DWI DUI
You must take action immediately after a driving while intoxicated (DWI) arrest.
Failure to promptly request a license suspension hearing will typically result in
loss of your driver’s license for six months. This can be a true hardship in Texas,
where convenient public transportation is scarce. And driving on a suspended license
can result in more criminal charges!
If your driver’s license has already been suspended, let the attorneys of the Lucio
Firm help you get a hardship/occupational driver’s license. An occupational license
will allow you to drive to work, and for other necessities, even though your driver’s
license has been suspended.
Besides a license suspension, a DWI charge can result in probation or jail time,
fines, court costs, probation fees, $1,000.00 - $2,000.00 per year (for three years)
driver’s license renewal surcharges, and increased insurance rates. If you were
involved in an accident causing personal injury you could be charged with intoxication
assault, a felony. Worse, if the accident was fatal you could be charged with intoxication
manslaughter.
Under Texas law, there are three ways that a person may be "intoxicated" for purposes
of a DWI charge. A person may be intoxicated if 1) his or her breath alcohol concentration
is greater than, or equal to, 0.08, 2) they have lost the normal use of their physical
faculties or, 3) they have lost the normal use of their mental faculties. The government
doesn’t need to prove all three of these - any one of the definitions is sufficient
to support a finding of intoxication. This is the reason the State can prosecute
a defendant for DWI even if he or she took a breath test which was less than 0.08.
Contact an Experienced Texas DWI Lawyer
Whatever kind intoxication charge you are facing, don’t believe that you have no
options other than to accept a plea bargain! DWI is an “opinion” crime – simply
because a police officer thinks you were intoxicated doesn’t necessarily make it
so. Even cases with breath test results over 0.08 can be defended. The attorneys
of the Lucio Firm have tried, and won, many DWI cases. Contact us for a free consultation
with an attorney to discuss your options after a DWI charge and ways to avoid a
license suspension. We can answer your questions about:
- whether there was probable cause for a traffic stop when you were pulled over;
- the reliability of the Intoxilyzer/Breathalyzer tests and other field sobriety tests;
- the effects of a breath test refusal;
- negotiating a plea bargain and the effects of pleading guilty;
- how to take your case to trial and win!