Answers

Refusing usually means a longer license suspension, and in most Texas counties the officer will apply for a blood warrant and take it anyway. So refusing rarely makes the evidence go away. What it does is shift the fight from a breath machine to a warrant and a lab, and I would generally rather fight a lab. That is a preference, not a rule, and I will not pretend it is the right call for everyone.

No. The walk and turn, one leg stand, and horizontal gaze nystagmus tests are voluntary in Texas. Officers rarely say so, and the way they ask makes it sound mandatory. You can decline politely. Declining is not an admission of anything, and it removes a set of scores from the State's file.

You are required to identify yourself. You are not required to answer that. "I would rather not answer questions" is a complete sentence and it is not rude. Most of the damage in these cases is done in the first four minutes of conversation on the side of the road, on video.

Sometimes. A warrant signed by a magistrate makes it legal, and Texas also has mandatory draw provisions for certain fact patterns. Whether the warrant affidavit actually established probable cause is a separate question, and it is one worth asking in almost every blood case.

Fifteen days from the date of the notice of suspension. That is the single most time-sensitive thing in a Texas DWI, and it runs on its own clock, separate from your criminal court date. If you take one thing from this page, take that.

Administrative License Revocation. It is a civil hearing at the State Office of Administrative Hearings about your license, not your guilt. Requesting it delays the suspension, often for months, and it lets me put the arresting officer under oath early. That transcript is useful for the rest of the case.

Often yes, through an occupational driver license. It is a court order that specifies hours and purposes. It is not automatic and it takes a petition, so start early.

More accurate than a breath test and less accurate than the State implies. A blood result is the end of a long chain: the draw, the tube, storage, the instrument, the calibration, and an analyst who made judgment calls about how to integrate a peak. Any link in that chain can move the number. The report you get shows you the number and none of the chain.

It is the raw output of the instrument that measured your blood, a graph of peaks over time. The number on the lab report is derived from the area under one of those peaks. If that peak is tailing, split, or overlapping with something else, the number is wrong, and you cannot see any of that from the report. I request the chromatograms in every blood case.

It is a designation from the American Chemical Society's forensic chromatography program, held by a small number of attorneys nationally. It is scientific training, not a legal specialization credential, and I am careful about that distinction. Practically, it means I read the lab package myself instead of paying someone to tell me whether it is worth fighting about.

It can read higher than your actual blood alcohol for several reasons: mouth alcohol from reflux or a recent drink, a breathing pattern that changes the sample, an assumed blood to breath ratio that does not match your body, and in some documented cases compounds produced by ketosis. None of that is exotic. It is in the training material.

A misdemeanor commonly runs three to nine months in Orange County and Montgomery County. A felony often runs a year or more, and anything waiting on a lab runs longer. Faster is usually worse for you. Time pressure favors the State.

For a first DWI, jail time beyond the booking night is uncommon but not impossible, and Texas does carry a minimum term on conviction. For felonies and for probation violations the answer changes completely. I will give you the real range on the first call rather than the comforting version.

Not always. For many misdemeanor settings I can appear on your behalf, which matters if you live out of the county or you cannot keep taking days off. Some settings require you personally and I will tell you which.

If your case is dismissed or you are acquitted, expunction is generally available and the record can be destroyed. If you completed deferred adjudication on a first DWI under the 2019 law, an order of nondisclosure may be available depending on your BAC and the facts. A straight conviction cannot be expunged, which is why the plea you take today matters more than the fine.

Criminal cases are flat fee, quoted before you hire me, with what is and is not included in writing. Payment plans exist. Personal injury is contingency, no fee unless you recover. I will not quote you a number on a website because it depends on the charge and the county.

Sometimes no. A first Class C traffic matter usually does not need one. If a conviction could cost you a license, a job, site access at a refinery, or a professional certification, it does. I will tell you which one you are looking at on the phone, for free, even if the answer costs me the case.

Me. This is a small firm on purpose. You are not going to meet your lawyer for the first time in a hallway on the morning of a setting.