OTHER CONSEQUENCES OF A DWI CONVICTION

Will I Lose My Job After a DWI Arrest?

bryan college station dwi defense

Generally, people know that trouble with the law will cause them problems in many different areas of life. We call those collateral consequences. In fact, collateral consequences may be unlimited in scope. A person may face problems with their employment because of the conviction, or they may face problems getting licensed by a state agency. Let’s say they’re a plumber, a dental hygienist, or a registered nurse. DWI convictions can affect whether a person can be licensed, or re-licensed, for those professional careers. Certainly insurance premiums will go up for someone convicted and we’ve already talked about the driver’s license suspensions. I think people are most surprised by how much this all costs in time and money resources. In addition to hiring the best Bryan College Station DWI defense lawyer you can afford, we’re talking thousands of dollars in fines, thousands of dollars in surcharges, and perhaps thousands in interlock fees and high-risk liability insurance. This can be a financial nightmare for many.

What Can I Do To Help My DWI Case?

The first thing you must do is hire qualified legal counsel as quickly as possible. With a good lawyer, you’ll be made aware of the important deadlines we discussed earlier. You can begin developing defense strategies, mitigation activities like counseling and random drug screens, and other related tasks. Only a qualified DWI defense attorney can adequately help you. People must also take advantage of the ALR hearing process as an investigation tool.

Another thing you can do to help yourself is to deactivate, or delete, all of your Internet social media accounts. Prosecutors and their investigators will look you up on websites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We don’t want them investigating you on those websites because they’ll use things you post there against you. They’ll identify your friends and call them on the phone to ask about you.

Next, you must remain silent. The only person you can speak freely with is your lawyer. If you talk to your parents, to your roommates, to your best friend, to a coworker, even text messaging or emailing, those statements can be used against you in court. So it’s critical you remain silent and speak only to your lawyer about the facts of your case.

Next, you must stop drinking, stop bar hopping, and stop any kind of risky behavior. The worst thing you can do when you’re in trouble is to get in trouble again. Ending those behaviors are a really, really important aspect of protecting yourself. We also talked about the possibility of counseling to help you develop the appropriate skill set to say no when drinking opportunities arise and to help you abide by all your bond conditions ordered by the court after being released from jail. This is important since we can use your performance on bond conditions as a mitigating factor. These are some things you can do to help your DWI case. Your Bryan College Station DWI defense lawyer can discuss these matters with you in great detail.

Should You Attend Pre-Trial Counseling Or Treatment?

Whether you attend counseling or Alcoholic Anonymous is a strategical decision. Do not begin treatment without first consulting a qualified Bryan College Station DWI defense attorney. For some folks, counseling and related services are an important support system they need to abstain from drinking or bar hopping while the DWI case is pending. It’s vital you eliminate any risk you might get into trouble again. If you have trouble abstaining from the use of alcohol, then counseling may help you say no when drinking opportunities and temptations arise. As a lawyer, I’ve counseled thousands of clients in making this important decision.

When I recommend counseling, another important factor is making sure that fact remains absolutely confidential. I don’t want anyone, except my client and maybe their parents, to know they are attending counseling. Counseling records can be subpoenaed by the State and used against you. There is no patient privilege. Consequently, it’s critical your actions remain secret. Occasionally, we may reveal those facts to a prosecutor, but only after much thought and deliberation. Generally, I don’t want the prosecutor to know anything about you until we decide it’s strategically important. This is because prosecutors tend to spin information to suit their need. I rarely want to give them any ammunition to do it!

What Can a Bryan College Station DWI Defense Lawyer Do To Help in Your DWI Case?

There is a long list of ways our law firm can help you. First and foremost, our goal is to defend each case to obtain the best result we can, whether that is a reduction of charges, a dismissal, or whether we contest the case all the way to jury trial. How we do that is utilizing my scientific knowledge and legal training to best effect. My Minor in chemistry and quantitative analysis makes me uniquely qualified to defend these highly scientific and technical cases. A Bryan College Station DWI defense lawyer will evaluate every fact and exploit every flaw in the prosecutor’s case. We investigate the initial stop for potential suppression issues and we examine opportunities to suppress incriminating statements you made to the police. In particular, we evaluate how the officer administered the field sobriety tests. As we mentioned earlier, many sobriety tests are standardized and the officer is required to give specific instructions and specific demonstrations before you’re are asked to perform. In many cases, the officers omit particular demonstrations, or they admit instructions. Consequently, we exploit those flaws. Of course, we evaluate every case for probable cause. We evaluate all searches and seizures, and in particular, search warrants which might be used to obtain your blood sample. We look deeply into the breath testing and blood testing procedures for any problems, whether they are scientific, sample handling, or chain of custody issues and any other legal problems that might apply.

Another important task we perform is critically evaluating the blood draw procedure. This means we investigate the phlebotomy essentials used in obtaining your blood sample. I believe the blood draw is the weak link in all blood test cases. Rarely have I seen a registered nurse obtain a blood sample according to site preparation principles set out in phlebotomy training textbooks. We are well-versed in phlebotomy basics and we look for flaws to exploit there, as well.

Of course, your Bryan College Station DWI defense lawyer will participate in defending your ALR. We also negotiate for the best plea bargain possible. Our end game is to determine the prosecutor’s bottom-line and see if we can work a deal that might include charge reductions or dismissal. Lastly, we are prepared to take any DWI to a jury trial. In my practice, we use an under-utilized approach to trying jury trials. In most cases, with your consent, we choose the jury to assess punishment if you are convicted. Through a number of sophisticated trial tactics, we can obtain a reasonably defense-friendly jury who often decide a punishment result far superior to anything the prosecutor was willing to offer you in the case. Finally, we can assist you with obtaining an occupational driver’s license or an interlock restricted driver’s license when appropriate.