The fifteen day license deadline
When you are arrested for DWI in Texas and you either fail or refuse a test, the officer serves you a notice of suspension. From the date of that notice you have fifteen days to request an Administrative License Revocation hearing. Miss it and the suspension takes effect automatically.
Requesting the hearing does two things. It delays the suspension, often for months. It also gives me a chance to put the arresting officer under oath early, on the record, before the criminal case is anywhere near a courtroom. That transcript is useful for the rest of the case.
Call now, not after your first court date. The ALR clock does not wait for the criminal docket. (409) 238-5675
What Texas DWI actually carries
Ranges below are general and the specifics of your case can move them. This is orientation, not legal advice for your situation.
| Charge | Level | Exposure |
|---|---|---|
| DWI first offense | Class B misdemeanor | Up to 180 days county jail, fine up to $2,000, license suspension |
| DWI with BAC 0.15 or higher | Class A misdemeanor | Up to one year, fine up to $4,000, ignition interlock |
| DWI second offense | Class A misdemeanor | Up to one year, fine up to $4,000, interlock |
| DWI third or more | Third degree felony | Two to ten years TDCJ, fine up to $10,000 |
| DWI with a child passenger | State jail felony | 180 days to two years state jail |
| Intoxication assault | Third degree felony | Two to ten years |
| Intoxication manslaughter | Second degree felony | Two to twenty years |
On top of the criminal sentence there are annual surcharges, insurance consequences, and for a lot of people a licensing or employment problem that costs more than the fine ever will.
How a blood test gets challenged
Most contested DWI cases in Montgomery County now turn on a blood draw analyzed by headspace gas chromatography. The lab produces a number. The State treats the number as the case.
A number is the end of a long process, and the process leaves a paper trail:
- Was there a valid warrant, or valid consent, for the draw
- Was the skin prepped with something that could contaminate the sample
- Was the tube in date, with the right preservative and anticoagulant, and properly inverted
- How was the vial stored and for how long, and at what temperature
- Did the calibration curve bracket your result, and did the controls pass
- Is the ethanol peak clean, or is it tailing, split, or co-eluting with something else
- Was a blank run between samples, and did it show carryover
- Did the analyst manually reintegrate the peak, and if so, why
I ask for all of it. Some of it has to be fought for. In more cases than the State would like, the answer to one of those questions changes what the number means.
See the courts I appear in for DWI cases in Montgomery County.
Breath tests are not simpler, they are just faster
The Intoxilyzer measures breath and estimates blood. That estimate assumes a fixed ratio between the two that is not fixed in every person. It assumes you gave a deep lung sample. It assumes the instrument was calibrated, that the reference sample was in tolerance, and that the operator ran the observation period correctly.
Those are checkable assumptions. The maintenance records and the operator's certification are discoverable. So is the fifteen minute observation period, which is on video far more often than officers expect.
Questions people ask
Should I have refused the breath test?
Refusing usually means a longer license suspension, and in most Texas counties it means the officer applies for a warrant and takes your blood anyway. Refusal is not a defense, but it also is not the disaster people think. What matters more is what happened next and whether the warrant was any good.
Can a DWI be dismissed or reduced in Texas?
Dismissals happen, usually when the stop was bad, the testing was bad, or the State cannot prove intoxication at the time of driving. Reductions to obstruction of a highway happen in some courts and not others. I will not promise you either one on a first phone call, and you should be skeptical of any lawyer who does.
Can I get a DWI off my record?
If your case is dismissed or you are acquitted, expunction is generally available. 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 conviction cannot be expunged.
What is an ACS-CHAL Forensic Lawyer-Scientist?
It is a designation from the American Chemical Society program in forensic chromatography, completed by a small number of attorneys nationally. The training is hands on with the instruments and the data. It is not a board certification and it is not a specialization credential, it is scientific training that makes the State's lab evidence readable.