Common Defenses to Drunk Driving Charges

When you are facing DWI charges in Houston, it is critical to have an experienced and aggressive Houston DWI defense attorney on your side. DWIs are always criminal charges, and conviction will result in a criminal record. Depending upon whether you are facing a first or a subsequent DWI offense, you can be facing misdemeanor or felony charges. To be sure, under Texas DWI law, a first or second offense will be charged as a misdemeanor, but a DWI third offense will result in third-degree felony charges that can result in up to 10 years imprisonment upon conviction. Even first- and second-offense convictions can result in up to one year in jail. As such, it is essential to build the strongest defense strategy that you can to avoid a conviction.

Your DWI defense strategy should be tailored to the specific facts of your case, and you should work with a lawyer to determine the best option for beating the charges. Generally speaking, there are many different defense strategies that could be applicable to your case.

Constitutional Violation

In order to stop a driver on suspicion of a DWI and to search the driver (i.e., to conduct a breath or blood test), the U.S. Constitution requires the law enforcement officer to have reasonable suspicion and probable cause, respectively. If the law enforcement officer did not have reasonable suspicion or probable cause, the defendant may be able to rely on the defense of a constitutional violation.

Inaccurate Field Sobriety Test

Field sobriety tests can be inaccurate for various reasons, from the law enforcement officer’s inaccurate administration of the field sobriety test to an inherent problem with the test itself.

Improperly Administered Breath or Blood Test

Breath or blood tests can be administered improperly by the law enforcement official, and in some cases they can be defective. Sometimes blood tests can also be tainted. You should work with a DWI defense attorney in Houston to determine whether a defense strategy tied to a problem with the breath or blood test could be applicable in your case.

Rising Blood Alcohol

When a person is stopped on suspicion of drunk driving and is forced to wait for an extended amount of time between the stop and the administration of a breath test, it may be possible to argue that rising blood alcohol resulted in a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) above the legal limit.

Mistaken Identity

In some cases, a law enforcement officer will believe that a particular vehicle showed signs of having a drunk driver, and that law enforcement officer might attempt to follow the vehicle in order to conduct a stop. It may be that the law enforcement officer ultimately stopped the wrong vehicle and arrested the wrong person.

Contact Our Houston DWI Defense Attorneys Today

If you are facing DWI charges in Texas, now is the time to get in touch with our aggressive Houston DWI lawyers to begin developing a defense strategy for your case. We have years of experience representing Texans who are facing DWI and drunk driving charges, and we will do everything we can to help you avoid a conviction. Our lawyers are credentialed as ACS/CHAL Forensic Lawyer-Scientists, and we know how to use scientific evidence in DWI/DUI cases. Contact Houston DWI Lawyer Tad A. Nelson today for assistance with your defense.