Allen Felony DWI Attorneys

HB 3582 Deferred Adjudication — Not Available for Felony DWI

House Bill 3582 (2019) made deferred adjudication available for certain first-offense misdemeanor DWIs with BAC below 0.15%. This was a significant change from prior Texas law, which had prohibited deferred adjudication for DWI entirely. However, the availability is narrow:

• Available: first-offense misdemeanor DWI under § 49.04 with BAC below 0.15% and no child passenger.
• Not available: any felony DWI under § 49.09.
• Not available: DWI with child passenger under § 49.045.
• Not available: Intoxication Assault under § 49.07.
• Not available: Intoxication Manslaughter under § 49.08.
• Not available: any DWI with BAC 0.15 or above.

On any felony DWI case, the choices are typically community supervision with the statutory mandatory jail floor, or confinement. The “no conviction on the record” outcome of deferred adjudication is not available.

Mandatory Jail Minimums — Even on Probation

Even when a felony DWI case resolves to community supervision, § 49.09(h) requires a mandatory minimum jail sentence as a condition of the probation:

• DWI 3rd on probation: minimum 10 days in county jail.
• These floors are statutory (the court cannot waive them).

A “probation” on felony DWI includes a mandatory jail term. This surprises many defendants who assume probation means no jail.

Mandatory Ignition Interlock

Code of Criminal Procedure Article 17.441 requires ignition interlock as a condition of bond in:

• Any DWI with BAC 0.15 or above;
• Any DWI with a prior DWI conviction (second, third, or subsequent);
• Any DWI with a child passenger under § 49.045.

Interlock must be installed on every vehicle the defendant operates during the pendency of the case. After disposition, Transportation Code § 521.246 governs interlock requirements for occupational licenses, license reinstatement, and conditions of community supervision. A defendant without practical access to an interlock-equipped vehicle is often unable to drive legally during the case and for extended periods after.

Collateral Consequences of Felony DWI Conviction

• Driver’s license suspension under Transportation Code § 521.344 — 180 days to 2 years.
• ALR administrative suspension under Chapters 524/724 — 90 days to 2 years based on failed test, refusal, and priors.
• Permanent federal firearm prohibition under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1).
• Texas firearm prohibition under Penal Code § 46.04(a).
• Permanent criminal record – felony DWI is ineligible for expunction except in cases of acquittal or dismissal, and it is ineligible for nondisclosure.
• Immigration consequences for non-citizens — particularly serious for § 49.08 Intoxication Manslaughter, which can qualify as an “aggravated felony” under 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43) for immigration purposes.
• Professional licensing consequences across nursing, medical, legal, CDL, and other licensed occupations.
• Employment consequences, particularly in Collin County’s concentration of corporate professional careers.

How Felony DWI Cases Are Defended

Challenge the Priors

A DWI 3rd prosecution requires the state to prove two prior DWI convictions. Judgment documents with incomplete records, out-of-state convictions that do not qualify under § 49.09(c), and convictions obtained without counsel are all areas where a supposedly rock-solid prior can be knocked out and which, in turn, reclassifies the case downward to a Class A misdemeanor.

Forensic Attack on the Intoxication Evidence

Ethanol analysis is performed by headspace gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (GC-FID). Attack points include sample collection, preservative balance, chain of custody, calibration, column chemistry, retention time, internal standards, and measurement uncertainty. Drug testing in § 49.04 cases involving drugs uses LC-MS/MS and has its own attack surface. As Texas’s first ACS-CHAL Forensic Lawyer-Scientist, Deandra Grant reads the underlying lab packet (bench notes, chromatograms, QC data, method validation documentation) not just the one-page report.

Fourth Amendment and CCP Article 38.23 Suppression

Stops, detentions, field sobriety testing, arrests, and breath/blood testing are subject to constitutional review. Texas’s exclusionary rule under CCP Article 38.23 excludes illegally obtained evidence. Suppression motions are often the most powerful tool available in felony DWI defense.

Causation Challenges in § 49.07 and § 49.08 Cases

Both Intoxication Assault and Intoxication Manslaughter require that the intoxication, not merely the driving, produced the injury or death. Accident reconstruction, examination of the physical evidence, and analysis of independent intervening causes can defeat the causation element even where the state can prove the intoxication itself.

SFST Administration

Deandra Grant is a Standardized Field Sobriety Test instructor. She teaches the same curriculum administered to law enforcement and can identify administration errors that undermine HGN, Walk-and-Turn, and One-Leg Stand results.

