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, LaFleur & Assoc. 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: