Wichita Falls DWI Lawyer

Have You Been Arrested & Charged With Driving While Intoxicated in Wichita Falls TX? Call Grossman Law Offices Today

While Wichita Falls is a comparatively conservative and small Texas city, it also contains a mid-sized university in Midwestern State. Thus, local law enforcement arrest more than their share of drunken drivers. In the state of Texas, the fallout from a conviction for Driving While Intoxicated can be quite severe. So, if you’ve been charged with any form of DWI, then you will need the help of a savvy Wichita Falls DWI attorney to obtain the best possible resolution to your legal situation.

Every DWI charge carries a wide range of punishments designed to admonish offenders according to the threat they pose to the world around them. Even if the facts of your case prevent a full acquittal, you need the help of a competent DWI lawyer just to lessen the negative impact of the punishment you do receive. Finding a lawyer in Wichita Falls isn’t difficult – after all, the city is the seat of Wichita County. However, you don’t just need any attorney who is just looking to cash your checks. You need the help of Wichita Falls DWI lawyer who has been handling drunken driving litigation for years and who also knows the procedures and is a known entity with the prosecutors in Wichita County. At Grossman Law Offices, our attorneys have been helping Texans fight DWI charges for more than two decades. We’ve run into practically every type of drunken driving scenario, and we usually know how to proceed with the case instinctively upon hearing all of the facts. No matter what situation you are in, we can help.

After representing people accused of drunken driving for more than 20 years, we’re well aware of the feelings with which you are battling at the moment – fear, anger, confusion, and uncertainty. We also know the best way to find peace of mind with your situation is to educate yourself about DWI laws, legal procedures, and punishments. Since a DWI conviction carries the threat of prison and the surety of stiff fines and a lengthy driver’s license suspension, you need to be educated about your options before making any legal decisions. If convicted, your punishment will be greater than that doled out by the court, as your reputation will carry a hit forever. Anyone with access to the Internet can learn about your DWI history with a quick background check, so future employers, dates, and in-laws can all discover the skeleton in your closet. A skilled and seasoned Wichita Falls DWI attorney may be able to help you find a way to beat the charges against you and can certainly assist you in limiting the negative fallout from a conviction if the circumstances prevent you from securing an acquittal. Call us now at Grossman Law Offices at 1-855-427-0000 (toll free) for a free consultation to discuss your case with a Wichita Falls DWI attorney. Until you’ve had a chance to call, read onward and learn more about DWI laws and procedures.

DWI Offenders Are Not Your Everyday Lawbreakers

People who commit drunken driving differ from criminals who violate many other laws in that they are normally responsible citizens who just committed an judgment error. Unlike burglars, carjackers, and murderers, people who commit DWI do not intend to hurt anyone; they merely have too much to drink and then make a poor choice. In reality, over consumption of alcohol impairs one’s ability to make sound decision, in addition to, perform normal physical functions. Thus, someone who is intoxicated has lost the ability to understand that he or she is too drunk to drive. When assigning punishment to convicted drunken drivers, the court takes the accidental nature of the crime into account. The severity of the punishment depends upon the degree of danger presented by the drunken driver in question, and that is determined by considering his or her past DWI history, as well as, the harm caused by the DWI violation in question. Until a skilled Wichita Falls DWI attorney has made the court see you as an otherwise upstanding member of society who made a single mistake, the prosecution will pursue the maximum penalty against you. You need a lawyer with strong relationships in the Wichita County courts, or you could end up with a far harsher sentence than you deserve. At Grossman Law Offices, we’re dedicated to devoting the entirety of our knowledge and resources to helping our clients who have beat the DWI charges that have been filed against them, but if that’s not possible we know we can help them secure the most favorable outcome possible for their cases.

Understanding the Essentials of the American Legal System

At Grossman Law Offices, our lawyers feel we’d be remiss if we launched into a discussion of DWI laws without first making certain that you understand the basics of the American legal system and the rights of the individual and the state. Hopefully, you know all of this already, and we’re not offending your intelligence too much. The Constitution forms the basis of law in the United States, and it guarantees certain rights to both individuals, with the first 10 amendments known as the Bill of Rights, and the government. A person’s rights as outlined in the Constitution must be upheld when he or she is being investigated or arrested for any crime. In order to convict a suspect, the state must prove his or her guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

At the same time, all levels of government – federal, state, county, city, town or village – have the right to maintain community standards with the creation and enforcement of their own laws. The only catch is that those laws cannot conflict with those of a higher and overlapping jurisdiction. To better understand how this concepts works in reality, let’s consider laws throughout the country that deal with cell phone usage while driving. Recent studies have shown that the use of cell phones while driving leads to a much higher risks of accidents. In fact, some people even believe that texting while driving is roughly as dangerous and driving while intoxicated. Thus, many jurisdictions are making the decision to outlaw cell phone usage while driving. In New York and New Jersey, it’s illegal to drive while talking on the phone at all, unless the phone has been outfitted with a hands-free mechanism like a Blue Tooth. Here in Texas, the state legislature was poised to outlaw using cell phones while driving through school zones, but Governor Rick Perry vetoed the bill in September, citing a desire for less government intervention. Still, many cities and towns around the state have taken it upon themselves to outlaw cell phone usage in school zones and are free to do so since Gov. Perry’s veto didn’t forbid them from taking their own action. However, in New York, Oneida County can’t decide to make cell phone usage while driving legal since it has already been banned by the state. The issue of the legality of cell phone usage while driving whether in school zones or anywhere is to be determined by each community, so long as its laws don’t contradict a higher authority.

In addition to establishing it’s own laws, every jurisdiction also has the right to create its own punishments and procedures for administering those laws. Of course, there are limits to this concept. You can’t be sent to jail for a minor traffic offense like driving through a school zone while talking on a cell phone. However, if there is a $500 assessed for this crime, the jurisdiction may also determine how the fine will be paid or the procedure by which the offender must contest the charge. No matter what the crime for which you’ve been accused, you always have the right to go to court and try to prove your innocence if you so desire, but you must follow the protocol of the jurisdiction in which the charges were filed.

In addition, the federal government holds jurisdictions over serious crimes like acts of terrorism or counterfeiting money, and there is no limit to its jurisdiction within the United States.

Not only can each jurisdiction devise its own laws, but every court has its own methods and procedures for conducting business. In fact, many lawyers say that each court has its own personality. It’s the same basic concept as holds true with schools. Just like all courts exist to dispense justice, all schools exist to educate their students. However, the method that each school goes about accomplishing this goal changes and so do the schools. Some are larger than others, some offer classes that others do not, some allow students to eat off campus, and some provide extracurricular opportunities that others don’t. Moreover, some schools have thousands of students, while others serve only a few. Some court systems must serve millions of people, while others only dispense law for a few hundred. Additionally, each court has its own procedures and methods for making its rulings.

Regardless of where you were charged with DWI, you will be facing the same range of punishment. If convicted, you will definitely lose your driver’s license for a period of time and be fined a significant amount of money; plus, you could be sentenced to jail. Blatantly, you stand to gain significantly by arranging a plea agreement if the evidence against you is strong, for you will lessen the punishment you are forced to suffer. On the other hand, most people don’t initially grasp that there is just as much motivation to work out a plea arrangement on the other side of the legal fence. Prosecutors are expected to win – especially when it comes to cases involving DWI for which the public has an incredibly negative preconception. When prosecutors repeatedly lose these cases, they’ll soon be looking for a job defending clients, because they will be fired by district attorneys’ offices which demand success. For the prosecutor, this reality is very cruel, since they must depend upon the competency of the law enforcement officer who made the arrest. When the office treads on your rights in some way or doesn’t properly collect evidence to prove the case against you, then the prosecutor loses the case at no fault of his or her own. Even when the arresting officer performs his or her function perfectly, a wily Wichita Falls DWI attorney may be able to get a jury to question the accuracy of the evidence and set the defendant free anyway. Against such a stark reality, the prosecution has every incentive to arrange a plea bargain rather than take the risk of losing in court.

What an Experienced Wichita Falls DWI Lawyer Can Do to Help You

In the state of Texas, legislators crafted DWI laws with the intention of punishing drunken drivers in relation to the hazard they present both now and in the future. That means convicted drunken drivers who have a past history of DWI offenses or those who injure or kill others in drunken driving accidents will receive much harsher punishment than those who got caught driving while intoxicated a first time without hurting anyone. In order to walk out of court or away from a plea agreement with the lightest sentence possible, a DWI defendant needs the assistance of a trial-tested Wichita Falls DWI attorney who is capable of making the court accept the defendant as a person who made a single, solitary mistake and won’t repeat the offense in the future.

For more than 20 years, the Wichita Falls drunken driving lawyers at Grossman Law Offices have been going to court and negotiating plea agreements for people accused of drunken driving. Over the course of time, we’ve developed a system for handling drunken driving litigation. Before we contact the court, we’re going to want to sit down with you some place where you feel comfortable and learn your side of the story. We want you to tell us exactly how you were arrested – everything that happened on the night of your DWI arrest. When relaying this information, we must beg you to be honest. By misrepresenting the facts of your case, you will only cause our lawyers to develop a faulty trial strategy and in turn hurt yourself in the long run. Next, we’ll want to learn what kind of a case the prosecution has against you and what its intentions are in terms of pursuing punishment. The law requires both sides in a trial to share all of their evidence during the discovery period, but our strong relationships with the prosecutors within the Wichita Courts helps remove any hitches from the process. Once we know all of the facts and the prosecution’s intentions, we can devise a strategy that will present you with the best chances of securing the most favorable outcome possible from your case.

