to get the jury to disregard your BAC test results entirely if the right circumstances were in place.

Texas DWI Crimes, Penalties, and Punishments

As we’ve already mentioned, how a convicted DWI offender will be punished depends both on his or her previous history of drunken driving convictions and on the harm caused by the specific offense in question. While anyone who is convicted of a DWI could be sent to prison, relax – most DWI crimes only receive probation and can avoid going to jail by completing the terms of the community supervision probation. While we hope you will be able to secure an acquittal, we’d be doing you an injustice if we didn’t discuss the various drunken driving charges, and the possible punishments that could be assigned to those convicted.

• First-time DWI - The state of Texas considers a first DWI conviction when the driver has a BAC between .08 percent and .15 percent to be a Class B misdemeanor, with maximum punishment including 180 days in prison, a fine of $2,000, and a driver’s license suspension ranging from three months to one year.
• Aggravated or Extreme DWI - Since blackout drunks are a far greater hazard to the world around them, anyone with a BAC of .15 percent while driving has committed a more severe offense in Texas called Aggravated or Extreme DWI. This crime is ruled to be a Class A misdemeanor, carrying the threat of a maximum prison sentence of two years and a maximum fine of $4,000.
• Second-time DWI - The purpose of DWI laws is to convince offenders to stop drinking and driving, so when they don’t the penalties increased. Like Aggravated DWI, a second DWI is classified as a Class A misdemeanor, sporting a possible prison sentence from 180 days to two years, a driver’s license revocation of two years, and a fine as high as $4,000.
• Third-time DWI - The state continues to crank up the punishment when drunken drivers continue to drink and drive. A third DWI is ruled to be a 3rd-degree felony that can carry a prison sentence as long as 10 years, a maximum fine of $10,000, and a mandatory driver’s license suspension of two years.
• Open Containers - No driver is permitted to operate a moving vehicle with a container in the car carrying any alcohol. When one does and is convicted of driving, punishment for the DWI increases. An open container can add at least six days to any jail sentence and up to $2,000 to any fine metered out by the court for the DWI conviction.
• Texas Driver’s License Surcharges - When a driver’s license is suspended for a drunken driving conviction, the offender’s license does not immediately go back into effect at the conclusion of the suspension. Rather, the offender must pay to reacquire his or her driving privileges, paying an annual surcharge for each of the first three years after the suspension is lifted. For a first-time standard DWI, this surcharge is $1,000, rising to $1,500 for a second conviction, and $2,000 for a third. When the offender was convicted of Aggravated DWI, the surcharge doubles for each of the three years. In addition, when a DWI offender commits multiple DWIs in a three-year period, then he or she must pay all of the fines for overlapping years. Thus, surcharges as high as $9,000 for a given year are possible, and those in excess of $5,000 occur regularly.
• Intoxication Assault - When someone is injured in a drunken driving accident, the state of Texas applies a far sterner punishment to the convicted offender because he or she has harmed others with his or her drunken driving. Carrying a possible maximum prison sentence of 10 years and a maximum fine of $10,000, intoxication assault is a 3rd-degree felony. Furthermore, anyone convicted of this crime is required to spend at least a month in jail. Anyone convicted of intoxication assault with a deadly weapon is completely barred from probation.
• Intoxication Manslaughter - When someone dies in a drunken driving accident, the consequences get even more dire for the offender who is convicted of intoxication manslaughter, a 2nd-degree felony carrying a maximum prison term of 20 years and a fine that could be as large as $10,000. Anyone convicted of intoxication manslaughter is also required to spend at least 120 days in jail.
• Community Supervision - While those convicted of convicted of intoxication manslaughter or intoxication assault can expect to go to prison for at least a month, most other people convicted of the various other drunken driving offense will be able to avoid jail by completing some form of community supervision program.

  While far better than going to prison for even a short amount of time, probation is nothing to anticipated with delight and greatly limits the freedom of the probationer who will be expected to abstain from drinking, conform to all laws, avoid both people and places that act as triggers for bad behavior, fulfilling all community service time as directed, paying all fines as scheduled, and passing alcohol awareness classes. On a monthly basis, the probationer must meet with a probation officer, who will confirm the terms of community supervision are being followed. Every time the probationer reports, he or she must pay $60 for the privilege. Some probation officers may also require those under their supervision to take monthly urine tests to prove they have not been drinking or using drugs, and this likelihood skyrockets when the drunken driving offense involved drugs in addition to alcohol. In some cases, a probation officer may allow an offender who has built up trust and rapport over time to report in person in alternating months or once every three months, mailing in the supervisory fee and a probation report in the months in which he or she does not report in person.

In the state of Texas, anyone convicted of a second or third DWI offense in a 10-year period will likely be forced to install an interlock device on the ignition system of his or her car for the duration of probation. This device requires the driver to provide an alcohol-free breath sample before the car will start. If the driver sets off the interlock device, then the car will not start and the machine will not allow another test for two hours. Additionally, the offender’s probation officer will be notified of the failed interlock test, possibly even violating probation for the offender. Even when the probationer complies with probation and abstains from drinking, the interlock device is a nuisance. Anyone riding in the car with the probationer – co-workers, bosses, clients, dates, and in-laws – will know that the probationer has been convicted of multiple DWIs.

Only in the very rarest instances can a DWI conviction be removed from the driver’s legal record with an expunction. Even in that instance, the conviction remains on the driving record, causing inflated insurance rates for the next decade.

DWI with a Minor in the Vehicle

When a child’s parents have had too much to drink, the child cannot protect itself or demand a cab ride home, so the state of Texas has created laws that treat DWI with a minor in the vehicle like a separate offense and a form of child endangerment. In order to protect the children, police will even make an arrest in this instance without a failed BAC test. Classified as a state felony, DWI with a minor in the vehicle can be punished with up to two years in prison and fined as much as $10,000. With this crime, however, the negative consequences can often be far worse than those assigned by the court. Single parents convicted of DWI with a minor in the vehicle risk losing visiting rights or even custody of their children to their ex-husband or ex-wife, in-laws, or even the state.

With such severe negative fallout possible from a DWI with a minor in the vehicle conviction, you will need the assistance of the very best Waco DWI attorney you can find to keep your family in one piece. Whether you’ve been accused of DWI with a minor in the vehicle, a first-time DWI, or any other drunken driving offense, you will need an experienced Waco DWI lawyer to secure the most amenable resolution to your case.

Additional Details about Intoxication Manslaughter and Intoxication Assault

When you injure or kill someone in an automobile accident and admit to drinking or the police suspect that you may be intoxicated after such an accident, then your blood will be drawn with out without your consent. This fact is one of many advantages enjoyed by the prosecution in intoxication assault and intoxication manslaughter cases. The prosecution also has a relatively easy burden of proof to meet, needing only to demonstrate the drunken driver was intoxicated at the time of the accident and not even that he or she caused the wreck. Making things even easier for the prosecution, most jurors are naturally inclined to think poorly and be judgmental of anyone accused of a heinous crime like drunkenly killing another person in a car accident. On the other hand, the fallout for anyone convicted is tremendous with at least 30 days in prison required for intoxication assault and 120 days for intoxication manslaughter, with possible prison terms of 10 and 20 years at risk, respectively.

When you take into consideration the tremendous consequences when convicted of either intoxication assault or intoxication manslaughter, you’d be crazy to fight these charges without the assistance of a Waco DWI lawyer with years of experience.

The Rights You Enjoy When Stopped for Suspicion of DWI

Of course, the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights protects everyone’s freedom of speech, but that doesn’t mean you should ream out the police officer who pulls you over. A rude and crude reaction will only make you appear intoxicated on the video that’s running as you’re questioned and will motivate the police officer to find a reason to arrest you. Your best course of action is to politely answer the questions you are asked. Remember, the jury will see and hear everything you do. If you admit to consuming alcohol or sound to be intoxicated when answering questions, the officer will ask you to take a field sobriety test. Before agreeing to do so, you need to remember that the standard for intoxication is when you have lost “normal physical and mental abilities.” Therefore, you have the right to refuse any field sobriety test you would not be able to pass under normal conditions. If you have had several knee surgeries, you’re going to appear wobbly and intoxicated when trying to stand on one leg and recite the alphabet backwards. Thus, you can refuse to do so.

When taking this course of action, it’s not advised to attempt to decline several different roadside sobriety tests, citing different excuses each time. Not only will you start to appear evasive and guilty on the video, but the officer will only request that you take a breathalyzer because you won’t agree to a field sobriety test. When asked to take a breathalyzer test, you are permitted to refuse, since these tests, as we’ve explained, can be flawed and unreliable. However, taking this course of action will lead to your arrest and immediate suspension of your driver’s license for six months for refusing the breathalyzer. Once you arrive at the police station, then you may request to take a blood test. Should you also refuse to take the blood test, then the arresting officer will try to secure a warrant to administer such a test against your will, but that action requires a judge who may not be available in the middle of the night, depending upon the jurisdiction.

Of note, the practices of nonconsensual blood testing in DWI cases are starting to evolve in the state of Texas. Many communities now have judges willing to preauthorize warrants to extract blood on certain holiday weekends when drinking is more commonplace – like New Year’s Eve, Memorial Day, and the Fourth of July. When an arrest is made of a DWI suspect, the arresting officer just inputs the suspect’s personal information in blanks on the warrant. Bexar County down in San Antonio has even expanded this practice to include every weekend on a test basis for a limited time. Not only is this information important to know if you’ve been drinking and stopped for DWI questioning but even more so, if you’ve also been using drugs. A breathalyzer test will not provide proof of drug usage, but the blood test will.

