Posted on October 10, 2021 in Uncategorized

Harris County Constable Mark Herman recently reached the local media with a complaint that the Harris County courts are unwisely releasing repeat DWI offenders right back onto the streets, only to face DWI arrest once again. Constable Herman cites the death of a mother and three children in a DWI accident, although the story gives no indication that the perpetrator was a repeat offender. Are DWI offenders really in an arrest, release, repeat cycle? And if so, is the solution really to lock every arrestee up while they await a fair trial?

Constable Authority and Responsibility

Constable Herman has due authority and responsibility to raise certain law-enforcement concerns. A Texas constable is a licensed peace officer authorized under the Texas Constitution to enforce certain laws, as well as to serve certain civil duties like court bailiff and service of process. Constables clearly have the authority to enforce traffic laws and make traffic arrests. The frequency of DWIs is a legitimate constable concern. Harris County Constables divide their authority and responsibility across eight precincts. Constable Herman serves Precinct 4, north of Houston to the county's northern border. DWIs can be a problem in Precinct 4, just as in any other Harris County precinct.

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 Posted on October 10, 2021 in Uncategorized

If you've been involved in a crash that results in someone's death, the tragedy can be shocking and terrifying. Your life, and the lives of everyone involved in the crash, can change forever. If the police accuse you of drunk driving as well, the fallout can be overwhelming. You're undoubtedly frightened about what may happen and the possible consequences of a conviction. But the charges you may face can vary from crash to crash, as two recent fatal accidents in the Houston area demonstrate.

In the first case, two women died after a fiery wrong-way crash at 2:45 am on a recent Saturday night in Bexar County. A suspected drunk driver hit the women in a Nissan Rogue after driving the wrong way down the southbound lanes of Interstate 35 near Walzem Road. Police charged the driver with two counts of intoxication manslaughter.

Contrast this with a recent crash in Houston on Eastex Freeway that killed a grandfather driving his three grandchildren home from the hospital at 2 am on a Thursday. Police reported that he was trying to exit the freeway in the rain when an F-150 slammed into the back of his trailblazer. The children, ages 14, 12, and 8, were treated for minor injuries while their grandfather was pronounced dead at the scene. Police believe that the driver of the F-150 and her passenger were both intoxicated and charged her with murder. According to the Houston Police Department, she has two prior DWI convictions.

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 Posted on September 09, 2021 in Uncategorized

Law enforcement authorities take drinking and driving seriously in Texas. After all, the Houston area has one of the highest rates of deadly DWI accidents in the entire country. As a result, they place a high priority on DWI arrests. Now, whether those arrests will stand up to scrutiny in court depends in large part on the training of the officers performing the arrests. While Houston police officers go through training to perform DWI stops and tests in the field, things can still go wrong. When officers aren't adequately trained or fail to follow procedures, potentially innocent people can face arrest.

Houston Police Department Training Process

In Houston--and all throughout Texas--police officers go through specialized training for DWI stops, including Standardized Field Sobriety Testing, Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement, and the Drug Evaluation Classification Program.

1. Standardized Field Sobriety Testing

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 Posted on September 09, 2021 in Uncategorized

If you're facing a drug DWI, you may be frightened and unsure of what happens next. In Texas, you can be arrested for driving while intoxicated if you:

• Operate a vehicle in a public place, and
• You don't have the normal use of your mental or physical faculties, or
• You have a blood alcohol concentration of.08% or more.

So, you can still face a DWI if you don't have the normal use of your mental or physical faculties due to alcohol, a controlled substance, an illegal drug, or a combination of these.

Drug DWI

Proving a DWI due to drug use is a bit more complicated than an alcohol-related DWI. There is no single blood or breath test the police can conduct like with alcohol intoxication. Instead, the police use something called the Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) Protocol. The DRE protocol involves 12 steps, most of which are highly subjective and observational, conducted by the police to determine whether a driver is impaired by substances other than alcohol. The final step of the 12 is a toxicological examination.

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 Posted on September 09, 2021 in Uncategorized

If you hold a high-profile position in your community, a DWI arrest can be even more stressful. Your arrest may end up in the media; you may have reporters calling your home or people looking for your arrest records. That's what a Cibolo city councilman recently faced after a DWI arrest.

On August 8, 2021, the councilman crashed his car near Fazio Drive and Carnousty Drive in Cibolo. Police found him near his car in a large drainage ditch at about 1:45 am. He told officers he'd been driving home from a party where he'd consumed three beers. Police reported he had difficulty walking up the hill and then failed a field sobriety test. When an officer told him he believed he was drunk, the councilman agreed with him, stating, "I believe that." After he refused a breath BAC test, police got a warrant for a blood draw. The councilman faces a misdemeanor DWI charge after the court released him on a $3,000 bond.

