Posted on September 09, 2022 in Uncategorized

It's never a good time to face an arrest for driving while intoxicated. But if you're currently going through a divorce, particularly if child custody is an issue, this can be a frightening time. It is unfortunately common for good folks be be arrested for a first time DWI with a pending divorce. In addition to court-imposed penalties, you could also lose your driver's license or job. But most importantly, a conviction for DWI could affect your child custody and visitation. That's why it's important to hire an attorney who is a DWI expert in DWI cases like Doug Murphy.

Legal Penalties for DWI

A first DWI conviction in Texas is a Class B misdemeanor. You could receive up to 180 days in jail and court-imposed fines of up to $2,000. If convicted, you will also face mandatory administrative fines of $3,000 for the first DWI conviction in 36 months. The court has no control power to lower these mandatory administrative fines.

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 Posted on September 09, 2022 in Uncategorized

A recent Texas Observer press report recounts just how bad Houston's Forensic Science Center once was for the criminally accused, including motor vehicle drivers charged with a Harris County DWI in Houston. According to the report, local and national media stories labeled the Center the country's worst. The report attributes the Center's former reputation not just to its decrepit facility but to the many wrongful convictions due to the biased or incompetent work of the Center's under-qualified staff, who even lied about their credentials. That's not a pretty picture for the criminally accused, including DWI defendants whose fingerprints, blood, DNA, and other physical evidence the Center collected, analyzed, stored, and produced as prosecution evidence.

Critical Reform of Houston DWI Evidence Procedures

The Texas Observer's press report, though, isn't about the Houston Forensic Science Center's appalling past. The report is instead about the Center's much better present. The Center's badly needed overhaul began in 2014 with cleaving the Center from Houston's police department. When the police control the forensics, prosecution bias is too great a risk. City officials who fund and oversee the Center put the newly independent Center under its own governing board. Refreshingly, that board includes advocates for the criminally accused. The board promptly hired a forensic scientist to lead the Center and to staff it with other qualified scientists. According to the report, the Center now boasts 212 qualified staff members. The press report calls the formerly tarnished but now-reformed Center a national leader, which indicates how deep the reforms went and how well the reforms may have worked.

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 Posted on September 09, 2022 in Uncategorized

The problem leading to a DWI arrest isn't just the fateful "one for the road." The problem can instead be just one drink. One drink isn't always enough to make the driver legally intoxicated under Texas DWI laws. One drink may not raise the driver's blood alcohol above the legal.08% limit (.04% for commercial drivers). But under certain circumstances, one drink can still be enough for a drunk driving charge and even for a drunk driving conviction. Don't mistakenly assume that a one-drink rule is good for you or good for a friend or anyone else who desires to drive after the drink. Just one drink can, in some circumstances, be one drink too many. If you face a Texas DWI charge after having had just one drink, retain DWI Specialist attorney Doug Murphy for your aggressive and effective defense.

Misconceptions over Breathalyzer and Blood Test Results

Drivers tend to hold several common misconceptions about Texas DWI laws. One of those misconceptions has to do with breathalyzer and blood test results. It's true that Texas DWI laws set certain legal limits to blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels when operating a motor vehicle. But just because you blow a.08 in a portable breath test (PBT) doesn't mean you will avoid all charges. On the contrary, police may stop and arrest you on suspicion of a DWI violation when they have probable cause to believe that you lack normal use of your physical or mental faculties due to consumption of drugs or alcohol. Officers may draw that probable cause from your erratic operation of your motor vehicle or, after a lawful stop for speeding or other violations, from open containers or your appearance and behavior, even from a field sobriety test. Indeed, the portable breath test comes only after the stop, generally after the officer observes other DWI evidence. And whether you pass or fail the portable breath test, it won't be the admissible evidence. Police will generally only use it to get a more-reliable blood alcohol test.

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 Posted on September 09, 2022 in Uncategorized

Sometimes, a car crash can end tragically, especially if the driver attempts to evade the police. A recent deadly crash demonstrates how police chases can sometimes end.

Police Chase in North Houston

The chase began when police attempted to pull over a car driving without headlights, suspecting the driver might be impaired. According to officers, the car initially slowed down but then sped off, trying to avoid the stop, and lost the police. When police caught up to the driver, he had crashed into a pole on West Montgomery Road off Ella Boulevard. Fortunately, there were no passengers, but the driver was deceased.

DWI in Texas

Driving while intoxicated in Texas means that you:

• No longer have the normal use of your mental or physical faculties, or
• You have a blood alcohol content over the legal limit of.08%, or.04% if you are driving a commercial vehicle with a commercial driver's license.

But a DWI in Texas doesn't require that you have a BAC over the legal limit. The police can also arrest you if they believe you no longer have your normal mental or physical faculties while driving. This is a highly subjective standard and can lead to an arrest simply based on your performance during questioning and road sobriety tests. There are many reasons you might fail a field sobriety test that aren't related to alcohol consumption. If you have a medical condition, are disabled or elderly, have poor balance or coordination, or have a speech or hearing impediment, the police can wrongly interpret your behavior as evidence of intoxication.

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 Posted on September 09, 2022 in Uncategorized

Attorney Doug. Murphy recently received the 2023 Lawyer of the Year for DWI Defense recognition by Best Lawyers. This prominent award from U.S. News & World Report is based entirely on peer review surveys of the quality of legal services provided by each lawyer. Best Lawyers has recognized Doug every year since 2013.

