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Austin DWI Lawyers

1. Russell, Wade: DWI/DUI arrests often start out as a minor traffic violation in the evening or early morning hoursŃyou forgot to put on your seat belt, or you failed to signal before you changed lanes. These small violations give the officer who stopped you the opportunity to stop you and talk to you. If the officer smells alcohol on your breath, you will probably be asked to step out of the car and perform what are called ŇField Sobriety Tests.Ó You will probably be on camera when you do these tests. Each test involves many small components, but if you do only two of these things in each test wrong, the officer will say you failed that test. These tests must be administered correctly to be valid.
2. Murray, Walker & Associates: * DWI / DUI * Theft * Drugs, Possession or Sales * Unlawful Weapons * Assault * Sexual Offenses * Juvenile Offenses
3. McHugh, Amy: DWI/DUI Theft Drug Crimes Domestic Violence Assault Juvenile Defense Shoplifting Trespass Bruglary False Report DWLS/DWLI Theft by Check Failure to ID Disorderley Conduct Public Intoxication Unlawful Carrying Weapon Evading Misdemeanors/Felonies
4. Martinez Law Firm: This site is only for general information and should not be used as formal legal advice or to establish a relationship between the client and lawyer.
5. Morales & Navarette: When a person drives on a road or highway with a suspended license, they are committing an offense. A personŐs license may be suspended for a variety of reasons such as a DWI conviction, a lack of proof of valid insurance, an excessive number of traffic tickets in a specified time period, or nonpayment of a tax or surcharge. If a personŐs license is suspended, they cannot drive without an occupational driverŐs license. If a person is caught driving with a suspended or invalid license, they can be arrested and charged with a misdemeanor. If you face this situation, do not fail to call an experienced criminal defense lawyer.
6. Leonard Martinez: The Single Most Important Goal Is To Ensure That Clients Receive "Justice & Due Process"
7. Stephen McMains: Jurisdiction is a court's power to hear and to decide cases. There are two types of jurisdiction. They are subject-matter jurisdiction and personal jurisdiction. Subject-matter jurisdiction is the power of a particular court to hear and to decide certain types of cases. Personal jurisdiction is the power that a court exercises over a particular person.
8. Bill Mange:

   Frequently Asked Questions: DWI

   
   

   What is the first thing I should do, now that I am out of jail on a DWI charge?
   Call DPS at 1-800-394-9913.  Heres why.  If you don’t call that number and request a hearing within 15 days of being arrested, you will automatically lose your driver license on the 40th day following your arrest.

   
   Should I give a Sample of My Breath and Blow into the Machine?
   The short answer is no. Heres why. 

   Advantages of Refusing to Blow:
   

   1. First, you prevent police agencies from getting scientific evidence of the amount of alcohol in your bloodstream.  Specifically, if the breathalyzer machine shows that your blood alcohol content is 0.08% or higher, then youve just given the prosecution a lot of help in proving that you were driving while intoxicated.  This is because one of the definitions of intoxicated depends only on your blood alcohol content, regardless of how well or poorly you were driving.  If your blood alcohol content is 0.08% or higher, then you are intoxicated as far as Texas DWI law is concerned.
   2. Second, even if the breathalyzer machine shows that your blood alcohol content is less than 0.08%, youll still probably spend the night in jail.
   3. Third, if your blood alcohol content is 0.16% or higher, the annual surcharge on your drivers license goes from $1,000 to $2,000 for 3 years. 
   4. Fourth, if the breathalyzer machine shows that your blood alcohol content is less than 0.08%, the arresting officer will then probably ask for a Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) officer to examine you to see if you are intoxicated by something other than alcohol. 