If you failed a breathalyzer or a blood test of any kind, our Waco DWI lawyers can help you secure the best allowable outcome to your case.

Minors Under 21 DUI and DWI

The boundary between being a minor and an adult when it comes to most laws in the United States is the 18th birthday, but this standard changes in terms of DWI laws. In order to drink alcohol legally, someone must be at least 21-years-old, so anyone 20 or younger is considered a minor in terms of alcohol-related laws and may not drive a car with any amount of alcohol in his or her system. Any minor violating this law has committed Driving Under the Influence (DUI). For anyone who has come to Texas from another state, this law can be a little confusing, since many other states refer to the crime of DWI with this designation. Though not as sternly punished as a DWI conviction, a DUI charge still requires the deft touch of a trial-tested Waco drunken driving attorney to ensure the best possible outcome.

Just like adults being questioned about DWIs, minors under suspicion of DUI also receive the protection of certain rights. They can refuse to answer questions or taker either field sobriety tests or BAC tests, but taking these actions also comes with the same consequences as those for adults. When minors won’t agree to be breathalyzer tested, they lose their licenses for 120 days for a first DUI conviction and 240 days for a second. Conversely, a failed breathalyzer test only leads to a driver’s license suspension of 60 days for a first-time offense. Additionally, a DUI isn’t like a DWI in that a suspect can’t hope to sober up enough to pass a blood test once he or she arrives at the station since any amount of alcohol in the system will lead to a DUI. Thus, first-time DUI offenders would be well-advised to submit to a breathalyzer test instead of trying to avoid it. This changes when accused of a second DUI, since additional failed breathalyzer tests could lead to a year-long driver’s license revocation.

When a minor shows repeated problems with drugs or alcohol and driving and appears to have developed alcoholism or drug addiction, then the state can revoke his or her license until such a time as he or she turns 21. Also, such a minor can be ordered into rehabilitation.

Moreover, any minor who records a BAC between .08 percent and .15 percent can be arrested for DWI and any minor with a BAC over .15 percent can be charged with Aggravated DWI. Any minor who is older than 16 can be tried as an adult for DWI, facing the same punishment as someone older than 21. Anyone 16 or under could also end up in juvenile detention if convicted of a DWI.

• First-time DUI - A first DUI conviction for a minor carries only 20-40 hours of community service and completion of a 15-hour alcohol awareness as punishment for this Class C misdemeanor, but the minors parents must attend all court sessions and could also be ordered to accompany their child to the alcohol awareness class. A first DUI conviction does have one benefit – it’s the only drunken driving conviction that can be completely wiped clean off the offender’s record. If the minor is offered deferred adjudication, he or she can expunge the conviction so long as he or she completes the deferred adjudication program and then reaches his or her 21st birthday.
• Second-time DUI - Differing from a first DUI in only a couple of ways, a second DUI conviction carries a punishment of 60 hours of community service, a second run through alcohol awareness classes, and most critically the conviction can no longer be expunged. Deferred adjudication is still permissible.
• Third-time DUI - Just like with a DWI, the punishment continues to ramp upward when the offender continues committing the crime. A third DUI conviction is classified as a Class B misdemeanor, allowing minors 17-years-old or older to be tried as adults and sent to prison for as long as 180 days and fined between $500 and $2,000.

In reality, you simply wouldn’t have found this article or read this far if you or your son or daughter hadn’t already made a regrettable decision. You’ll only be adding to your woes if you don’t secure the assistance of a skilled and seasoned Waco DWI attorney.

ALR Hearings after Losing Your Driver’s License

While a police officer will answer your refusal to take a breathalyzer test with an immediate revocation of your driver’s license, that doesn’t mean your license is officially suspended just yet. Before hauling you off to the police station, the officer will issue you a provisional license that goes into effect for 40 days.

In the weeks after the arrest, you will receive a mailed notification from the officer or the DPS announcing their intention to revoke your driver’s license. You’re then permitted 15 days from receipt of this notice to apply for a Administrative License Revocation Hearing (ALR Hearing).

In most cases, the courts will be too crowded with cases to schedule an ALR Hearing within 40 days, so the provisional license extends until the ALR Hearing can be put on a judge’s docket. If you were able to prove you were not drunk with a blood test at the police station, then you will likely win your ALR Hearing and recover your driver’s license. Otherwise, if you lose your ALR Hearing, then you are permitted 30 days to appeal for hearing and doing so will again extend the provisional license for another 90 days. If acquitted at trial, your driver’s license will also be reinstated.

Thus, you shouldn’t lose hope just because you had your driver’s license confiscated and suspended as a result of refusing a breathalyzer test. With the help of an experienced and savvy Waco DWI lawyer, you may be able to get your driver’s license back before you’ve officially lost your driving privileges.