Lawyer of the Year Selection Process

Best Lawyers has used the same transparent methodology, incorporating a rigorous peer review process, for more than 40 years. Best Lawyers designed the process to capture the consensus opinions about the professional abilities of top lawyers in each area and each area of the law. This prestigious award is based solely on peer reviews from fellow attorneys.

• Lawyer of the Year Nominations

While any lawyer can nominate another lawyer for Lawyer of the Year recognition, only attorneys in private practice are eligible for the award. Corporate attorneys are not eligible, and lawyers may not nominate themselves. The primary sources of nominations are typically clients, other lawyers, and marketing teams, but the number of nominations an attorney receives will not affect the results.

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 Posted on March 03, 2022 in Uncategorized

If the police arrest you for a DWI, you have rights. We've all seen the legal dramas, and we know that we're innocent until proven guilty. As a result, you may assume that the police and prosecutors will treat you as innocent accordingly. Unfortunately, that doesn't always happen. On Thanksgiving day, UFC welterweight Geoff Neal was arrested for DWI, demonstrating the due process that everyone should receive after an arrest.

Arrest for DWI and Weapons Charges

Police arrested Neal in the early morning hours of Thanksgiving for DWI ad unlawfully carrying a weapon in Texas. Neal's attorney stated that he volunteered for a blood test at the time of his arrest, and they believe the results will exonerate him. The results could take anywhere from six weeks to six months to come back. His attorney wasn't aware of the probable cause for the arrest because police had not yet released the arrest report to him.

The prosecutors won't produce a case file until those results come back. His attorney also explained that Neal was legally carrying a licensed weapon in his car and was only charged because it is illegal to have a firearm in your possession while committing a crime. Prosecutors will drop the weapons charge if his BAC is below.08%.

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 Posted on March 03, 2022 in Uncategorized

If you're a professional driver, you undoubtedly understand the importance of safety on the road. You also know that your employer, and the people of Texas, trust you to keep your passengers and others on the road as safe as possible. If the police suspect you of breaking that trust and drinking while driving, the consequences can be serious. That's what a professional ambulance driver in Georgia recently discovered.

DWI Ambulance Crash

On November 12, an ambulance left the road and rolled over into a ditch about 20 miles outside Atlanta. According to the Georgia Department of Public Safety, the accident killed a 66-year-old unrestrained passenger who was riding in the back. The driver, suspected of driving while drinking, faces charges of driving with an open container, second-degree vehicular manslaughter, and "DUI combination less safe," which allows Georgia police to charge someone driving under the legal BAC limit but is driving "less safe." The ambulance driver would likely face similar charges if this had happened in Texas.

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 Posted on March 03, 2022 in Uncategorized

It's always frightening when the police pull you over for a suspected DWI, but if you have kids in the car, it can be even more serious. Did you know that a DWI with kids in the car can also result in felony charges? That's what a Harris County man recently discovered.

Driving Erratically with Kids

According to the Harris County Sheriff's Office, in the early morning hours of November 21, 2021, a DWI unit observed a man driving a white pickup truck erratically. When police attempted to stop the man, he refused, leading deputies on a 12-mile chase, reaching up to 100 mph.

Police said the man eventually stopped the truck and left the vehicle with an infant in his arms. There were four children in the car during the pursuit, including the infant. The oldest of the children was 8. The sheriff's office reported that deputies did not realize children were in the car until after the man stopped. None of the children were injured, but the man faces several felony charges, including child endangerment, evading in a motor vehicle, and possibly driving while intoxicated.

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 Posted on February 02, 2022 in Uncategorized

It's happened to many of us. You go out with friends for a night on the town. You have a few drinks, and you decide to take a nap in your car before heading home to make sure you're safe to drive. But then a police car pulls up behind your parked car, and the officer knocks on your window. Uh oh. But did you know that sleeping in your car while intoxicated can result in a DWI charge? A prominent business owner in Young County, Texas, recently faced this situation.

DWI Passed Out in a Car

Before Thanksgiving, police were dispatched to a suspicious car in Wichita Falls. Police allegedly discovered the man passed out in the driver's side of a black Tahoe. He woke up, and police reported he was "incoherent" when police told him to exit the vehicle. The police reported in the probable cause warrant that he struggled to get out of the car, held on to the door while getting out, and then stumbled when his foot hit the ground.

Reportedly he had a strong odor of alcohol on his breath and failed to complete a field sobriety test on a gravel road. When the police told him they were checking his eyes for signs of insobriety, he said, "not on a gravel road." He then refused to tell police whether he was refusing to complete a field sobriety test, and the police arrested him. He refused BAC testing, so police transported him to an emergency room and obtained a warrant. Police charged him with DWI, second offense.

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 Posted on February 02, 2022 in Uncategorized

When you're facing a possible arrest for a DWI stop, you may be panicked and unsure how to act or what to say. But it's important to remember that an arrest for a DWI does not mean a court will convict you. You are innocent until proven guilty, and you can't panic or appear uncooperative to the police. If you do, you could get hurt. The family of a Houston-area man is now grieving after their son's arrest interaction with the Harris County Sheriff's Department.

On October 10, 2021, a Houston man was involved in a single-car accident. When the police arrived on the scene, they arrested him for an open Justice of the Peace Warrant – he had an unpaid fine of $279.70 for failure to appear in court for not having a driver's license. After police handcuffed him and placed him in the vehicle, police allege he was uncooperative, and they tased him with a "drive skin." In a "drive skin," police place electrodes directly on the body and then use the taser. According to his attorney, "they send 50,000 volts directly into your body. He received that kind of treatment after he had been handcuffed after he was placed in the police vehicle."

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