Posted on April 04, 2021 in Uncategorized

Texas law, like laws in other states, authorizes a county's district attorney to bring in a special prosecutor in certain cases. Standard procedure is that the county's district attorney determines whether to charge a DWI, what DWI crimes to charge, and how to proceed with the trial or plea bargain of the charges.

In the case of a special prosecutor, though, under Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 2.07, the county district attorney calls on an experienced prosecutor from another county or on an assistant attorney general from the state to take over the local DWI prosecution.

No Special Treatment

A special prosecutor, though, doesn't mean that the DWI defendant receives special treatment. The primary purpose of bringing in a special prosecutor is exactly the opposite, to ensure that the DWI defendant doesn't get special treatment. Sometimes, the district attorney has a personal or professional relationship with the DWI defendant. Those conflicts of interest commonly arise when the defendant is a police officer who works closely with the district attorney or a district attorney's family member. That's when Article 2.07 authorizes a special prosecutor. District attorneys may also call in a special prosecutor for an especially complex case, when understaffed, or when illness or other cause makes them unavailable.

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 Posted on April 04, 2021 in Uncategorized

A DWI charge seems about as individual of a crime as one can imagine. Someone gets behind the wheel drunk, an accident occurs or police notice erratic driving, and an arrest results. Yet multiple-suspect, group, or mass DWI arrests do happen, including in Texas, as the following example shows. And when they happen, they can raise significant issues of probable cause, leading to potential DWI defenses.

Multiple-Suspect DWI Arrests

For each of the past several years, Harris County has held an annual initiative to discourage street racing. Press report indicates that the county's March 2021 initiative resulted in the arrest of 220 individuals over just a four-day period.

Texas Transportation Code Section 545.420 makes street racing a crime, punishable as anything from a Class B misdemeanor all the way up to a second-degree felony, depending on the circumstances. Obstructing a highway and reckless driving are other Texas crimes associated with street racing.

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 Posted on April 04, 2021 in Uncategorized

No one goes out for a good time expecting to end up in jail on a DWI charge. But DWI arrests and incarcerations certainly happen. And sometimes, depending on the day and time of arrest, the county of arrest, and other factors, that brief jail stay following an arrest can last more than the night. Indeed sometimes, jail time can stretch into a few days or more, while awaiting arraignment and release on bond.

Credit for Time Served

Jail time at arrest for a DWI charge wouldn't seem to offer any special silver lining. The arrestee gains nothing from the jail time if the DWI arrest doesn't result in a conviction carrying a sentence involving jail time. The jail time following arrest is then a waste of time. Yet if the DWI arrest results in a plea or conviction carrying a sentence of jail time, then jail time at arrest is generally a credit against that sentence. If the jail sentence is short enough, such as a few days, then credit for the time already served may mean no more jail time.

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 Posted on April 04, 2021 in Uncategorized

An arrest for driving while intoxicated is stressful for a good reason. A conviction for a DWI can affect your job, particularly those who work in law enforcement. A recent case involving a Fort Worth police officer is an example of the serious consequences that law enforcement personnel can face because of a DWI conviction. However, it's important to remember that you are innocent until proven guilty.

On December 8, 2021, Grapevine police arrested a 14-year lieutenant with the Fort Worth police department for suspected DWI. The officer was off duty when the arrest occurred. In a written statement, the police department stated, "The Fort Worth Police Department holds every officer to a very high standard and does not tolerate criminal misconduct or unethical behavior in any manner." While the officer faced serious consequences in this situation, there are defenses to an arrest for DWI.

Common DWI Arrest Defenses

While many people think that an arrest for DWI in Texas is an open and shut case, mistakes happen during police stops, investigations, and arrests related to suspected DWIs.

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 Posted on April 04, 2021 in Uncategorized

We hear a lot about DWIs, what happens after an arrest, and even the possible defenses. But what happens if you're facing multiple criminal charges along with your DWI. A recent story from the Texas Department of Public Safety gives us a glimpse into how more complicated DWI cases play out.

In February of this year, deputies from the Angelina County Sherriff's Office responded to a report from a caller of a suspicious man going through their yard. While deputies were responding, the Sherriff's Office received several other calls reporting that the man got into a truck to drive away but crashed through a fence and into a pasture before fleeing on foot into nearby woods. The Texas Department of Safety arrested the man the next day for:

• The Class C misdemeanor failure to stop and give information,
• Felony possession of less than one gram of a penalty group one controlled substance, and
• Third-degree felony driving while intoxicated (third or more DWI).

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 Posted on April 04, 2021 in Uncategorized

Any honest thought should alert one to the risk that a DWI conviction can make a mess of one's life. Yet when facing a crisis like a DWI charge, many of us cope by unduly minimizing the crisis's seriousness. And so we need a reminder of just how big of a mess a single DWI conviction can make of one's life. The story described below shows that a single DWI can ruin one's life.

