Richardson DWI Lawyer

Your Richardson Case Belongs to One of Two Counties

Most Texas cities sit in one county. Richardson does not. The city spans the Dallas County and Collin County line, and that one fact drives everything else about a Richardson DWI, because Texas prosecutes a DWI in the county where the offense is alleged to have happened, not in the city.

If the stop was on the Dallas County side, Dallas County prosecutes. The case is heard at the Frank Crowley Courts Building at 133 N. Riverfront Boulevard in Dallas. Misdemeanor DWIs go to the County Criminal Courts and felony DWIs to the Criminal District Courts.

If the stop was on the Collin County side, Collin County prosecutes. The case is heard at the county courts in McKinney, in front of one of seven County Courts at Law for a misdemeanor or a district court for a felony.

So the first useful thing to do after a Richardson arrest is find out which county is named on your release paperwork. It decides your courthouse, your prosecutor, your lab, and your options.

Two Counties, Two Different DWI Practices

The two counties do not treat a DWI the same way, and the difference is not cosmetic.

Dallas County tests breath and blood at the county’s own SWIFS laboratory rather than at a state DPS lab. A Dallas County case therefore turns on records produced by a county lab, and prying the underlying data out of that lab is its own piece of work.

Collin County has a stated policy against reducing a DWI to obstruction of a highway, the plea that quietly disposes of DWI cases in some other counties. In Collin County a DWI is generally prosecuted as a DWI, which means the route to a good outcome runs through the evidence rather than around it. Collin County also runs a structured diversion path, the Burden to Blessing program, which for an eligible first offender can be a real alternative. Eligibility is narrow and fact specific.

Same city, same stop, same driver. Two very different cases.

There Is No Richardson Office, and That Is Not the Thing That Matters

Deandra Grant Law does not have an office in Richardson. The firm has six offices: Dallas, Fort Worth, Allen, Denton, Rockwall, and Waco. Dallas and Allen are the two closest to Richardson, and they line up neatly with the two counties Richardson straddles.

Where you sign paperwork is not where your case is decided. Your case is decided in the county that filed it, by a judge and a prosecutor in that building, on the strength of the State’s evidence. What matters is whether your lawyer appears in that courthouse and can take that evidence apart.

Two Clocks Start the Day You Are Arrested

The criminal case is the one people think about. It moves at the pace of whichever county filed it.

The license case is the one people miss. If you refused testing, or your breath test came back at 0.08 or higher, the officer serves a notice of suspension on form DIC-25. That form is not a driving permit and it stopped being one in September 2023. What it does is start a 15 day clock to request an Administrative License Revocation hearing. Requesting that hearing on time stays the suspension while the hearing is pending. Let the 15 days pass and the suspension takes effect on its own, with no hearing at all.

Read The 15-Day Rule and ALR and Your Texas License next.

Where to Go From Here

• Dallas County side: Dallas DWI Lawyer and the Dallas County Courthouse Guide
• Collin County side: Collin County DWI Lawyer and the Collin County Courthouse Guide
• The charge itself: DWI First Offense
• The evidence: Tests and Evidence
• What happens next: The DWI Court Process