DWI Information in General

Okay, now we’re certain that you understand the basic concepts involved with the American legal system, so we can begin discussing DWI laws and procedures in more depth. Obviously, you’ve already learned the hard way that it’s illegal to drive in the United States. In all likelihood, you knew that long before you were arrested. However, very few Texans fully understand what it means to be considered legally intoxicated when driving in the state of Texas. While many people know that anyone with a Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) of .08 percent or higher when behind the wheel has committed DWI, not everyone understands that there is a second definition of intoxication that states a person has committed DWI when he or she drives after losing “normal physical and mental abilities” after over consumption of drugs or alcohol.

Upon initial glance, this second definition is vague and ambiguous, but it’s even more so in practice. The practice of common law has developed a precedence to establish that this second standard refers to what is normal for the specific drunken driving suspects and not what is normal for an average person. Thus, how can a police officer judge if a person whom he has never met has lost his or her normal physical and mental acuity?

Facing this conundrum, the Texas Department of Public Safety instructs all Texas police officers to follow a protocol that requires them to attempt to secure a breathalyzer test from all DWI suspects. In September, the Texas State Legislature added a secondary reason for doing so with the creation of a new category or drunken driving called Aggravated DWI (also known as Extreme DWI). In response to the fact that the most severely drunken drivers tend to cause the most serious accidents, Texas decided to punish anyone with a BAC over .15 percent much harsher than someone with a BAC ranging from .08 to .15 percent. We will discuss this in more depth when we review the various DWI punishments later on this article.

If you blew a .08 percent BAC, or a .18 percent, or you were arrested on the officer’s mere suspicions that you have lost normal mental and physical ability, then the Wichita Falls DWI attorneys at Grossman Law Offices can help you secure a verdict with which you can live.

Considering a Plea Bargain as Opposed to Going to Trial

If your rights were ignored by the arresting officer, or he or she failed to gather sufficient evidence to prove the case against you, then our attorneys will advise you to go to court and fight for a not guilty verdict. In some cases, our Wichita Falls drunken driving lawyers may even be able to convince the judge to accept a motion for summary judgment, tossing the case out of court when the evidence is woefully insubstantial.

Don’t let your hopes soar just yet. Summary judgments are extraordinarily uncommon in DWI cases. Law enforcement officers in Texas have been making DWI arrest and gathering evidence to build cases against the accused for a very long time. Through the test of that time, they’ve developed a rigmarole that works and that every law enforcement officer is expected to follow to the letter of the law. After suspecting that a driver may be intoxicated, an officer will pull in behind the suspect and observe the car’s performance, turning on the video system in the cruiser to tape the erratic driving. When the officer’s suspicions are confirmed, or the driver violates the law in some way, then the officer will make a traffic stop. When pulling the suspect over, the officer will position his or her car so the entire interview with the suspect is captured on the cruiser’s video system. When questioning the suspect, the officer will follow set parameters of the types of questions he or she can ask. If the suspect’s answers indicate that he or she may have been drinking, then the officer will request that the suspect perform any number or roadside sobriety tests designed to reveal erratic mental or physical behavior. If the suspect performs well on the tests, he or she will be set free with a warning not to drink and drive. If the suspect performs poorly on the field sobriety test, on the other hand, he or she will be asked to subject to a breathalyzer. Anyone who blows a BAC over .08 percent or declines to take it is placed under immediate arrest for drunken driving. Anyone who passes the breathalyzer is then sent on his or her way with a warning not to drink and drive. In the event you have failed a breathalyzer, an experienced and intelligent Wichita Falls DWI attorney may be able to challenge the accuracy of the test in court – so don’t panic just yet. Although, if you have failed a breathalyzer test, then you should be prepared for the possibility that your case is untenable and a plea bargain may be your best option. Sometimes even the best arguments fall on deaf ears. Our Wichita Falls drunken driving attorneys at Grossman Law Offices want to plan a strategy to handle all of our clients’ cases that best fits the circumstances of that client’s case.

Complicating the decision to work out a plea bargain or go to trial is that the threat that anyone who goes to court and loses will invariably receive a much harsher punishment than someone who had the common sense to agree to a plea bargain.

DWI Penalties in Texas

As we’ve already outlined generally, the punishment dealt out by the court to a DWI convict will be in accordance with his or her past history of drunken driving convictions and the harm caused by the current offense, for the state always wants to punish DWI offenders according to the threat they present to the greater good. While you could be sentenced to prison for any DWI offense, the chances are strong that you will only be given probation so long as you didn’t hurt anyone in an accident. In order to help you better understand the punitive measures you could be facing, here is a list of the more common DWI crimes and punishments:

