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 […]
Category Archives: DWI Defense
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
By Deandra Grant, J.D., M.S. (Pharmaceutical Science), ACS-CHAL Forensic Lawyer-Scientist A story out of Illinois should be required reading for anyone charged with a drug-related DWI anywhere in the country, including Texas. Illinois’s state forensic science commission has sharply criticized the University of Illinois Chicago for inadequately investigating a now-shuttered toxicology lab whose work contributed […]
By Deandra Grant, J.D., M.S. (Pharmaceutical Science), ACS-CHAL Forensic Lawyer-Scientist You didn’t drive anywhere. You pulled into a parking lot, or you never left the spot where you were parked. The car may have been running. You may have been asleep. But you didn’t drive. Can you still be convicted of DWI in Texas? The […]