Anyone planning to go out for a New Year's Eve celebration in Harris
County this year would be well-advised to arrange for a designated driver
or a cab ride home, if they plan to do any drinking. The Harris County
D.A.'s office has announced that they will have additional prosecutors
on duty to deal with DWI arrests. The extra personnel will be on hand
to assist with enforcing the No Refusal policy on drinking and driving.
Under the No Refusal policy, if a driver is pulled over on suspicion of
DWI and refuses a breath test, prosecutors will prepare a search warrant
compelling a blood test. The stated goal of the policy, to reduce drunk
driving accidents, is understandable. Harris County has the most drunk
driving deaths of any county in the nation, with 43 this year to date.
Those who are charged with DWI in Texas face serious consequences if convicted.
The penalties include license revocation, heavy fines and possible
jail time. For subsequent offenses the penalties are much stiffer. Anyone facing
drunk driving charges in Texas needs an aggressive DWI defense lawyer.
An experienced
DWI attorney will question every aspect of the state's case. In a blood test search
warrant case, there may be an issue whether prosecutors had sufficient
probable cause to obtain the warrant. In other cases, the notorious unreliability
of field sobriety tests - the roadside balance and coordination tests
officers give to DWI suspects - may give rise to a valid defense. And
if breath test evidence is offered, defense counsel will review whether
officers followed the required testing protocol and whether the breathalyzer
machine was properly calibrated. A failure on either count can lead to
an inaccurate test result and dismissal of the charges.
Source: KTRH.com, "Harris County Cracking Down on DWI," Corey Olson, Dec. 20, 2013