See Recent Newspaper Articles About The Firm
More Info |
|
| Case
1 |
| Case
2 |
| Case
3 |
| Case
4 |
| Case
5 |
| Case
6 |
|
Texas Criminal
Defense
Lawyer
Helping those who need a board certified lawyer specializing in such areas as:
DWI Drunk driving
Negotiating
Plea agreements
Pretrial litigation Criminal appeals
Robbery, Assault, Misapplication of fiduciary property, Resisting
arrest, Credit card abuse just to mention a few. Call for a Free Consultation Today! |
|
Austin Texas DWI Defense Attorney
|
Texas DWI Facts & Information
|
Austin Texas DWI Defense Attorney
Know Your Rights on DWI Law!
IMMEDIATE JAIL RELEASE - CALL
TODAY! |
A breath test or field sobriety test does not
automatically prove you guilty.
According to the federal government, accuracy of field sobriety tests are as follows:
HGN
test......................77%
Walk
and turn.............68%
One
leg stand.............65%
Evaluating
A Texas Drunk Driving DWI Case and the Deciding Factors.
In most Texas DWI cases, there are 3 pieces of evidence
that are open to interpretation of the law. |
Administrative License Revocation
Since 1995, the State of Texas has had ALR. If you have been
arrested for DWI, you know the police officer serves on you a
“Notice of Suspension / Temporary Driving Permit” and takes your
license away from you.
From the date of your arrest, you then have 15 days to request a
hearing on what will otherwise be a mandatory driver’s license
suspension from at least 90 days for failing a breath test, to at
least 180 days for refusing to take a breath test. If this is not
your first DWI arrest, then the suspension times increase
dramatically.
IT IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT TO GET A HEARING REQUESTED AND NOT JUST
LET THE 15 DAYS GO BY!!
The ALR hearing is an opportunity that should be exploited. You
have the opportunity to make the arresting officer appear at the
hearing and give testimony. This could come in handy at a future
trial. If you took and failed a breath test, then you have the
opportunity to make the breath test operator and technical
supervisor show up as well. And if you request their presence and
they don’t show up, you win. If they do show up and you do not
prevail, at least you have some testimony you may be able to use
later in fighting your Texas DWI case.
The Collateral Consequences
“Collateral consequences” are those not specifically outlined in
the criminal codes, but nonetheless attach to a DWI conviction
from other sources.
I already mentioned the driver’s license “surcharge” of at least
$1,000 per year for three years just to keep your license. That is
a “collateral consequence” and a bad one at that. This surcharge
was enacted by the 2003 Legislature.
A DWI conviction in Texas carries other consequences as well. For instance,
if your insurance company finds out you are convicted of DWI in
Texas, then
it will no doubt drop you and you will have to get “high risk”
insurance at a vastly higher cost. Car rental companies may not
rent a car to you if they know you are convicted of DWI. If you
have a job that requires you to be under a fleet insurance policy,
such as with a shipping / trucking company, you may lose your job if the
insurer finds out you have a Texas DWI and drops you. The list goes on. |
Police Reports:
The police report is only the officer's interpretation.
Were you properly read your Miranda warnings?
Did the police officer stop you for a valid reason?
Were any statements made by you coerced, taken out of
context, or misinterpreted?
Important:
The Intoxilyzer 5000 assumes that everyone has the same
blood breath partition ratio, hematocrit ratio and
assumes that all samples are at an air temperature of
93.2 F. Texas DWI Law does not utilize any methods
which would allow for a retest of samples given.
The computer software is proprietary and is not
available to scientific peer review. There are
many things which have been shown to affect a breath
test score. These machines are generally not
available for inspections by anyone outside of law
enforcement. Texas does not allow for non-law
enforcement or government personnel to become certified
as breath test technical operators. Much of the
Texas breath program remains limited to outsiders
despite a generally assumed belief that these machines
have undergone and passed wide general scientific
review.
Field
Sobriety Tests:
Police make arrests on the basis of probable cause.
This is not the same thing as "beyond reasonable
doubt." It is not a police officer's job to
determine if someone is guilty. Many police offers
choose to arrest on the basis of caution.
There is not a great deal of technical training for a police officer in
the field of Texas DWI Law. There is no law in
Texas which states they must keep up their training on a
yearly or any other type of basis with respect to
standardized field sobriety training. Many police
officers do not make any form of notes on the side of
the road with respect to numerous details. Most
police officers do not include mitigating or exculpatory
information in their reports, mainly negative
observations.
Were there distractions during the testing? Were
you nervous or tired during the testing?
If there was a video taping of the event, does it
accurately depict your true state of sobriety at the
time, or was it unfairly effected by perhaps traffic,
poor lighting, noise, or lack of sound.
What is your true balance and coordination?
Do you have any physical disabilities that can cause
false results?
|
| Click
Here For Information Today! |
|
David B. Frank
Attorney And Counselor At Law
The Penthouse Condominiums
1212 Guadalupe Street, Suite 103
Austin, Texas 78701
Tel. 512-499-0969
Fax. 512-499-8220 |
"Board Certified - Criminal Law - Texas Board of Legal Specialization"
Reproduction of any material on this site without written
permission is strictly prohibited.
© Copyright 2002-2007
David Frank, Attorney at Law. All Rights Reserved. |
|
