Houston Criminal Law Journal by Texas Lawyers covering DWI Drunk Driving Arrests, Criminal Defense Charges, Drug Possession, and Assault

As a DWI attorney I hate when the state assumes that my clients are guilty.  Like the city of of Honululu, Hawaii, the Montgomery County, Texas District Attorney's Office, a neighboring county of Harris County, Texas is trying to scare its citizens from getting arrested for DWI.  The Montgermery County Office has started a Twitter page that lists anyone that gets arrested for a DWI in that county  Luckily, I rarely represent someone in that county for DWI since my practice consists of Houston DWI arrests.  Nevertheless, I would like to point out that I doubt anyone purposefully sets out to get arrested for driving while intoxicated.  In fact, the law does not require that  the person intentionally was DWI like most other crimes.  Most importantly, there is no plan in place for those people that are lucky enough to get their DWI cases dismissed or win at trial. This seems like a stunt that the media will give a lot of attention to initially, but will never be effective in detering anyone from driving while intoxicated.

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As a Houston DWI attorney I go over the offense report made by the police in great detail with my clients.  Most of my clients disagree with the report made by the officer. Meanwhile, after fully investigating the case I am able to find inconsistencies with the offense report and what actually happened especially if there is a scene video.  Earlier this year I had a case dismissed after I was able to retrieve the audio from a DWI video where the officer can be heard telling a witness that he did not know if the person was intoxicated, but he was hopeful that my client would "blow" or else the charges would not stick.  Of course, none of this was mentioned in the officer's offense report.

Joe D. Parker, a Chicago, Illinois police officer, who is known as a prolific DUI enforcer in his state is under review for this type of gross exaggeration.   In his offense Parker writes that Raymond Bell could not keep his balance, and failed the field sobriety tests.  Luckily, this video shows the truth.  I wish all my clients were so lucky to have a video at the scene where the original field sobriety tests were administered.

Thus, if you are charged with a DWI in Houston please contact our law firm at (713) 225-1038 for free consultation.

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As a Houston DWI Lawyer I am regularly asked the above the question.  For the last several years, the answer has always been the same.  No,  the state of Arizona imposes even harsher penalties for DWI cases.  I would hate to be a DWI defendant in a state where in some cases I would be facing a minimum 45 day jail sentence for my first DWI conviction.  Whether you are charged with a DWI in Texas or in any other state the consequences are severe.  An experienced DWI Attorney will assist you during this stressful event to make sure that everything is done on your behalf.

If you are interested in a concise description of the DWI penalties in Arizona Lawrence Koplow, a Arizona DUI Attorney, provides it in a recent blog post.

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Recently, he House transportation committee released the details of a six-year, $450 billion highway bill. What is troubling to a DWI Attorney, like myself, is that buried within the bill is a controversial sentencing requirement that low-level, first-time drunken-driving offenders, must install an ignition interlock device.  Currently, Texas requires the ignition interlock for repeat offenders.  Additionally, Texas requires the ignition interlock for anyone that has a high breath test (.15 or higher) when they were arrested.

Texas has historically understood that a first time offender does not need such a drastic step when someone has been convicted for their first DWI.  Since the ignition interlock is expensive, intrusive, and typically has technical issues, this punishment has exclusively been used for repeat offenders only .  The Federal government has a different idea and could affect how Texas will deal with first time DWI offenders if and when the bill is enacted.
 

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Yes, it could happen to anyone and may be used as a defense in the future by a DWI attorney.  According to studies certain diets like the Atkins may lead to higher readings.  This takes place because the machines test for ethanol, but are unable to distinguish that from acetone that is commonly produced by people on a low carbohydrate diet.  This mistake has even happened to a British pilot. 

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