• First-time DWI: Upon a first DWI conviction with a BAC less than .15 percent, an offender can be sentenced to a maximum of 180 days in prison, fined as much as $2,000, and lose his or her license for between 90-365 days for this Class B misdemeanor.
• Extreme or Aggravated DWI: DWI offenders who record BAC levels in excess of .15 percent, conversely have committed a Class A misdemeanor, with possible jail time rising to two years and the maximum fine doubling to $4,000.
• Second-time DWI: Those DWI offenders who do not learn their lesson from a first conviction face harsher punishment upon a second conviction, which is classified as a Class A misdemeanor and threatens six months to two years in prison, a driver’s license suspension of two years, and a fine as high as $4,000.
• Third-time DWI: As we have repeatedly warned, DWI laws are focused to shield the public from the dangers of drunken drivers, so those who do not reform are treated very sternly by the courts. A third DWI conviction is treated as a 3rd-degree felony, with an automatic two-year driver’s license suspension, a maximum prison term of 10 years, and a maximum fine of $10,000.
• Open Containers: In order to discourage drivers from drinking alcohol while they drive, Texas has banned people from driving with an open container of alcohol in the cab of the vehicle with them. When someone violates this law while committing a DWI, the transgression only increases the punishment the court has ruled for the DWI offense, adding six days of prison time to the sentence and an additional fine of up to $2,000.
• Driver’s License Reinstatement Surcharges: After losing your driver’s license to a DWI-related revocation, you will be facing more fines in order to drive again on an unrestricted license. For each of the first three years after your driver’s license is reinstated, you must a surcharge, with the price fluctuating depending upon the crime -- $1,000 for a first-time DWI, $1,500 for a second, and $2,000 for a third. When any of these crimes was a Aggravated DWI, then the price tag for the surcharge doubles for all three years. Moreover, anyone convicted of more than one DWI offense in a three-year period will be forced to pay the applicable surcharges for the multiple crimes in overlapping years. In other words, it’s possible for a drunken driver who refuses to reform to end up paying up to $9,000 in surcharges for a single year, and surcharges of $5,000 are not all that uncommon.
• Intoxication Assault: As we have repeatedly alluded to, DWI laws are crafted to protect the public, so when someone injures another person in a drunken driving accident, the offender faces much stiffer penalties for the crime of intoxication assault. Punishment for this 3rd-degree felony can include a maximum prison sentence of 10 years and a maximum fine of $10,000. Additionally, anyone convicted of intoxication assault must stay in prison for at least 30 days before becoming eligible for probation, and anyone found guilty of intoxication assault will never be eligible for probation at all.
• Intoxication Manslaughter: The act of killing another person unintentionally in a drunken driving accident is called intoxication manslaughter and is considered to be the worst DWI offense, receiving the harshest punishments. This 2nd-degree felony carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years, of which at least 120 days must be served in jail ,and a maximum fine of $10,000.
• Probation or Community Supervision: While the two last drunken driving crimes we mentioned (intoxication assault and intoxication manslaughter) carry mandatory prison sentences and the possibility of years behind bars, most DWI convicts will be given the option of probation. So long as all of the terms of probation are followed, then the offender will never go to jail. While certainly a better option than prison, probation is far from a walk in the park. Probationers will be expected to comply with all of the conditions of probation, including: adhering to laws, abstaining from drinking alcohol, distancing oneself from people and places that are bad influences, paying fees and fines as scheduled, passing a 15-hour alcohol awareness class, completing all required community service hours, In order to confirm that the probationer is meeting all of these requirements, he or she must meet with a probation officer on a monthly basis, paying a $60 supervisory fee with every appearance. At the probation officer’s discretion, the probationer may also be required to take urine tests to confirm compliance with the mandate not to drink or use drugs, with that likelihood rising considerably if the DWI arrest involved drugs in addition to alcohol. In some cases, the probation officer may allow probationers who have built up trust over time to only report in person in alternating months, but that’s up to the specific officer. Even then, probationers must still pay the monthly supervisory fee.

  For anyone convicted of more than drunken driving offense in a 10-year period, probation will also involve the installation of an ignition interlock device on the probationer’s car. This device forces the driver to breath into it and confirm an absence of alcohol on the breath before the car will start. When the driver has been drinking, the car will lock down and refuse to start. Another interlock device cannot be taken for another two hours, and the failed interlock test will be reported to the probation officer and could lead to a probation violation that sends the probationer to jail for the entirety of his or her original sentence. Even when the probationer followed all of the terms of probation the interlock device is a nuisance, for anyone who gets into the car will know the person is on probation. This can be incredibly embarrassing and even damaging when one is driving around clients, bosses, dates, or family members.

If you are found guilty of drunken driving, the conviction will never leave your records in all but the very rarest instances. Even then, the conviction still sits on the person’s driving record for the next decade, driving up the cost of auto insurance.

DWI with a Minor in the Vehicle: A Form of Child Endangerment in Texas

When a child’s parent has had too much to drink, the child doesn’t have the option of taking the keys away or hailing a cab. Since such children have no way of protecting themselves, the state of Texas has created a separate drunken driving designation to do that treats this crime like a form of child endangerment: the state felony of DWI with a minor in the vehicle. Law enforcement officers even have the green light to arrest suspects without a breathalyzer test, for the goal is protecting the children first and securing a conviction second. Anyone convicted can be sentenced to up to two years in prison and fined $10,000, but that punishment is only the beginning of the damage done to parents, especially those trying to raise their kids on their own. Divorced parents could lose visiting rights, or even have an ex-spouse, in-laws, or parents wrest custody away due to a conviction for DWI with a minor in the vehicle. In some cases, Child Protective Services could get involved and make the children wards of the state.

