Here are a few things your absolutely must know about DWI:
- An ALR Hearing is the first step in your DWI defense, and you only have fifteen days from the date you were arrested to request that hearing.
- A plea to a DWI always results in a conviction, which will be on your record for life and will cost your well over $10,000 in fines, court costs, DPS surcharges, and increased insurance rates.
- Your DWI trial can be won— if you took a breath test, even if you had an accident, even if your video looks horrible.
DWIs make up about half of our caseload— more than half of our trials. In fact, DWI cases go to trial more often than any other offense in the State of Texas. The main reason for this is that a plea to a DWI will result in a conviction, and this conviction will always be on your record. Most criminal offenses in the State of Texas allow for a deferred probation, which means you are never convicted for that offense as long as you successfully complete your probation. Unfortunately, deferred is not an option in a DWI case. This leaves defendants with little incentive to plea to a DWI. In most cases, the worst the defendant is facing if he loses his DWI trial is a conviction and probation—which is almost always what the State was offering before the trial. Obviously whether or not to go to trial is a case—specific and a very personal decision, but in the vast majority of DWIs you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by taking your case to trial.
In almost every DWI case (with the rare exception of the person who a breath test that results in a score under .08 and no further testing is done), the officer will take your driver’s license and provide you with a temporary license that expires in forty days. He can do this because Texas has what is called an “implied consent” law. This means that, when you apply for a driver’s license from the State, you automatically agree to provide a specimen of breath or blood if you are arrested for a DWI. If you refuse to provide the specimen, the State has the right to revoke your driver’s license. Although the officer will tell you that this suspension is automatic, this is not exactly true.
Texas law allows you to request a hearing in which you can attempt to prevent your license suspension. This hearing is called an Administrative License Revocation (ALR) Hearing. You have only fifteen days from the day you were arrested to request this hearing. If you do not request an ALR hearing within fifteen days, your license will automatically be suspended. If you do request the hearing, on the other hand, your driving privileges remain in place at least until the hearing is held. If you are successful at this hearing, your license never becomes suspended. Although there is some value in winning the hearing and keeping your license, the real value is the opportunity to cross— your arresting officer before a prosecutor has had the chance to prepare him for trial. At a minimum, he will testify differently at his ALR hearing than at the DWI trial. Depending of the degree of the inconsistencies, these differences in sworn testimony can do serious damage to his credibility at trial. Furthermore, we often gain valuable information at ALR hearingsÑinformation that can allow us to defeat your DWI case before it even gets to trial.
If you lose your ALR hearing or fail to request one, we can, in most cases, get you an occupational driver’s license (ODL) that allows you to drive twelve hours a day, seven days a week. Although it is called an “occupational” license, it is not just for getting to and from work. Your ODL also allows you to drive your kids to school, go to the grocery store, drive to church, and tend to other necessary personal business.
