Category Archives: DWI Defense

Boating While Intoxicated in Texas: What You Need to Know About BWI Charges

Boating While Intoxicated in Texas What You Need to Know About BWI Charges

Texas has more than 800,000 registered recreational watercraft and some of the most active boating lakes in the country. Lake Texoma, Lewisville Lake, Possum Kingdom, Ray Hubbard, Joe Pool: every weekend from Memorial Day through Labor Day, all of them are patrolled by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department game wardens, county marine units, and in […]

Before You Launch: BWI Enforcement on North and Central Texas Lakes

Before You Launch: BWI Enforcement on North and Central Texas Lakes

Texas has more than 560,000 registered boats and an estimated 359,000 additional unregistered watercraft operating on its lakes, rivers, and coastal waters. In the first half of 2025, the state recorded a 75 percent increase in boating-related fatalities compared to the same period the year before. Texas Game Wardens made 83 BWI arrests in the […]

Can You Get Life in Prison for a DWI in Texas? The Peace Officer Enhancement Explained

Can You Get Life in Prison for a DWI in Texas? The Peace Officer Enhancement Explained

A Tarrant County jury recently sentenced DeAujalae Evans, 26, to life in prison after she pleaded guilty to intoxication manslaughter in the death of Fort Worth Police Sgt. Billy Randolph. Sergeant Randolph was working a crash scene on I-35W in August 2024 when Evans (who reportedly consumed approximately 10 shots of tequila that night)  struck […]

Oral Fluid Drug Testing in Texas: Coming to a Roadside Near You

Oral Fluid Drug Testing in Texas Coming to a Roadside Near You

Oral fluid drug testing (collecting saliva and testing it for the presence of drugs) is expanding in both criminal justice and workplace settings, and Texas is actively developing its use in roadside DWI investigations. Understanding what oral fluid testing can and cannot show, how it differs from urine and blood testing, and where its reliability […]

How Texas Uses Out-of-State DWI Convictions for Enhancement and How the Defense Challenges Them

How Texas Uses Out-of-State DWI Convictions for Enhancement and How the Defense Challenges Them

Texas Penal Code §49.09 contains two facts that surprise most people who come to us with a prior DWI from another state. First, Texas has no lookback period so a DWI conviction from 30 years ago in another state can still be used to enhance a current Texas charge. Second, the state line provides no […]

What to Do After a DWI Arrest in Texas: A Step-by-Step Guide

What to Do After a DWI Arrest in Texas: A Step-by-Step Guide

A DWI arrest in Texas opens two simultaneous legal proceedings that run on different clocks and have different consequences. The criminal case will take months to resolve. The administrative license revocation (ALR) case can suspend your license in 40 days if you do nothing. The steps you take in the first 15 days after your […]

Underage DWI in Texas: DUI vs. DWI, Deferred Adjudication, and What Parents Need to Know

Underage DWI in Texas DUI vs. DWI, Deferred Adjudication, and What Parents Need to Know

When a minor is stopped for alcohol and driving in Texas, two separate statutes may apply and which one applies determines the offense level, the available penalties, and whether deferred adjudication is even on the table. Most coverage of this topic treats them as the same charge. They are not and confusing them can lead […]

CDL DWI in Texas: What Commercial Drivers Need to Know

What Commercial Drivers Need to Know

For a CDL holder, a DWI arrest is not just a criminal matter. It is a career emergency. The administrative consequences (CDL disqualification) move faster than the criminal case, there is no occupational license available to preserve your ability to drive commercially during the disqualification period, and the BAC threshold that triggers the violation is […]

Social Media and Your Texas DWI Case: What the Evidence Actually Shows

Social Media and Your Texas DWI Case What the Evidence Actually Shows

Every criminal defense attorney will tell you to stop posting on social media after a DWI arrest. That advice is correct. But it’s the beginning of the conversation, not the end of it and most attorneys stop there because they don’t have the forensic training to go any further. Partner Douglas Huff has completed advanced […]

The Rising Blood Alcohol Defense in Texas: Why the Number on the Test May Not Be the Number That Matters

The Rising Blood Alcohol Defense in Texas: Why the Number on the Test May Not Be the Number That Matters

By Deandra Grant, J.D., M.S. (Pharmaceutical Science), ACS-CHAL Forensic Lawyer-Scientist Driving at 11 pm and blood drawn at 12 am with a result of 0.10. On its face, the case looks straightforward. But Texas law does not ask what your BAC was when the test was administered. It asks what your BAC was, and whether […]