Fort Worth DWI Lawyer

At the Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center, 401 W. Belknap in downtown Fort Worth. A first or second DWI is a misdemeanor and goes to a County Criminal Court. A felony DWI, intoxication assault, or intoxication manslaughter goes to a Criminal District Court in the same building. Our Tarrant County court guide covers the whole complex.

Often, yes. Since September 1, 2019, Texas law lets a judge grant deferred adjudication on a first DWI when your alcohol concentration was under 0.15, you have no prior conviction under the intoxication statutes, and you did not hold a commercial license at the time. Tarrant prosecutors regularly offer deferred adjudication on eligible first DWIs. An ignition interlock is a required condition, and it is not available where a child was in the car or on intoxication assault or intoxication manslaughter. Deferred is not a dismissal, but the case ends without a final conviction. It is worth asking about early rather than assuming either way. Our guide to deferred adjudication covers what it does to your record.

No. Tarrant blood is analyzed by the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Forensic Laboratory, and a lab result has failure points: the warrant affidavit, the draw, the chain of custody, preservation, the analyst's method, and the instrument's own maintenance record. We request that underlying data in every blood case. A number is a starting point for the defense, not the end of the case. Our guide to the evidence in a Texas DWI case explains what we look for.

Tarrant County prosecutes it, and the county's criminal courts sit at the Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center in downtown Fort Worth. Arlington, Hurst, Euless, Bedford, and every other Tarrant County city send their cases there, and which police department stopped you does not change which building your case is heard in. You may be held at a city jail first before transfer to the county. See our Tarrant County guide for how a case moves through the building.

The law is the same. The local practice is not. Tarrant runs its blood through the county Medical Examiner's lab, and Tarrant prosecutors regularly offer deferred adjudication on eligible first DWIs. Dallas uses its own SWIFS lab and has no DWI diversion at all. Those two facts change what a realistic plan looks like.

15 days from the notice of suspension, not from arrest. In a blood case the notice often arrives by mail weeks later, so your window may still be open. Request the ALR hearing either way. Past the window, there are still options, starting with an occupational license.

Yes. On a no-refusal weekend, a driver who refuses a breath test is not simply marked as a refusal. Officers apply for a search warrant from an on-call judge and take blood, often the same night. That is why so many Fort Worth DWI cases are blood cases, and why the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's lab work is the first thing we examine. A refusal still starts the 15-day ALR clock. Our guide to the evidence in a Texas DWI case covers blood warrants and what a lab result has to prove.

It depends on the charge level and whether the case is headed to trial, and we are direct about numbers at the first call. We quote a flat fee after a consultation at no cost, so you know the full investment before you commit, and we offer payment plans. Our fee guide explains what a DWI defense should and should not cost.

Three things. Write down everything you remember while it's fresh: what you drank, when you were stopped, what the officer said. Calendar the 15-day license deadline. And talk to a lawyer now, not at your first court date, because the evidence that wins cases gets preserved early. Our step-by-step guide covers the rest: What to Do After a DWI Arrest.

Either. In person at our Airport Freeway office or any of our six offices, by phone, or by video. Whatever is easiest from where you are. The consultation is at no cost and confidential either way.

Yes. Six offices cover North and Central Texas, and the same trial team appears in courthouses across the region, including Parker, Johnson, Denton, and Dallas counties. Tell us where the arrest happened and we'll tell you exactly which court your case lands in. See our offices.

The statute allows it: a first-offense DWI carries 72 hours to 180 days in the county jail, and up to a year if the result was 0.15 or higher. In practice a first offense in Tarrant County more often ends in a dismissal, a reduction, deferred adjudication where you qualify, or probation, and the jail exposure is what the defense is built to remove. The time you already spent in the Tarrant County Corrections Center after the arrest counts against any sentence.