With the threat of losing your children and destroying your family in play, you need to find a trustworthy, reliable and experienced Wichita Falls DWI attorney to protect your rights. Actually, you need a good Wichita Falls DWI lawyer looking out for your interests no matter what drunken driving crime with which you have been charged. For 20 years and counting the Wichita Falls drunken driving criminal attorneys at Grossman Law Offices have been handling DWI cases, and we’ll know the course of action to deliver the best possible resolution the details of your case allow.

Expanding on Intoxication Assault and Intoxication Manslaughter

When accused of intoxication assault or intoxication manslaughter, you will be facing an uphill battle, for the prosecution enjoys several advantages over the defense. For one thing, the jury will be naturally prejudiced against the defendant due to the horrific nature of the crime. Second, the prosecution’s burden of proof is incredibly easy in these cases, needing only to prove that the driver was intoxicated and involved in the accident. The drunken driver need not have any malice nor even caused the wreck with erratic driving. However, the biggest advantage for the prosecution is that the defendant’s blood will be drawn and tested without his or her consent in any auto accident case where someone is hurt or killed and alcohol-use is suspected in one of the drivers. This makes proving that the driver was drunk at the time of the wreck. When convicted of either of these crimes, the punishment is quite grave – maximum fines of $10,000 for either crime, with at least 30 days in prison and a maximum jail sentence of 10 years for intoxication assault and at least 120 days in jail and a maximum jail sentence of 20 years for intoxication manslaughter.

While anyone who has been accused of any drunken driving offense in Wichita County needs the assistance of a competent and reliable Wichita Falls DWI lawyer, you’re a fool not to seek the best available representation if you’re facing the stiff admonishment of an intoxication assault or intoxication manslaughter charge.

BAC for DWI Cases in Texas

As we’ve explained, the quantifiable limit for intoxication in the state of Texas (and all other states in this country for that matter) is a BAC of .08 percent. Texas law enforcement agencies turn to one of three methods to measure BAC, including:

• Measuring the grams of alcohol for every 210 milliliters of breath.
• Measuring the grams of alcohol for every 100 milliliters of blood.
• Or Measuring the grams of alcohol for every 67 milliliters of urine.

Even if you have a genius-level I.Q. and you’re walking around with a pocket drink conversion chart, it’s virtually impossible to track your own level of intoxication during a night of drinking. The more you drink, the harder it is to remember how much you drank. Thus, these various BAC testing methods are far more reliable as indicators of drunkenness, but don’t assume they are completely infallible either – far from it. No matter what kind of BAC test is used to measure a suspect’s BAC, it bases its formulas on some standard body chemistry for an average human. When someone’s body chemistry deviates from the norm significantly, the person’s BAC testing results will not be accurate or reliable. Thus, it’s possible for someone to be ruled legally intoxicated by one form of testing while being exonerated from drunken driving charges with another testing method.

Explaining Specific BAC Inaccuracies

Before a driver can be proven to have committed DWI, the state must establish that the defendant was actually drunk while he or she was engaged in the act of driving. However, most BAC tests are not administered immediately after the suspected drunken driver gets out of the driver’s seat, and this passage of time greatly calls into question the accuracy of the BAC test. When a police officer administers a breathalyzer test along the side of the road, this doesn’t happen until 30 minutes to an hour after the traffic stop. When the driver demands a blood test, then his or her BAC won’t by gauge until an hour or two after the traffic stop once the suspect has been arrested and taken to the police station. What do BAC tests taken an hour after the alleged incident really prove?

As the clock ticks after the traffic stop, the body of the driver who has been drinking alcohol is working overtime to process the booze through the driver’s system, and the speed at which this process occurs can be affected by several factors: the types of alcohol the driver drank, the speed at which it was consumed, the driver’s weight and speed of metabolism, the amount of food that was consumed along with the alcohol, and the affect of adrenaline on the system as the driver was excited by the traffic stop. Depending upon the circumstances, the passage of time between a traffic stop and the administration of the BAC test can work in favor of the driver or the state. For example, a person has been out drinking with friends for a few hours, but he or she stops drinking alcohol and switches to water and coffee for an hour before driving home. When he or she is stopped for DWI questioning, the driver is still legally intoxicated, but he or she demands a blood test, which isn’t given until 90 minutes later. In that hour and a half, the driver is able to process enough of the alcohol through his or her system to pass the blood test with a .076 BAC. In another case, a driver goes out for a few drinks with his or her friends but doesn’t go overboard until right before driving home, when he or she quickly slams three shots. When stopped by police, the driver is still legally sober, but as he or she waits to take a BAC test, the alcohol from those last three shots is digested in his or her stomach. The ensuing blood test then shows a BAC of .085, and the driver is arrested.

Depending upon the conditions of your case, you’re not guaranteed a guilty verdict just because you failed a BAC test of some sort. You need to give our Wichita Falls DWI attorneys a call, discuss your case, and learn if there may be some reason to question the findings of the BAC test that condemned you.

