Award-Winning DWI / DUI Lawyer in Dallas, TX

Don’t Let Your DWI Have a Lifelong Impact.

Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) is the most common charge we defend in Dallas, and one that we have experience beating. Our team includes former judges, former prosecutors, DWI scientists, and seasoned criminal defense attorneys who all share one goal: to get your DWI dismissed.

Even though DWI is a common charge in the DFW area, the stakes are high. Even a first-time conviction can lead to 180 days in jail (though our clients rarely, if ever, see jail time) and massive fines. Not to mention the implications on auto insurance, employment, and your driver’s license.

But rest assured, if you hire us, our goal is to get your charge dismissed, or the least amount of consequences possible. On this page, we’ll show you how we do it.

What Constitutes a DWI?

Driving While Intoxicated, according to Texas Penal Code § 49.04, involves being “intoxicated while operating a motor vehicle in a public place.”

Under Texas law, you are considered intoxicated if you lack control over your mental or physical facilities due to substances. This means that technically you do not need to have Blood Alcohol Content of 0.08%, though that is the typical standard. We’ve seen cases where breath results show below a 0.08%, but a client was still arrested because the police argued they were still intoxicated.

If pulled over, we recommend that you never perform a sobriety test or blow into a breathalyzer – that evidence can only be used against you. The cops may get a court order to compel you to give a blood sample, and in that case it’s best to cooperate.

If you did blow or have blood above 0.08%, don’t worry – we have multiple DWI scientists on staff who have extensive training on challenging the science of these results. We’ll get more into this later on.

Types of DWI Charges and Penalties

Just because a DWI is common in Dallas, it doesn’t mean that you’ll simply get a slap on the wrist and sent home. You could face some severe penalties if you do not put up a fight. Now before you freak out, please note that our clients rarely (if ever) experience the full consequences according to the guidelines.

DWI conviction penalties in the DTX area are listed below:

First offense

• Up to a $2,000 fine
• Between 3 and 180 days in jail
• Loss of driver’s license for up to a year

As you can see, 1st time DWI offenses are Misdemeanors with stiff penalties at first glance. However, it’s highly unlikely you will have to do any jail time, or be unable to drive.

The only time we would expect you to serve jail time is if you prefer to do so over probation. More likely is a period of probation, deferred adjudication, or a reduction to a much lesser charge.

Second Offense

• Up to a $4,000 fine
• Between 1 and 12 months in jail
• Loss of driver’s license for up to two years

A second DWI is a Class A misdemeanor, with heightened penalties. But even still, we rarely see our clients have to serve jail time as a result of them. Our goal is always to get the case thrown out due to an issue with the evidence, but if the evidence is not in your favor, we are usually able to negotiate acceptable terms that do not include jail time.

Third+ Offense

• Up to a $10,000 fine
• Between 2 and 10 years in prison
• Loss of driver’s license for up to two years
• A felony on your record

A 3rd DWI is where things start to get serious. A 3rd DWI is a felony that can carry time in prison, not to mention a pretty bad mark on your record. Even still, we rarely see someone go to jail for a 3rd DWI in Dallas, assuming nobody was injured.

A big factor in a 3rd DWI is how long it has been since your prior DWI.

For more info on likely outcomes of second and third DWIs, watch this video that I recorded to go into the nuances of these.

DWI Enhancements

In addition to the 1st, 2nd, 3rd+ distintions, there are “enhancements” that can affect the penalties.

• DWI .15+: If you blew .15 BAC or higher the charge will get elevated and increase to a Class A Misdemeanor
• DWI With Open Container: This happens if you are pulled over with an open container of alcohol. Convictions require a minimum 6 day jail sentence.
• DWI with Child Passenger: This is a felony and can result in a prison sentence of up to 24 months.

What are the Actual Outcomes of DWI Charges in Dallas?

If you read the section above and you’ve facing DWI charges you’re probably a bit frightened. 180 days in jail for a single DWI seems ridiculous, right? Well, the reality is that the justice system works in a silly way.