Yet, a DWI charge need not destroy all hope. Anyone charged with a DWI has one very good short-term opportunity and a second long-term opportunity to make the best of the DWI charge. The point is not to give up hope. Instead, when charged with a DWI, act promptly, wisely, and earnestly. You can cope well with a DWI charge if you take the right steps.

Making a Mess of One's Life

The unfortunate March 2021 story reports the Brazos County sentencing of a Martindale man to seven years in prison for a DWI conviction and conviction of assault family violence. Seven years in prison is a long time, enough to destroy a reputation, career, finances, friendships, and family relationships. Seven years in prison can mean starting entirely over when one eventually gets out. Seven years in prison can ruin one's life.

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 Posted on April 04, 2021 in Uncategorized

Being involved in a crash that hurts or kills someone else is always horrible. But when you also face a DWI in connection with the accident, it can be terrifying. A recent crash in Dallas illustrated just how serious the consequences could be when a death, especially a police officer's death, is linked to driving while intoxicated.

On February 13, 2021, a Dallas police officer died early that morning after a crash involving a suspected drunk driver. The DPS officer was working at an earlier crash site at 1:20 am on a freeway north of Dallas. He was standing outside his patrol car when the driver of a Kia Forte traveling at a high rate of speed allegedly hit him. The officer later died at the hospital. The police took the driver of the Kia into custody pending charges.

Intoxication Assault

Typically, a first DWI without any aggravating factors is a Class B misdemeanor in Texas. The punishments can be up to 180 days and up to $2,000 in fines. However, if you are suspected of DWI and are involved in an accident where someone is seriously injured, the police may also charge you with intoxication assault, also known as DWI with serious bodily injury. "Serious bodily injury" means an injury that "creates a substantial risk of death or that causes serious permanent disfigurement or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ." Tex. Crim. Code § 49.07(1)(b) (2007).

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 Posted on April 04, 2021 in Uncategorized

You've probably seen or heard shocking headlines of a DWI conviction leading to a very long prison sentence. Those headlines shock us because we rightly believe that the penalty for a first DWI conviction is usually a relatively short jail sentence, if any jail time, plus a reasonable fine and maybe license suspension or restriction of some kind. What makes those huge prison sentences in some DWI cases? Should someone facing an ordinary DWI conviction be concerned over the possibility of crazy prison time?

An Aggravating Case

A sixty-year prison sentence in a March 2021 Midland, Texas DWI case shows the sort of aggravating example such long prison terms typically take. This report tells of the unfortunate defendant's conviction for intoxication manslaughter, meaning that the drunken driver killed another in the accident that brought about his arrest. Intoxication manslaughter is a serious crime, although not one that alone ordinarily produces such a severe sixty-year sentence. Instead, Texas Penal Code Secction 19.04 makes manslaughter a second-degree felony punishable by two to twenty years, not sixty years.

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 Posted on April 04, 2021 in Uncategorized

You can still have a good time. Getting home safely, rather than risking a DWI charge, sometimes just takes a little thought, a little planning. There are many options to get you home safely.

A Novel Solution

An Amarillo-based Don't Drink and Drive Facebook group offers a unique solution to avoid risky situations. Sober members of the Facebook group can offer a ride, while drunken members can ask for a ride. That's pretty much it. Just post your Facebook message, one way or the other. Those needing rides may have had more to drink than they had planned to or may have lost their ride. Those offering rides are non-drinking friends, bartenders, or just folks with a particular concern for drunk driving, like the group's host who founded it after his father suffered paralysis in a drunk-driving accident. Hundreds of members have joined.

Getting Home Safe

Kudos to the Facebook group's host and members for helping one another drink responsibly while traveling safely. Yet getting home safely after having imbibed doesn't have to take a Facebook group. If you plan to party, consider doing any of these things in advance to ensure that you end up safe at home when the party's over:

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 Posted on April 04, 2021 in Uncategorized

If there's one thing we revere in Texas, it's college football. We might be rooting for the Aggies, shouting "hook ‘em horns," cheering for the Texas A&M Aggies, or tragically pulling for a college team outside of the great state of Texas. But whether we're admiring a perfect tight spiral from Colt McCoy or Ricky Williams weaving down the field, there's nothing like game day for many of us.

The End of a Career?

Then there's Vince Young, one the greatest Longhorn football players that ever lived and forever a legend of Texas college football. He helped bring the University of Texas to a BCS national title at the Rose Bowl in 2006 and later finished his degree at UT in 2013. Young spent the first six seasons of his NFL career with the Tennessee Titans before hitting a rough patch in his career. His downward spiral, culminating in a possible move to Canadian football in 2017, crushed many of us. But Young's football career ended after DWI arrests in Texas in 2016 and 2019. Fortunately, a DWI doesn't have to be the end of the story for anyone, even Vince Young.

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