Texas’ Procedures for Breathalyzer Testing

BAC testing is a bit of Catch-22. While blood tests are the most accurate form of BAC testing and allow samples to be stored for later re-testing; however, blood tests remain impractical because they cannot be safely given in the field. Meanwhile, the time elapsed before the return to the station often calls into question the accuracy of the test itself. With no other option, Texas law enforcement turns to breathalyzers which are far less accurate but can be given with handheld devices much sooner after the traffic stop has occurred.

In Texas, police officers all use the same breathalyzer, the Intoxilyzer 5000, which uses a infrared light sensor to detect alcohol on the breath. The first downside to this machine is that it makes its calculations using a computer processor that is based on 30-year-old technology. You wouldn’t use an Apple II to do your taxes, but the state is still using technology of that age to measure your level of intoxication. More specifically, the Intoxilyzer 5000 has been known to mistake harmless substances for alcohol. Doing nothing to assuage concerns with this machine, the manufacturer will not issue guarantees of its accuracy, and only law enforcement officers are allowed to test them to make sure they’re operating correctly.

When the usage of the Intoxilyzer 5000 is analyzed, the concerns over the device continue to grow. In order to make its calculations, the Intoxilyzer 5000 uses a base formula that depends on the average blood to breath ratio in a typical human of 2,100 to 1. Yet, not everyone has this average blood-to-breath ratio, and a person’s body chemistry could lead to a blood-to-breath ratio as high as 3,100 to 1 or as low as 1,100 to 1. Someone with an extraordinarily high ratio will have an inaccurately low BAC when tested with the Intoxilyzer 5000, and it’s just the opposite when someone has an irregularly low blood-to-breath ratio.

Truly, the most frustrating aspect of the Intoxilyzer 5000 for advocates of fairness in drunken driving laws is that the device has the capability of being far more accurate if Texas law enforcement officers would just utilize it fully. The Intoxilyzer 5000 can store breath samples, allowing them to be tested later with a far more accurate gas chromatography test. However, the Texas DPS will not mandate that the breath samples be stored by officer nor that the gas chromatography test be conducted later. What other conclusion can one make from this lack of follow through other than the mounting suspicion that Texas law enforcement officers would rather protect their conviction rate that convict guilty drunken drivers?

While the problems with the Intoxilyzer 5000 can be infuriating, they’re ironically also good news for you right now. What they mean is that you might not be convicted just because you have failed a breathalyzer test on an Intoxilyzer 5000. Call the Wichita Falls DWI lawyers at Grossman Law Offices, and we’ll help you figure out whether or not your BAC tests were accurate or possibly unreliable and able to be questioned by a jury.

The Rights of a DWI Suspect During Questioning

While you certainly are guaranteed the right to say virtually whatever you want by the First Amendment of the Constitution, you shouldn’t necessarily exercise that right when being questioned by a police officer for suspicion of driving drunk. No matter how much you’d like to ream the officer out, you’d be far wiser to be polite and cordially answer whatever questions you are asked. When you’re rude, you only risk angering the officer and increasing the likelihood of being arrested. While you can also remain silent, that’s not a very good idea since all of your actions or lack thereof are being recorded on video and audio. If the officer asks you to take a field sobriety test, you also have the right to refuse to do any test you don’t think you could pass under normal circumstances. Remember, the standard for DWI is whether or nor you have lost “normal physical and mental abilities.” If you are dyslexic, then you would not normally be able to recite the alphabet backwards and shouldn’t be called upon to do so for a field sobriety test.

When exercising the right to refuse a field sobriety test, you should be wary of making too many excuses, for doing so will only make you look guilty. Also, don’t lie, for the prosecution may be able to prove later that you are not dyslexic, leading to additional charges. Furthermore, the more field sobriety tests that you refuse to take, the greater the chances that the officer will move along to his or her next course of action and ask you to take a breathalyzer test.

Citing concerns over the accuracy of breathalyzers, you may also decline to take this test, but making this choice will lead to your immediate arrest and confiscation of your driver’s license. After being spirited away to the police station, you will then have the chance to agree to a blood test. Refusing this BAC test will prompt the police officer to try to acquire a warrant to take your blood without your consent, but that will not always be possible since most DWI offenses occur late at night when most judges are sleeping and not working.

Throughout the state of Texas, these laws are changing. In response to rising drunken driving rates on holiday weekends like Fourth of July, New Year’s Eve, and Christmas when drinking is far more common, many judges in different jurisdictions are now signing warrants that pre-authorize the extraction of blood from suspects without their consent during these holiday weekends. When an officer makes an arrest, he or she must only fill in the suspect’s particulars on the warrant and then get a needle. This can be of particular concern for someone who has been using drugs in addition to alcohol, since a breathalyzer test will detect the alcohol usage while missing the drugs but a blood test will detect both. In San Antonio, Bexar County has carried this idea even further and is now pre-authorizing non-consensual blood testing on all weekends for a limited time basis. Before you refuse a breathalyzer and subject yourself to a mandatory six-month driver’s license suspension, you should remember what county you are in and what time of year it is.

