Houston Criminal Law Journal DUI, DWI Lawyer & Attorney : Madrid, Martinez & Associates

The rumor around the Harris County Courthouse is that Judge Bill Harmon, presiding judge of Harris County Criminal Court at Law #2, is going to say "NO" to any Harris County District Attorney's Office DWI Pretrial Diversion program in his court.  That creates several issues.  First, who will be the first Houston DWI lawyer to seek a recusal of Judge Harmon based on this position?  Second, will the District Attorney's Office oppose the recusal since it is their program?  Third, will an appellate court rule that a pretrial diversion is within the range of punishment for a Class "B" DWI? I am looking forward to seeing the road this program travels as it takes off this month.

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Today, many Houston DWI Defense Attorneys attended a meeting with Roger Bridgwater, the assistant district attorney that is heading up the Pretrial Diversion program in Harris County.  The meeting was very informative.  Some of the highlights of the meeting are as follow:  first, and as a general rule anyone that has been handled by the police before will be ineligible for the program (including dismissals, not guilty verdicts, and PI cases).  Second, anyone with a felony charge will not be eligible (DWI child passenger cases).  Thirdly, the probation department will be supervising the person during the program and finally an ignition interlock with a camera will be required.  A person may be released from their surety bond pending completion of the program.  The length of the pretrial will be from 1-2 years depending on how they score after being tested and evaluated by the probation department.

A draft of the contract that will be required to be executed was handled out at the meeting, I will comment on that in a later post along with the type of people the program aims to help.

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"Who will reimburse my lawyer's fees when my case is dismissed?

Regularly, I have clients ask me some form of that question.  The sad truth is despite being falsely accused and eventually getting their case dismissed for the accused there really is nothing set up in our current criminal judicial system that will give someone the opportunity to seek reimbursement of the expenses associated with defending a criminal case.  Perhaps the government should be held monetarily accountable for cases that are later to be found lacking credible evidence.  If the Government is more accountable less cases will be accepted where a person finds it necessary to spend thousands of dollars to properly defend themselves.

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Late last year and this year there has been a steady stream of Harris County District Attorneys  leaving the office.  This should not come as a surprise after Pat Lykos, was elected as the District Attorney.  Some have taken the traditional route of becoming a Houston Criminal Attorney.  Others have decided to continue as a prosecutor in Galveston, Montgomery, or some other county in Texas.  Curiously, not one has been hired by the Fort Bend District Attorney's Office.   I wonder why  Fort Bend County, Texas is the only neighboring county not to hire the former prosecutors?

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A lot of my colleagues that are Criminal Attorneys in Houston have offices in or around downtown, but I much prefer that our office is in the Galleria area.  We started with a law office downtown, but after two years we made the move to the Houston Uptown area and have never looked back.  Most people would rather get a root canal than go to downtown Houston to visit a criminal lawyer during weekday business hours.  It is difficult to navigate, parking is a nightmare, and even if one does find parking it is either far from the office and/or incredibly expensive.

For the past four years, our law firm has been located in the Williams Tower, formerly known as the Transco Tower, the 4th largest building in Texas and originally the largest building outside of a city's business district.  By having an office in such a recognizable building most people do not need directions to our building.  The few times that they get lost we can simply tell them to look for the tallest building in the area.  The Tower is also a world renowned piece of architecture.  The parking garage is attached and it is free since we validate the client's parking ticket.  Also, when people come to our office they marvel at the view from the 60th floor.  Its incredible!

Lastly, most people that have lived in Houston for a while have been to the Houston Galleria to shop, visit the skating rink, enjoy the water wall (the most photographed site in the city), or people watch.  A trip to our office allows someone to relax after the stressful event they have endured.

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My friends in the medical profession find it hard to believe that I take phone calls after business hours.  I never thought it was a big deal until they brought it up night.  I imagine that expectations from the public is different now from when I was growing up.  Gone are the days that a doctor makes a house call or even takes a phone call from a patient. 

On the other hand, when someone gets into trouble they need to speak to a lawyer asap.  Typically, when a person is arrested for DWI their family has never encountered such an event and need to speak to an attorney to explain the process.  Thus, our law firm always has a lawyer on call to answer any questions that arise from a criminal arrest.  Clients are always surprised when they reach an attorney on a weekend ready to discuss their case.

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As a Houston Criminal Attorney I am always surprised what people decide to wear to court.  I always tell our clients to dress like they would for Church.  For the past couple of years, people have been wearing Crocs to court.  Recently, I could not believe that  I saw a fellow Criminal Attorney that will remain nameless wearing Crocs to court with a suit.  Since I am not a fan of the shoe I was not surprised to find out that company is going bankrupt.

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In case you missed it the Harris County Commissioners Court decided to appoint a Jail Czar to act as a liaison between the Harris County Judges and the Harris County Jail.  Caprice Cosper, former judge of the 339th district court, will serve as the Jail Czar.  I have personally seen Judge Cosper tirelessly work for the fair treatment of anyone charged with a criminal offense in Harris County.  Thus, I have no doubt that she will do the same job when it comes to seeing that a person is treated appropriately while incarcerated in the Harris County Jail. 