Public Arrest Records

In Texas, arrest records are typically public records. As a result, anyone who runs a background check will find your arrest record, charge, and conviction for DWI. In some cases, however, you may be eligible to have your record expunged if:

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 Posted on September 09, 2021 in Uncategorized

Blood Test Tube Recall

Prosecutors and defense lawyers across Texas are dealing with the fallout from a leading medical device manufacturer's 2019 recall of nearly a quarter-million of the tubes used to collect and preserve blood drawn from a person suspected of drunk driving.

The official FDA record of the recall shows it applying to a full lot of BD 247,000 tubes. The manufacturer admits that it failed to add a preservative to the tubes, which could thus test either falsely high or low:

"Lot has been confirmed to have no additive within the tube. Sample processed without the preservative (additive) in the tube, testing has yielded reliable results if the samples were stored at room temperature for no longer than two days. If the sample was stored for more than 2 days, the result for blood alcohol determination might not be accurate (either falsely low or falsely high)."

The FDA record of the recall instructs police to immediately review tube inventory and destroy all recalled tubes. Consistent with that direction, the Texas District & County Attorney's Association instructed prosecutors across the state to notify law enforcement agencies "to stop using tubes from this lot." The reason to abandon the suspect tubes is clear: blood-alcohol evidence based on the faulty tubes would itself be suspect, given that the absence of preservatives could produce false blood-alcohol results.

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 Posted on September 09, 2021 in Uncategorized

If you're facing a DWI charge in Texas, you're undoubtedly worried about what will happen and how much it will cost you. Texas does take driving while intoxicated seriously. As a result, court-imposed fines and fees, as well as mandatory administrative fees imposed by the state of Texas, can be consequential. You may also need to add additional fees for an interlock device for your car, impound fees for your car, and more. That's why it's a good idea to consult an attorney who is an expert in DWI defense as soon as possible.

Court Imposed Fines

For a DWI conviction, you can face court-imposed fines on top of any possible jail time or license suspension. Texas increased the fines for DWI convictions and the enforcement in these fines varies greatly from jurisdiction to jurisdiction

• First DWI: For a first DWI conviction, you can face up to $3,000 in court-imposed fines, as well as three to 180 days in jail and up to a two-year license suspension.

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 Posted on September 09, 2021 in Uncategorized

When the police stop you, and they assume that you're driving while intoxicated, can this bias change the outcome of your traffic stop? Will their assumption that you're drunk change the outcome of a field sobriety test and the arresting officer's subjective decision-making? A Houston man recently faced this situation after an accident in Midtown.

The accident happened at 1 am on July 5, 2021, when a driver ran a stop sign in Midtown. The driver then t-boned a Houston police car transporting an inmate. The inmate sustained a head injury and was taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital. According to news reports, officers at the scene were trying to determine if the driver was intoxicated. According to Sgt. J. Uribe, "If he's intoxicated, it would be a DWI. If he's not intoxicated, he'll be written up for running a stop sign."

The DWI Arrest

In Texas, someone is driving while intoxicated if they are driving in a public area and have a blood alcohol content of.08% or higher or no longer have the normal use of their physical or mental faculties. However, the police can't just pull you over and arrest you for DWI right off the bat, even if they suspect intoxication.

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 Posted on August 08, 2021 in Uncategorized

If you're facing a charge for driving under the influence (DUI) or driving while intoxicated (DWI) in another state, you may think it's a relief that the arrest didn't happen in Texas. Texas treats DWI convictions seriously, with serious penalties and consequences to your driving record. But don't breathe a sigh of relief yet. Texas and 44 other states belong to the Driver License Compact Commission to ensure that drivers convicted of DUI or DWI in other states will still face the consequences at home. While penalties for DUI vary widely across the country, if a state belonging to the Interstate Compact convicts you of DUI, you will still face serious consequences in Texas.

The Interstate Compact

Texas has been a member of the Interstate Compact since 1993. Under the Interstate Compact, Texas treats an out-of-state DWI offense by one of its licensed drivers as if the offense and conviction happened in Texas. Texas could take both criminal and administrative action against you, including:

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 Posted on August 08, 2021 in Uncategorized

For many people, one or two arrests in a lifetime for DWI is simply a mistake – a tragic miscalculation of the amount you drank at dinner or an error in judgment on the part of the arresting officer. But for some people, multiple DWIs may be a sign of a more serious problem with alcohol or drugs. Even if a person does not have a problem, the perception of the prosecutor and judge will be that their is a serious concern or root problem that needs to be addressed.

A good example of this may be happening in a very public arrest related to a recent crash and DWI arrest involving a former Alamo city commissioner. Police responded to a crash in the 300 block of North 7th Street in Alamo at 3:43 am on May 26, 2021. As the first officer arrived on the scene, he reportedly saw a gray Ford F-150 traveling north away from the scene. The Alamo officer pursued the vehicle while a second officer arrived at the accident scene to help.

The victim of the crash and his passenger reported that he was traveling south when someone hit the front left side of his 2017 Honda Accord and left the scene of the accident without sharing information. An ambulance took the driver and passenger to the hospital. The Honda was reportedly a total loss, with more than $10,000 in damage.

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