The courts of Midland County are imposing new alcohol monitoring restrictions during pre-trial for those who are facing a 2nd offense DWI conviction. These monitoring systems include ignition interlock devices, which stop your car from starting if you have consumed alcohol, and SCRAM (Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitor) ankle bracelets, which monitor any alcohol levels in the bloodstream in real time.

Under Texas criminal law, pre-trial courts can impose restrictions as a condition of bail. The cost to the defendant for the use of these devices is around $75/month for an ignition interlock, and $300/month for a SCRAM bracelet. Midland county pretrial courts now have 5 scram units in use, and are looking to acquire more so they can monitor more defendants.

If you are facing a 2nd offense DWI charge in Texas, you are in need of immediate legal help to figure out what do you next. Please contact us for our free DWI defense consultation and case evaluation.

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Update:

Many counties are using Auto Ignition Interlock Alcohol Devices in second offense DWI cases. SCRAM bracelets are also being used in Travis County, and by many other Texas county pretrial courts.

An initially successful appeal of a DWI conviction was overturned by the Texas Criminal Court of Appeals. The issue at hand for a DWI case from Harlingen, TX  in Cameron county was that of the Right to a Speedy Trial, as guaranteed by the 6th amendment of the US Constitution.

The DWI charges were not forwarded to the DA for more than a year after the man was arrested in March 2003. The original judge in the case denied the motion to dismiss on the speedy trial grounds. The defendant pleaded guilty at the time (October 2004). However, the 13th court of appeals overturned that conviction in Feb 2007, reversing the results of the plea.

The judge Texas Criminal Court of Appeals determined that the appeals court was incorrect in overturning the conviction after analyzing the 4 elements of a speedy trial violation claim: length of delay, reason for delay, assertion of the right and prejudice to the accused.

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Appeals cases are a specialized area of the law.  If you are facing a current DWI charge in Texas, please contact us for a consultation. Or if you are interested in appealing a DWI conviction, we can help you, but you only have a very limited time to challenge a conviction result via an appeal. so do not delay.

Officers in Lubbock, Texas are enforcing mandatory blood tests for those who refuse to take a breath test after a DWI.

If you refuse to take a breath test, they will immediately take you to a medical facility as they process a warrant to extract your blood to test your BAC (blood alcohol content) to determine if you are over the legal limit for alcohol in your bloodstream while driving (aka DWI, driving while intoxicated in Texas).

Typically, a judge will approve the warrant.

This is certainly a questionable invasion of your rights to privacy, self-incrimination, and other serious constitutional issues.

Texas Defense attorneys argue that you have a clear right to refuse to take a breathalyzer test under the law, and this circumvents that right. Although it is true that under Texas’ implied consent laws, the DMV has the right to suspend your driver’s license for the refusal, as per your agreement as a condition of being a licensed driver in Texas.

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If you are facing a DWI in Texas, contact us for a legal case evaluation and free consultation on your defense options.

There is a news report from Dallas television station about a breath mint that supposedly “encourages drunk driving” by masking the smell of alcohol. I largely agree with the point that the company is certainly dancing around the edge of encouraging drunk driving to some degree. And I also agree with the police officers quoted that the product is very unlikely to help people “get away” with drunk driving, assuming the produced even works as well as stated.

What Happens in A Texas DUI Police Stop?

If a police officer pulls you over for drunk driving, there is a good chance he already suspects you of being impaired before he sees you or smells your breath. Unless you were only pulled over for speeding (which is not an indication of drunk driving), most other forms of erratic driving are instantly suspect of being alcohol related by many police officers.

If by your driving behavior or manner after the stop, the police believe you could be impaired, the police will arrest you for drunk driving. Such behavior that may be indicative of impairment could include slurred speech, glassy or bloodshot eyes, being unsteady on your feet, or failing field sobriety tests given by the side of the road. These are the common facts cited in police reports of drunk driving arrests.