If you need help avoiding a jail sentence please contact our Houston Criminal Attorney law firm at (713) 225-1038 or just click here to visit our website.

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It is common knowledge that people act differently when they are videotaped  The Houston DWI Officers are equipped with video machines in their vehicles to record the stop and the field sobriety tests that they request a person to do during a dwi stop.  Most of the time during the arrest the officer is the only person that knows that everything is being videotaped.  How a person does during the videotaping of the field sobriety tests is crucial.  In my experience as a Houston DWI lawyer, these videotapes are poor in quality and only show the obvious mis-steps that a person commits during the field sobriety tests.  They fail to show how well a person performs during the investigation.  The DWI officers have taken it upon themselves to act as play by play announcers during the time that a person is doing the tests.  This is distracting to the person trying to perform the tests and clearly could be viewed as one sided.  The officer only remarks on something the person may have done wrong without ever mentioning all the things that person is doing correctly. 

Recently, the Texas Criminal Court of Appeals, the highest appellate court in Texas, has held that the practice of the police officer commenting on the a person's performance during the DWI field sobriety test is hearsay.  Therefore, the commentary will not be heard by a jury during trial.  For the entire opinion click here.

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Logically, as a Houston DWI Attorney this is a number that I follow.  According to Don Egdorf, with the Houston Police Department's DWI Task Force, HPD recorded over 6,000 DWI arrests in 2008. That does not take into account all the other agencies in the Greater Houston, Texas area.

As of the end of May, we are looking at a pretty big increase.  The Houston DWI Task Force has already made over 3,300 DWI arrest.  There is a strong possibility that this may be a record year for DWI arrests in Houston. 

Please be careful after having a drink and driving.  You are not guilty of driving while intoxicated just because you have been arrested.  Fortunately, you are presumed to be innocent of any criminal offense in our Country.

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First Steve McNair at age 36 and then Arturo Gatti at age 37. Both allegedly killed by women in their early 20s. Two retired sports figures who both had the reputation of being absolute warriors. McNair an MVP who played hurt and almost carried the Tennessee Titans to a Super Bowl victory. Gatti a former junior welterweight champion who fought in some of the best fights of his generation.

Tragic. Both still very young.  Both left behind children. In my practice as a Houston Criminal Defense Attorney I often defend those accused of Family Violence , sometimes called Domestic Violence. The overwhelming majority of these cases involve accusations of a man committing violence against a women. Although women are charged with Assault Family Violence, it is rare.

When police are called out to the scene of a "domestic disturbance" and a women is accusing a man of assault, that man better be ready to go to jail. I am confident that the intentions of  police in these situations and the prosecutors they speak with are to protect and ensure that justice is served. However, mistakes are made. Fortunately in the United States, everyone is presumed to be innocent. It my job as a Houston Criminal Lawyer to convince a prosecutor or jury of this innocence.

Gatti and McNair are examples that women can and do commit family violence.

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I wonder if law enforcement in other jurisdictions are so militant about DWI arrests as they are in Houston, Texas.  An example of how aggressively the police in Houston deal with these types of cases was seen recently when a man was charged for DWI as he drove around the block searching for his missing dog . The dog escaped from his backyard during the 4th of July fireworks celebration.  His wife convinced him that it would be better to get in his car to find y"Fido."  Unfortunately, on the way to retrieving their dog an unsympathetic Officer stops him and proceeds to charge him with DWI despite the fact that he is less than two blocks away from his house.  Luckily, even in Houston anyone charged with DWI is presumed to be innocent and entitled to a trial to determine if they are truly intoxicated when they were driving. 

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As a Houston DWI Attorney, I am surprised that M.A.D.D.has been relatively silent on the new Pretrial Diversion DWI Program proposed by the Harris County District Attorney's Office.  I am confident that once it is unveiled in August M.A.D.D. will have a negative opinion of the program.  Recently, M.A.D.D. demanded that a non profit with the same goals of curtailing drunk driving to stop proclaiming in their literature that they are partners. 

If you need help from a Houston DWI lawyer please visit click here or call our law firm at (713) 225-1038 for a free consultation.

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As a Houston DWI Attorney I noticed an dramatic increase in the DWI arrests this past weekend.  Not surprisingly, the Harris County District Attorney's Office is boasting that this was the best "No Refusal Weekend" to date with over 300 arrests.  It looks like this is going to be a regular occurrence during any holiday weekend in Harris County, Texas.

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As a Houston DWI Attorney I am grateful that the Harris County District Attorney's Office is implementing the DIVERT Program.  One question that has gone unanswered thus far is whether a DWI with a child passenger, a felony, will qualify for the new program?  I am hopeful that the administration will treat this first time offender the same as one that is charged with a misdemeanor.

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