How About A Different Track For Houston DWI Cases?
It seems like the Harris County District Attorney's Office is not budging from the second court date DIVERT decision put in place last month. This decision requires that anyone wishing to enter the DIVERT program must make that decision by their second court date. Unlike other misdemeanor charges this seems inconsistent in respect of how quickly a decision needs to be made. In response, the Harris County, Texas misdemeanor judges should recognize the unfairness of this policy and allow these cases to proceed down a different track than the other cases that are heard in their courts. While this has worked well for several years the new DIVERT program throws things off because it is unlikely that an attorney that is handling a DWI case that is eligible for the program is able to make a full assessment before the second court date. In a perfect world the ALR hearing would be concluded, the video would be reviewed, testifying experts will give their input, the offense reports will be completed and will be in the possession of the lawyer handling the case. A two week reset does not come close to allowing all of this to occur because of the time constraints. I would suggest that cases that are deemed to be DIVERT eligible be given a forty five day reset time frame from their initial court date appearance so most of the preliminary investigation can be accomplished and all parties may make an informed decision before proceeding.
