AFTER YOUR ARREST

After your DWI arrest you were upset and confused about what happened, and you do not know what to do next. You are not helpless because there are some laws which protect you. While it is important to see a lawyer, there are some things that you can do before you go to a lawyer.

Your Car

After your DWI arrest, your car was probably towed and impounded. You can get your car back by checking the towing receipt for the location or simply calling the police department. Your drivers license was seized, but you are authorized to drive for 40 days from the date of your arrest by using the temporary driving permit which was given to you by the officer. When you go to the pound to get your car you must take ownership documents such as the license registration receipt, your temporary driving permit, and a social security card. If you are not the record owner of the vehicle, the record owner must go to get the car or provide you with the registration receipt and a notarized and sworn statement that you are authorized to pick up the car. Also you should take your temporary driving permit and your social security. Call the pound before you go to make certain that you have the correct documentation.

Before you leave with the car, check the inventory receipt from the towing company and make certain that everything of value that was in your car is still there. If anything is missing, make a claim with the towing company and with the impound. Check the car for damage, and if it is damaged make a similar claim. Do not notify your insurance carrier until after you speak to a lawyer. You could get your insurance cancelled!

Your License

Very important: you must request an administrative hearing within 15 days of the date of your arrest. The administrative hearing is not your DWI case, and it comes first. Your temporary driving permit can serve as your license to drive for 40 days. Once you have made the request for the hearing, the driving time is extended for the period of time it takes to conduct the hearing. That can take a few months.

If at any time you have difficulty with this you should contact a DWI lawyer. Read the fine print on the temporary driving permit which was given to you after your DWI arrest, and you will find a fax number to send your hearing request to the Department of Public Safety. Make certain to get a confirmation that the fax was received by DPS, and keep both the faxed page and the confirmation page. The fax should include the following information: your name as it appears on your drivers license; your address as it appears on your drivers license; your drivers license number; the date and county of your arrest; the agency which the arresting officer was working for (sheriff, police department, Parks and Wildlife, etc.); and whether you failed or refused a breath/blood test. Put in the fax that you are requesting a live hearing. This hearing is important because it can prevent a license suspension, and it will provide your DWI lawyer with important documented information about your DWI arrest. The hearing will provide to your lawyer the sworn testimony of the arresting officer which information will be very important if you try your case in court later.

Your Case in Court

In Bexar, Guadalupe, Bandera, Hays and Williamson Counties you will be given a date, time and place to appear in court on your DWI case when you are released from jail. In Wilson, Atascosa, Comal, and other rural counties in the area you will be notified by mail of the date and place for you to appear for your DWI case. In Austin, upon release from jail you will be given a date but only a telephone number at which to report. Your case will not be assigned to a court about 90 days after your arrest. You should have a DWI lawyer before the 90 days are up.

Prosecutors like to have defendants who represent themselves. It makes their job getting a conviction and a high fine all that much easier. Judges do not like people to represent themselves, especially if these DWI defendants want to talk about their case in any way other than to say “guilty.” You do not want to make the prosecutor happy or the judge mad. Therefore, you should hire a DWI lawyer.

All lawyers handle DWI cases, but a DWI lawyer is involved in the specific practice of DWI representation. A DWI lawyer is in court on cases daily, and he or she is very familiar with the science and case law involving DWI which changes almost weekly. A DWI lawyer does not need to “reinvent the wheel” with a new DWI case, whereas another lawyer may need to learn during the course of representing you about the changes which have happened and are ongoing in DWI trials. In that sense a DWI lawyer may actually be less expensive than someone who must learn as he goes along. However, price alone should not be the determining factor in your choice for a lawyer. A cheap lawyer can become a very expensive investment in your future.