1st DWI
My wife got a DWI in Fort Worth and refused test at station. Did field sobriety tests. We have not seen tape. She suspects she did not do to bad. But who knows.
I suspect Tarrant county has 1000's of DWI's a year and there is a fairly regular outcome to these cases. Can anyone provide us insight into what we should expect as a first offer from the DA for a guilty plea ? I have read a thousand web sites and they all give you the worst scenero. IF we decided to go to courts AND we were willing to pay a lawyer..what could we expect ? Does FW DA have time and resources to take every 1st time DWI to court ? ARe the consequences of just taking case to trial worse than pleaing out the case ? Thank you all for you efforts on this board.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: 1st DWI
Don't count on getting lost in the crowd. An information WILL be filed and you WILL be prosecuted. The decision whether or not to go to trial can be made by both the state or defendant. However, the state will likely make a plea offer. This will commonly be a jail sentence of up to 180 days probated for up to 12-24 months, a fine between $500-$2000, DWI school, victim's impact panel, drug and alcohol screening, community service hours (likely over 100), curfew, and depending on the circumstances of your case, the required installation of an interlock device on your car. In addition to the fine, you will pay for all of these requirements, plus probation fees of up to $60 per month, plus court costs. Getting your license back may cost you an administrative fee of $1000 a year for 3 years. You cannot afford NOT to hire an attorney.
Re: 1st DWI
You need to hire an attorney, not just anyone, but someone who does DWI work and a lot of it. First, you need to understand that your wife has 15 days from the date of her arrest to request a hearing or she will definantely lose her drivers license 40 days from her arrest. If you are talking with an attorney who does not mention the acronym "ALR Hearing" for Administrative License Revocation Hearing, or who says we look at the paperwork and if its altogether you will lose your drivers license or they tell you we do it be telephone then you need to get up out of their office and leave, because a true DWI lawyer in Texas fights every ALR Hearing in person. Look at the two pieces of paper that your wife received from the officers, the information discussing the above information is on the sheet, "Notice of Suspension and Temporary Driving Permit." There are two reasons to fight the suspension, one is to save your wife's drivers license and the other is to get more discovery from the officers that arrested your wife. But, please remember YOU CANNOT AFFORD NOT TO HIRE AN ATTORNEY FOR YOUR WIFE IN THIS CASE. DO NOT KEEP THIS ATTITUDE THAT THEY WILL GIVE YOUR WIFE A BREAK JUST BECAUSE THIS IS HER FIRST OFFENSE, THE FEES, AND PUNISHMENTS ARE TOO SEVERE. Good Luck.
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