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DWI Trial Process
What happens after a DWI arrest in Texas?
Administrative License Revocation
To preserve your right to drive in Texas, you must request a hearing within 15 days of when you were served with a Notice of Suspension(usually the date of arrest). If you timely requested a hearing to contest your license suspension, you will be able to continue driving until the hearing. If you lose at the hearing, you can not drive after the hearing. It is our opinion you should requests the officer’s presence at the hearing. Crucial defenses can be developed at the hearing. If your license is suspended at the hearing, you may be able to secure an occupational license to drive.
1st Appearance
If you have been arrested and released for a misdemeanor DWI, you will be given a date to return to court (usually 30 days after your arrest). If you hire an attorney, the attorney can usually make this appearance for you, so that you do not have to attend. During this 30-day period, the case is sent to the County Attorney’s office for further investigation. The County Attorney then prepares an information and files this with the County Clerk, and your case is set on the court’s docket.
Pre-trial Conference:
Your attorney will discuss your case with the County Attorney to discuss the best possible resolution of your case. This conference will happen about 8-10 weeks after your 1st Appearance date.
Suppression Hearing
The Court may suppress some or all of the evidence against you if your constitutional rights have been violated. Your attorney will file motions to suppress. It occurs anywhere 6 weeks to 3 months after the pre-trial conference.
Trial
You may either request a bench trial wherein the court hears the case or a jury trial wherein a jury of your peers hears the case. If the case is a misdemeanor, the trial will be to a jury of six. If the case is a felony, the jury will be to a jury of twelve.
Sentencing
The Court imposes a sentence after a conviction at trial or after a plea bargain is accepted and a plea entered. Sentences may include jail time, numerous fees, fines, community service, alcohol classes and fines.
DWI Conviction Affects Your Insurance
Many insurance companies check your motor vehicle record only once every three years or when you’re applying for a new policy. Sometimes, accidents, tickets, and drunk-driving convictions can escape your insurer’s attention or don’t end up on your motor vehicle record. However, if your insurer does find out about a driving while intoxicated (DWI) conviction, you’re likely to feel the pinch of higher rates and possibly policy cancellation or nonrenewal.
There are two ways insurance companies generally deal with customers convicted of DWI. First, your insurer will likely raise your insurance premiums and label you a high-risk driver if it finds out you’ve been convicted of DWI. In this case, you’ll likely have to file proof of insurance for three — sometimes five — years with your state’s department of motor vehicles. Your insurance company will have to provide the DMV with an SR-22 form, which removes your license suspension by providing the state with proof of insurance. An SR-22 also means your insurance company is required to notify the DMV if it cancels your insurance for any reason.
Your auto insurer will likely raise your premiums, and it might cancel your policy if you’ve been convicted of DUI.
Most state laws require DWI convicts to get an SR-22 from their insurers, so you can’t hide. In addition, your company may cancel your insurance mid-term or terminate the policy at the end of the term because of your DWI conviction, especially if you are currently in a preferred class. Your company will send you a notice stating why you’ve been canceled, and then you’ll have to find another insurer while having a cancellation on your claims history.
Some insurance companies don’t offer SR-22 policies, so you may also be nonrenewed or canceled because your company can no longer provide what you need.
Certain states don’t allow insurance companies to drop you in the middle of the policy term even for a DWI, so make sure you know the laws in your state.
Insurers can miss DWI convictions
It’s possible that your insurance company will never find out about your conviction if you don’t have to get an SR-22. A June 2002 study by the Insurance Research Council revealed that as many as one-quarter of driving convictions never end up on motor vehicle records, due to lack of shared information between courts and motor vehicle departments or because a conviction has been erased through alternative means, such as driving school. If you get your charge reduced in a plea bargain, or have a limited license suspension, such as 30 days, it’s also very unlikely your insurer will find out about your conviction.
In most states, an insurance company has three years after a DUI to cancel you or raise your rates.
If your insurance company misses the conviction at the time it happens, it has three years, according to most state laws, to cancel your policy or raise your rates because of the DWI.
Rates don’t always go up
You may be surprised to know that when your insurer does find out about a DWI conviction it doesn’t automatically impose higher premiums. The insurer will look at your history with the company and your claims record, and your fate is in its hands.
For example, State Farm’s action depends on which subsidiary you’re with. If you have a preferred policy with State Farm Mutual Insurance Co. and receive a DWI, State Farm may move you into State Farm Fire & Casualty, which is the standard-policy company. If you’re moved from preferred to a standard status, you’ll be paying higher rates already. State Farm will also review your motor vehicle and insurance claims history to determine if it needs to raise your rates further.
by insure.com
Austin DWI -- Drink, Drive, Go to Jail….that is NOT the law!
In December 2006, Gregg County commissioners approved a grant to participate in the statewide “Drink, Drive, Go To Jail” campaign with the funding being provided by the Texas Department of Transportation.
This grant provides resources necessary to conduct DWI enforcement throughout the holiday periods to increase the arrests of folks that drink and drive.
Captain Ken Hartley with the Gregg County Sheriff’s Department says; “We’d just like to remind people to drive responsibly. Don’t drink and drive. Enforcement will be out there and it’s not worth that chance and certainly not taking a chance of hurting yourself or others.”
Well, here lies the rub….it is not against the law to drink and then drive as long as two things are true: 1) you are at least 21 years of age, and 2) you are not intoxicated. I believe that the Sheriff is setting up a great argument for the fact that people are going to be arrested that don’t meet the above criteria. The police and prosecutors always want to lower the standard, but it just isn’t the law. Another example of their attempt to shift the standard is the “Buzzed driving is Drunk Driving” billboards. Neither Buzzed driving, nor Drunk Driving is the standard…..Intoxication is. I certainly hope a defense attorney in Gregg County is paying attention to this and is willing to use this to show the juries there that THIS Sheriff’s deputies have the potential for making wrongful arrests.
While we all know the Austin Police practice a “Drink, Drive, Go to Jail” policy, the administration has been smart enough not to voice it publicly.
Resource: http://austindwi.com