Where Collin County Felony DWI Cases Are Heard

All felony DWI cases in Collin County (DWI 3rd, DWI with child passenger, Intoxication Assault, and Intoxication Manslaughter) are filed in the Collin County Criminal District Courts at the Collin County Courthouse, 2100 Bloomdale Road, McKinney. The Collin County Criminal District Attorney’s Office prosecutes all criminal cases in Collin County.

Frequently Asked Questions

My last DWI was twenty years ago. Does it still count?

Yes. Texas has no lookback period for DWI priors. Every prior DWI conviction in the defendant’s lifetime counts toward § 49.09(b)(2) felony enhancement. A twenty-year-old DWI is the same as a one-year-old DWI for enhancement purposes.

Can I get deferred adjudication on a felony DWI?

No. HB 3582 authorized deferred adjudication for certain first-offense misdemeanor DWIs, but deferred adjudication is not available for any felony DWI including DWI 3rd under § 49.09, DWI with child passenger under § 49.045, Intoxication Assault under § 49.07, and Intoxication Manslaughter under § 49.08. This is the law, and it is final for these offenses.

Can I get probation on a felony DWI?

Usually yes for DWI 3rd, but § 49.09(h) requires a mandatory 10-day jail term as a condition of probation. For Intoxication Manslaughter, the 3g framework under CCP Article 42A.054 restricts judge-granted community supervision, and only a jury can recommend probation (and only in limited circumstances). For Intoxication Assault, community supervision is available but subject to the CCP Article 17.441 interlock requirement.

What does a “deadly weapon finding” do on an Intoxication Manslaughter case?

Under Government Code § 508.145(d), a deadly weapon finding on a 3g offense requires that the defendant serve the lesser of 50% of the sentence or 30 years before becoming parole eligible. On a 20-year Intoxication Manslaughter sentence with a deadly weapon finding, that is 10 years before any parole consideration which is a material consequence that is often entered routinely in DWI fatality cases unless actively contested by the defense.

The fatal accident wasn’t my fault. Can I still be charged with Intoxication Manslaughter?

Fault in the traditional sense is not the element. The state must prove that the intoxication, by reason of operating a motor vehicle, caused the death. Where an independent intervening cause (ex. a pedestrian’s sudden entry into the roadway, another driver’s negligence, a mechanical failure) produced the death rather than the intoxication itself, the causation element may fail. Accident reconstruction is central to this defense.

Will this affect my professional license?

Almost certainly. Nursing, medical, teaching, legal, CDL, and most Texas licensing boards conduct separate proceedings after any felony conviction, and DWI convictions in particular are viewed unfavorably. Early defense coordination with licensing counsel is critical in Collin County, where corporate professional careers are concentrated across Allen, Plano, Frisco, and McKinney.

About Deandra Grant Law

Deandra Grant Law is a Texas criminal defense firm with offices in Allen, Dallas, Fort Worth, Denton, Waco, and Rockwall. Our felony DWI practice is built on the forensic training that intoxication cases actually require, three decades of trial experience, and a former prosecutor’s understanding of the state’s case.

Deandra M. Grant, Managing Partner

• More than 30 years in practice, focused on criminal defense and DWI
• Former prosecutor
• J.D.; M.S. in Pharmaceutical Sciences
• Graduate Certificate in Forensic Toxicology
• ACS-CHAL Forensic Lawyer-Scientist from the American Chemical Society
• Standardized Field Sobriety Test (SFST) Instructor
• Texas Super Lawyer since 2011
• Author of 17 law books including The Texas DWI Manual
• Executive Director, DUI Defense Lawyers Association (DUIDLA)

Douglas E. Huff, Partner

• ACS-CHAL Forensic Lawyer-Scientist
• Digital forensics and electronic evidence training
• Extensive North Texas DWI trial experience

James Lee Bright, Of Counsel

• National federal criminal defense practice
• Admitted to all four Texas federal districts, the District of Columbia, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court of the United States

Contact Our Allen Felony DWI Attorneys

Felony DWI cases reward early involvement. Priors can be investigated before they are pled into the indictment. Forensic evidence (blood samples, EDR data, accident reconstruction) requires immediate preservation. Bond conditions, including interlock and home confinement alternatives, can be negotiated. Witnesses can be located before memories fade. And the strategic decisions made in the first weeks often define what is possible later at trial or sentencing.

Call Deandra Grant Law at (214) 225-7117 to schedule a consultation. We serve Allen, Plano, McKinney, Frisco, and all of Collin County from our Allen office.