So even if no alcohol smell is present, the police will find other reasons to arrest you. They may suspect that you’ve masked the alcohol smell, or you could be arrested for DWI drugs. It is illegal to drive impaired on any substance, not just alcohol.

For more info on DWI laws in Texas, go to our main DWI criminal defense page.

Bad on the Facts, But Great Marketing

The name of the product is highly suggestive of defeating police, which seems like a dubious claim. But clearly the PR company for the product, AntiPoleez, is doing a fine job. The impressive thing about this campaign is that they are getting free publicity from the news organizations covering this “story”.

Addendum: Texas DWI Stats Watch

The article again publishes the stat that “Each year, 1,600 people are killed by a drunk driver in Texas.”, which is incorrect.

The actual stats from the National Highway and Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) state that there are 1600 “alcohol related deaths” each year in Texas. The definition of related is that one of the drivers involved is determined to have a BAC above .08. It has always been a pet peeve of mine how these numbers are compiled.

If there is a 10 car pileup where 3 people are killed, and the last car involved had a driver who had a .08 BAC. Are those legitimately alcohol related deaths? Alcohol had nothing to do with the accident, and it wasn’t caused by an impaired driver, yet those deaths would likely count in those stats.

NHTSA could fix this controversy by releasing and restating the raw stats to determine how many deaths are actually caused by drunk drivers. But they insist on always using the phrase “alcohol related” which makes me very suspicious. The only reason I can think of to categorize them that way is to pad the stats. And because when quoted in the media, it is always restated as a number caused by drunk drivers.

The district attorney’s office in San Antonio / Bexar County has announced several new initiatives in prosecuting DWI charges.

First, anyone who is arrested on DWI charges and refuses to take a breath test will be required to take a blood test. It is unclear how this “No Refusal” policy will be implemented, who or how will take the person’s blood, and under what time frame and conditions. And what are the legal implications of removing a person’s blood against their will? Do they need a court order?

The second initiative should be much less controversial. The prosecutor’s will be willing to reduce DWI charges and allow 1st time Texas DWI offenders to plead to a lesser charge in exchange for a strictly controlled alcohol programs. The “Take Responsibility” program will include a required ignition interlock device installed in the defendant’s car.

Under current Texas law, DWI offenders can be required to have a ignition interlock device installed at a judge’s discretion, so no new law is required for this program.

This may be a good deal for some people facing drunk driving charges in Texas, depending on the charge reduction, and the potential impact a DWI conviction might have on a person’s life.

Around every holiday that involves alcohol consumption - new year’s eve , christmas, the 4th of july, halloween, spring break, and now St. Patrick’s day - local police departments across Texas often make annoucements about stepped up DWI laws enforcement. See here, here, here, and here for just a handful of these countless notices. They make a big show of annoucing extra patrols, roadblocks, and other enforcement methods.

Drinking and driving is certainly a real problem here in Texas and nationwide. And there is no doubt that Texas has some tough DWI laws.

But is there any real evidence that these “get tough” announcements really make any difference?

On the other hand, programs that provide practical solutions instead of threats seem to be making a real difference. The Austin soberRide program offers free local cab rides for those who drink on these particular dates, within Harris County. They have provided over 2300 rides home since the program’s inception. These seems like a practical idea to really prevent drunk driving incidents instead of just talking about it.

A man who plead guilty to vehicular manslaughter in a drunk driving case where two people were killed, was granted shock probation instead of serving seven years in prison.

Shock probation is a program under Texas law where a defendant convicted of a crime is sentenced to prison, but within 6 months a judge reduces the sentence to probation.

The purpose is to “shock” the defendant into never committing a crime again, by serving prison time, but releasing them on probation before they become hardened by the prison sentence. It saves the Texas Department of Criminal Justice the expense or long term incarceration, and reduces the likelihood of future criminal behavior.

A defendant is eligible for shock probation for a misdemeanor or first offense felony charge. Shock probation may be recommended by a jury during sentencing, or issued by a judge after the fact.