   Disadvantages of Refusing to Blow:
   

   1. First, your refusal to blow is admissible as evidence against you in court.  The prosecution will ask the jury why would an innocent person refuse to blow? The logical answer to this question is that even though you knew you were innocent, you believed at the time the police asked you to blow that the test is not accurate.  Theres evidence to back up that belief.
   2. Second, when the Department of Public Safety seeks to suspend your license, a refusal to blow will usually result in a suspension of 180 days.  But a person who blows and fails will usually (more than 75% of the time) have his or her license suspended for 90 days anyway.  This is not much of a disadvantage if you are arrested for DWI for your first time, since you can usually get an occupational drivers license without much trouble, and you would need that occupational license regardless of whether you blow and fail, or refuse to blow. 

   Advantages to Blowing:
   

   1. Particularly if you are arrested for DWI for the first time, you only get the advantages to blowing if your result is lower than 0.08%.  The trouble is: how will you know in advance whether your result will be higher or lower?  You wont. 
   2. Just the same, here are the advantages available to those citizens who can know the future: (1) if your result is lower than 0.08%, then DPS is a little less likely to ask to have your license suspended administratively; (2) if your result is lower than 0.08%, then that will weaken the States case against you somewhat. 

   Could I Lose My Drivers License?
   Yes.  DPS will move to suspend your drivers license. 

   If you blew, DPS has to prove that it is a little more likely than not that: (1) you were lawfully stopped or lawfully arrested; and (2) that your blood alcohol content was 0.08% or higher while you were driving. 

   If you refused to blow, then DPS only has to prove that it’s a little more likely than not that: (1) you were lawfully stopped or lawfully arrested; (2) that there was mere probable cause to believe you had been driving while intoxicated; (3) that you were given a chance to blow; and (4) that you refused to blow.  The big difference, proof-wise, between whether you blew or not is that if you blew, DPS has a tiny bit higher burden of proof. 

   More than 75% of the time, the Administrative Law Judge rules in favor of DPS and against you. 

   You can request a hearing in front of a judge to challenge DPSs efforts to suspend your license.  But you only have fifteen days after you were arrested to request this hearing.  If you wait longer, you lose the right to challenge the suspension.

   Can I Drive During the Suspension Period?
   Yes, but generally you must petition a court for an occupational drivers license.  This license will permit you to drive if you prove that you have an essential need to drive.  By law, you may drive no more than four hours per day, in order to go to work and school and perform other necessary household chores and duties.  You may petition the court to waive the four-hour limit and request up to 12 hours in a day to drive, providing that you show an essential need.

   None of the information here should be substituted for an actual consultation with an attorney.

9. Minton, Burton, Foster & Collins: The first line of defense is to challenge the reason that you were stopped. There are bad stops! There are many things that you need to do before appearing in front of a judge. Legally, a motorist can be stopped only under specific circumstances, including improperly working equipment, erratic driving or when an officer has a reasonable basis to believe that a law (traffic or otherwise) has been violated. In some ways, this gives police officers a fair amount of leeway in deciding to stop a motorist. It also means, however, that there are circumstances in which a traffic stop was not conducted appropriately. An attorney with experience in DUI and DWI cases can evaluate the circumstances surrounding the stop and help you determine if your rights were violated. Once a motorist has been stopped, law enforcement officials have a number of legal methods of determining whether a driver is under the influence of drugs or alcohol. This includes the ŇbreathalyzerÓ test. The driver is asked to breathe into a device that determines a personŐs blood alcohol content (BAC). In Texas, a person is legally intoxicated and may be arrested and charged with DWI for a 0.08 BAC. Although an individual is not required to submit to such a test, refusal to do so may result in a presumption of guilt and loss of driving privileges. This can have a significant impact on the final outcome of your case.
10. E.G. Morris: A person accused of a crime in Texas courts has a right to have the case tried to a jury. That right cannot be taken away without the agreement of the Defendant, the prosecutor and the judge. However, most criminal cases are not resolved by trial. The vast majority is settled through negotiations with the prosecutor after each side has had a chance to investigative the case and resolve legal disputes at a pre-trial hearing.