Houston DWI Lawyer | DWI Defense in Houston, TX

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.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

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?

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Recently elected District Attorney, Pat Lykos, will be sworn in at the beginning of the year, but she is already putting her staff together.  Jim Leitner, currently a defense attorney and a former Harris County prosecutor will become her first assistant.  Also, Roger Bridgwater, current judge for the 178th District of Harris County, who lost his position to Democrat David Mendoza will be joining her staff as soon as he leaves the bench.  They are both scheduled to be sworn in before the end of the year.

Both Mr. Leitner and Judge Bridgwater have worked as criminal defense attorneys in Harris County, Texas and are respected by the defense bar.  Therefore, they should bring a fresh perspective to the District Attorney's office.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link