Occupational Driver’s Licenses in Texas

If your ALR Hearing didn’t have the results for which you were hoping, this doesn’t always mean you can forget about driving for the next three to six months. The public transportation options in Waco and most cities in Texas is deplorable, but at the same time, even convicted drunken drivers need a way to get to work and take care of their families. To answer this problem, the state of Texas allows convicted drunken drivers to apply for Occupational Driver’s Licenses (ODLs) which allow driving to certain locations on a restricted basis. Obtaining an ODL can be very expensive, and the specific policies of the jurisdiction’s courts must be followed precisely, or the ODL will not be granted. You will need the help of a Waco DWI lawyer who knows the procedures of McLennan County courts in order to fill out the application correctly, requesting access to all of the locations that will be necessary for the driver’s travel. Then, the driver must keep a driving log, tracking all of the information about each trip: the date, the time of departure, time of return, intended destination, reason for the trip, and miles driven.

Since you need to get to work, you need to entrust your ODL application to a skilled and seasoned Waco drunken driving lawyer who has the familiarity you need with the McLennan County courts.

Comparing DWI to Public Intoxication

Lumping DWI and Public Intoxication (PI) together just because they both involve alcohol is a huge error, for neither crime even defines the term “intoxication” in the same way. When it comes to PI, police officers determine intoxication as being when someone has become a danger to him or herself or others.

While the DPS has established a tried and true protocol for pursuing an investigation against a suspected drunken driver, there is no such standards for making a public intoxication arrest. Suspects are arrested when a police officer exercises personal judgment to determine the person presents a danger to both him or herself and the general public.

PI cases also differ from drunken driving cases because the offender presents far less danger both to him or herself and others than a drunken driver. Obviously, a drunk who passes out in someone’s bushes is not as dangerous as one who falls asleep behind the wheel of an 18-wheeler cruising down the highway. Thus, PI is only a Class C misdemeanor with a fairly light punishment of a $500 and no applicable hail time. A PI offender would only need an attorney if he or she wished to fight unjust charges. Otherwise, all the offender needs is the $500 to pay the fine. In contrast, anyone accused of DWI must have the skilled guidance of an experienced Waco DWI attorney.

Rights for Those Suspected of DWI

When contemplating DWI laws and punishments, it’s important to remember that driving is not a divine right but a privilege accorded by the state. Like any privilege, driving can be taken away when it is abused. Through this logic, the state justifies compelling DWI suspects to take breathalyzer tests with the threat of losing their driving privileges. If Texas did not take this action, would anyone ever agree to take a breathalyzer test? Probably not, and our streets at night would be an obstacle course of intoxicated and erratic drivers. You should also know that refusing a breathalyzer can be presented at your trial as evidence of your possible drunkenness. In many cases, it makes sense for a DWI suspect to agree to be breathalyzed since a failed test may be able brought into question by a Waco DWI attorney who knows what he or she is doing.

Whether you refuse a breathalyzer test or readily take one, you must always keep in mind that everything you do or say is being recorded and will be seen by the jury who hears your case.

No matter what idea you may have gotten into your head from years of watching cops shows on TV, you don’t have “the right to attorney” when you’re in the middle of a standard traffic stop for a DWI. That right only extends to someone who has already been arrested and is being subjected to a criminal interrogation. Although, you do retain the “right to remain silent” when being questioned about a DWI and can exercise that right by stoically refusing to answer the officer’s questions. Just know that taking this tactic greatly increases his or her determination to arrest you, while making you look incredibly guilty to the jury.

The Experienced Waco DWI Lawyers at Grossman Law Offices Can Help You

For more than two decades, the Waco drunken driving lawyers at Grossman Law Offices have been finding ways to fight unjustified accusations of drunken driving and to help minimize the negative fallout for those who are guilty of drunken driving. During that time, we’ve learned virtually everything there is to know about Texas’ DWI laws while building trusted working relationships with the prosecutors and judges of McLennan County.

Our years of experience have prepared us to handle any type of DWI case. We know what to do if you’re a parent who got pulled over with the kids in the car coming home from a dinner party where you hand one glass of wine too many, or if you’re a teenager who got a DUI after drinking his or her first beer, or if you refused a breathalyzer test after being suspected of a DWI, or failed a blood test of your BAC after severely injuring another driver in a drunken accident. After reviewing all of the facts in your case, our experience and know-how will enable us to determine the best course of action to resolve your legal situation, whether it be through a trial or a plea bargain. Call us now for a free and private consultation about your case at 1-855-427-0000 (toll free). We offer you the opportunity to discuss all of the details of your case with a skilled professional and ask any nagging questions. You can’t likely secure the best outcome to your case on your own, so get the help of some experts.