If you have failed a BAC test or merely declined to take one, then the Wichita Falls DWI attorneys at Grossman Law Offices can help you fight the charges against you and obtain the best viable outcome.

Minors Under 21 DUI and DWI

When someone is less than 21 years old, the laws involving drinking and driving change dramatically. When it comes to all other laws, the dividing line between being a minor and being an adult is the 18th birthday, but you must be 21 to legally drink in the United States, so minors in terms of alcohol-related laws are anyone younger than 21. Since these minors cannot legally drink alcohol, they cannot legally operate motor vehicles after having consumed ANY alcohol at all. Doing so commits the crime of Driving Under the Influence. At Grossman Law Offices, we understand that this law can be very misleading for someone who has moved to the Lone Star State from elsewhere in the country as many other states refer to the crime we call DWI as DUI. Taking into account the immaturity of the criminals, the punishments for DUI are far less than DWI, but anyone accused of DUI still needs the assistance of a clever Wichita Falls drunken driving criminal lawyer to protect their rights and limit the negative fallout of the charge.

When a police officer stops a minor and questions him or her for a DUI, that minor retains the same rights as any adult questioned for DWI – they can remain silent and refuse to take either field sobriety of breathalyzer tests. Although, just like adults, minors face consequences for taking those routes. When a minor refuses a breathalyzer during a first DUI arrest, he or she may lose his or her driver’s license for as long as 120 days. For a second breathalyzer refusal, the driver’s license revocation doubles in length to 240 days. Since a failed breathalyzer for a first DUI arrest only suspends the driver’s license for 60 days, a minor would be much better off to relent to the breathalyzer test – especially when you consider that the minor has no chance of sobering up enough to pass a blood test in an hour. Remember – any amount of alcohol in the minor’s system is enough for a DUI conviction. This is not the case for a second DUI conviction, as a failed breathalyzer could lead to a driver’s license suspension of one year.

When a minor appears to have developed a drinking or drug problem, the court can take special action and revoke his or her driver’s license for the remainder of his or her time as a minor or can remand the minor to mandatory rehabilitation.

In addition to being charged with DUI, minors can also be arrested for DWI when their BAC exceeds .08 percent and Aggravated DWI with a recorded BAC higher than .15 percent. Any minors who are older than 16 will be tried as adults for this DWI and can be sent to prison for grown-up time. Those under 17 face the prospect of juvenile detention for a DWI conviction.

First-time DUI

A first DUI conviction is classified as a Class C misdemeanor, and the minor faces no prospect of jail time. He or she will be sentenced to 20-40 hours of community service and must complete a 15-hour alcohol awareness class. This class must be passed with an exam, and anyone failing or missing any of the five sessions will be forced to repeat the class. Also, the minor convicted of first DUI will lose his or her license for between 60 and 120 days. The minor’s parents will also be forced to accompany him or her to all court sessions and could be ordered to attend the alcohol awareness classes in addition. A first DUI conviction does have a lone upside – it’s the only drunken driving conviction that can be expunged from the driver’s record completely. If the minor is offered and completes a deferred adjudication program, then he or she can have the conviction expunged upon his or her 21st birthday.

Second-time DUI

Also a Class A misdemeanor, a second DUI conviction differs only slightly from the first. The driver’s license suspension increases to 240 days to a year, and community service time rises to 60 hours. The alcohol awareness class must also be repeated. The major different comes from the fact that the crime can no longer be expunged; although, convicted minors are still permitted into deferred adjudication.

Third-time DUI

A third DUI conviction ramps up to a Class B misdemeanor and is punished very much like a first DWI. Minors who are 17 or older face a maximum jail sentence of 180 days and fines ranging from $500 to $2,000.

In reality, you never would have googled this website and read this article if you or your teenager hadn’t made the bad decision of drinking and driving. Don’t make another bad decision by trying to resolve this legal situation on your own. Find help from an experienced Wichita Falls DUI attorney who knows how to protect your rights or those of your son or daughter and help you secure the best possible resolution to your DUI case.

Administrative License Revocation (ALR) Hearings

Just because your driver’s license has been suspended due to a refused breathalyzer doesn’t mean that you can kiss your driving privileges goodbye. When the arresting officer confiscates your license, he or she will issue you a provisional license good for 40 days while the issue is resolved.

In the weeks following the arrest, you will receive notification of the intention to revoke your driver’s license by mail either from the police officer or from the DPS. Upon receipt of this notification, you then have 15 days to request an Administrative License Revocation Hearing for the purposes of challenging driver’s license suspension.

In most cases, the court will not be able to schedule your ALR Hearing until after the 40 days given on the provisional license has passed. In that event, the license extends until the date of the ALR Hearing. If you took and passed a blood test after refusing the breathalyzer, then your lawyer will be able to convince the judge that your driver’s license revocation should be over-ruled. If the judge cannot be convinced, then you have 30 days to appeal which will again extend the provisional license – this time for 90 days. If you eventually beat the DWI charges against you at trial, you may be able to get the judge to reinstate your license then, as well.