The law gets written in a way that’s super punitive. But, because prosecutors realistically can’t afford to take every case to trial, it becomes a negotiation game.

We pulled the statistics for Dallas County to demonstrate what the actual outcomes are. It’s worth noting – these statistics include those that plead guilty or use a public defender. You should expect much better odds with a reputable defense firm.

Case Outcomes in Dallas

As we mentioned previously, most cases don’t end up going to trial – instead, an outcome gets worked out with the prosecutor.

You can see the data from Dallas County DWI charges below.

First-Time DWI: The most common outcome is conviction, but 41% receive deferred adjudication (a great outcome) and 10% result in a dismissal.

Second-Time DWI: 73% of second time charges result in a conviction, so it’s important to hire an attorney for the best chance of keeping your record clean. Only 8% receive deferred adjudication, and 12% result in dismissal.

Felony DWI: 51% result in a conviction and 25% are put in the ‘All Other Outcomes’ category, which unfortunately, the data source does not define.

Conviction Sentences in Dallas

If convicted, you will receive a sentence. Below shows the distribution of sentence types for DWI convictions last year in Dallas County:

First Time DWI: Of 1st DWI convictions, 73% result in local jail, while 27% result in probation / community supervision. It’s worth noting, that sometimes you get ‘time served’ for the jail time you spent post arrest.

Second Time DWI: Roughly 44% of convictions result in jail time, and 55% result in probation / community supervision.

Felony DWI: Of felony DWI convictions, 19% result in jail time. 81% are bucketed in the ‘other’ category, which unfortunately the state government does not provide a breakdown of.

How a Dallas DWI Conviction Affects Auto Insurance Rates

In Dallas, the average annual cost of car insurance is $816. For drivers with DWI convictions, the average annual cost of auto insurance is $1,175, an increase of $359.

Breakdown by Gender

Breakdown by Age

Our Playbook to Beating DWIs in Dallas

We have developed a playbook that we use to beat and / or mitigate DWI charges in the DFW area. We can’t go into details, because we don’t want prosecutors to know it, but here are the cornerstones of it.

1. Keep You Driving – ALR Hearing: Before we deal with the criminal aspect of the case, we have to deal with your driver’s license. You have 15 days from arrest to request what’s called an ALR Hearing, where an attorney fights to keep your driver’s license. Most lawyers expect to lose this hearing and treat it like a formality. Not us – we have specialists that only do ALR hearings and nothing else. Our statistics show that we are far more likely to win the hearing and keep your license. Additionally, we leverage this hearing to cross-examine the arresting officer, hopefully finding inconsistencies that we can later use to fight your criminal charges.
2. ODL Process: Unfortunately, we can’t win every ALR hearing. But if you lose your license, we can get you an Occupational Driver’s License that lets you drive wherever you need to. At the time we wrote this, we have yet to apply for an ODL and have it rejected.
3. Challenge the Traffic Stop: When a cop pulls you over, all the footage is recorded. We watch the entire video meticulously to see if the officer did not have probable cause to pull you over. If we have a chance, we’ll file a motion to suppress evidence. If a judge decides that the traffic stop wasn’t valid, all the evidence gets thrown out and we are likely to get your case dismissed.
4. Challenge Blood and Breath Results: We have multiple DWI scientists on staff who go through a rigorous, multi-year training to become experts at blood and breath work. Our goal is to challenge this evidence and use it to get your case dismissed.
5. Watch Arrest Video in Detail: This is when you are actually arrested, and often includes video of a field sobriety test. Here we look for many things, but the main one is whether you look drunk or not. If you look fairly sober, we can present that to a prosecutor and say “look, our client looks pretty sober – do you want a jury to see this and decide?”.
6. Mitigation Packet: The reality is that many cases simply have evidence that is not in your favor. When this is the case, it’s our job to show you as a human to the prosecutor. We’ll prepare a “good guy / girl packet” to demonstrate that you are in fact a good person, who simply made a mistake, and that convicting you of a crime is not in the best interest of the community.