Thus, don’t panic if you’ve had your license revoked due to a breathalyzer refusal. Put your faith in a skilled and experienced Wichita Falls DWI attorney, who may be able to get you back in the driver’s seat.

Occupational Driver’s License (ODL)

Even if your ALR Hearing comes up short, our Wichita Falls DWI attorneys may be able to get your driving privileges back by another means – even if it is on a restricted basis. Even if you have been convicted of a DWI, you need a way to get to work and take care of your family. However, public transportation in Wichita Falls and in practically every city in Texas other than Dallas and Austin is horribly inefficient. The state understands this and allows people who’ve had their driver’s licenses suspended to apply for Occupational Driver’s Licenses (ODLs). However, ODLs are very expensive, and they greatly restrict driving privileges. When applying, all desired destinations must be accounted for to the court. Then, the driver must track all of his trips on a driving log that details the date, intended destination, time of departure and return, reason for the trip, and total miles driven for every journey.

In order to obtain an ODL, you need to apply using the required format of the Wichita County courts. Failure to do so or to properly list all intended destinations could lead to greatly restricted travel or the denial of the ODL entirely. In order to make sure you’re able to get to work without carpooling or calling a cab, you need to secure the assistance of a Wichita Falls DWI lawyer who knows the intended court procedures.

DWI vs. Public Intoxication

Anyone who assumes DWI and public intoxication (PI) are the same crime is committed a grave error, as they don’t even define the term “intoxication” similarly. In terms of PI, a suspect is judged to be intoxicated when he or she becomes so drunk as to be a danger to him or herself and others.

With DWI, Texas law enforcement officers have established methods for investigating the crime, but it’s the polar opposite with PI. In order to make an arrest, an office must only decide a person has become so intoxicated as to possibly harm others or her or himself. No breathalyzer need be used – only the arresting officer’s common sense.

Without argument, someone committed PI presents far less threat to society than someone committing DWI. When someone passes out on a bar stool, he or she can harm far fewer people than someone who passes out in the driver’s seat of a Cadillac. As a result, a PI offender faces far less punishment – a $500 fine and no jail time for this Class C misdemeanor.

When charged with PI, you don’t necessarily need a lawyer unless you want to fight an unjust arrest (for instance if you had a negative response to prescription medication). All you need is a check payable for $500. On the contrary, anyone charged with a DWI or other drunken driving offense must have a skilled and seasoned Wichita Falls DWI lawyer in their corner to achieve the most favorable results.

DWI Suspects’ Rights

To review, you don’t have the right to drive – that’s only a privilege provided by the state. Thus, the state has every right to take away that privilege when you decline to follow its laws and take a breathalyzer test when asked to do so in much the same way as a parent might ground a child who neglects to clean his or her room. Think about what would happen if the state of Texas did not punish people who refused breathalyzers. Nobody would take them, all drunken drivers would go free, and driving around Texas at night would be only slightly safer than playing Russian Roulette. Not only do your lose your license for refusing a breathalyzer, but this refusal can be presented as evidence against you in court. On the other hand, even if you fail a breathalyzer, a competent and clever Wichita Falls DWI attorney may be able to get a jury to ignore the results. You may very well be in better shape for taking and failing a breathalyzer.

No matter the course of action you take, you must remember that your words and actions are being recorded by the police car’s video system; thus, you must remain on your best behavior at all times.

While you’ve been wrongly conditioned by years of cop shows on TVs and police dramas at the movies, you don’t have “the right to an attorney” when being questioned roadside about a DWI. You can only consult with your lawyer after you’ve been arrested and are facing criminal interrogation. On the other hand, you do retain “the right to remain silent” and can stonewall the police officer’s questions with no responses. Just know that this tactic will not only solidify the officer’s intentions of arresting you but also make you look extremely guilty.

The Experienced Wichita Falls DWI Attorneys at Grossman Law Offices Know how to Help You

At Grossman Law Offices, our Wichita Falls DWI lawyers have been fighting all sorts of drunken driving charges for more than 20 years. Not only has our vast caseload prepared us to know instinctively how to proceed with your case once we’ve heard the details, but we also have built strong working relationships with the prosecutors in Wichita County, enabling us to effectively negotiate a favorable plea bargain when an acquittal appears impossible.

However, if there’s a chance that you’ll be able to beat the charges, then we will present you with an honest assessment of your best course of action. We want to do what is best for each of our clients, and we can help anyone with any type a drunk driving case. If you were pulled over after drinking your first beer on your 18th birthday, or if you got stopped coming home from after tailgating with a few beers at football game but you had your sons in the car, or if you hurt of killed another driver in a drunken accident, or if you refused to take a breathalyzer test – we can help you all. To find out what we can do to assist you, call us now for a free consultation at 1-855-427-0000 (toll free). Our Wichita Falls DWI lawyers are here any time to answer your questions and discuss your options. You don’t have to go through this painful ordeal alone – we’re here to help.