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What to Do After a DWI Arrest in Texas

Texas DWI Defense Attorney

If you were arrested for DWI in Texas last night, this morning, or in the past few days, there are things that need to happen immediately. One of them has a hard deadline that begins running from the moment you are served notice of suspension. Missing it costs you your license automatically, regardless of what happens in the criminal case.

This page explains exactly what to do, in order, and why each step matters.

⏰  THE 15-DAY ALR DEADLINE — ACT NOW

You have 15 days from the date you are served notice of suspension to request an Administrative License Revocation (ALR) hearing. If you miss this deadline, your license will be automatically suspended even if the criminal charges are later dismissed or not filed. This is the most time-sensitive obligation after a DWI arrest.

Step One: Stop Talking About the Case

This applies to law enforcement, to family members, to friends, and especially to social media. Anything you say about what happened (ex. how much you had to drink, where you were coming from, how you felt when you were driving) can be used against you. This is not a technicality. Prosecutors use statements made after arrest, in jail calls, in text messages, and in social media posts regularly.

You have the right to remain silent. Exercising it is not an admission of guilt. It is the single most protective thing you can do in the hours immediately following an arrest.

Step Two: Write Down Everything You Remember

Before the details fade, write down a complete account of everything that happened: where you were, what you ate and drank, what time you left, the route you took, how the traffic stop started, what the officer said and did, whether you were asked to perform field sobriety tests and what instructions were given, whether a breath or blood test was requested, and what the timeline looked like from the stop through booking.

This is not a document you share with anyone other than your attorney. It is your record of the facts while they are still fresh, and it will be the starting point for building the defense.

Step Three: Contact an Attorney and Request the ALR Hearing

The ALR hearing  (the administrative proceeding that determines whether your license is suspended before any criminal conviction) must be requested within 15 days from the notice of suspension date. Most people do not know this deadline exists until it has passed. An attorney who handles DWI cases in Texas will request the hearing immediately as one of the first actions taken on your case.

The ALR hearing is also a strategic asset, not just a license-saving measure. Testimony from the arresting officer taken under oath at the ALR hearing creates a transcript that can be used in the criminal case which locks the officer into the account before they have the opportunity to revise it later.

Step Four: Preserve the Evidence

Surveillance footage from nearby businesses, bars, or intersections may be gone within days or weeks. An attorney who acts quickly can issue preservation letters and begin the evidence collection process before that window closes. An attorney retained three months after the arrest cannot recover footage that was overwritten in week six.

What Happens Next: The Criminal Case

The First Court Date

After your case is filed you will be scheduled for either a “First Setting” or an “Arraignment Date” depending on the county. In some counties you will need to appear in person but in others your attorney can appear for you.

Discovery and Evidence Review

The defense is entitled to the prosecution’s evidence under Texas’s open-file discovery rules. This includes the officer’s report, the dashcam and bodycam footage, the breath or blood test results, the field sobriety test scoring, and any witness statements. Every piece of that evidence is reviewed for legal sufficiency, scientific accuracy, and constitutional validity before any defense strategy is finalized.

Pretrial Motions

If the stop that led to your arrest lacked reasonable suspicion, the arrest lacked probable cause, the breath test was coerced or the blood draw was conducted without proper legal authority, the evidence obtained can be challenged under Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 38.23. Texas has no good faith exception. A successful motion to suppress can eliminate the prosecution’s central evidence and, in many cases, resolve the case entirely.

The Chemical Test Evidence

Whether your case involves a breath test or a blood draw, the result is not automatically reliable. Breath test instruments require proper maintenance, calibration, and an uninterrupted observation period. Blood samples must be collected in the correct preservative tubes, stored at the correct temperature, and analyzed using validated methodology. In vitro fermentation (where alcohol is produced in the sample after collection due to insufficient preservative) can cause a blood result to overstate the true BAC at the time of driving. These are not theoretical arguments.

The Rising BAC Defense

If you consumed alcohol close to the time you started driving, your BAC may have been rising while you were on the road and continued to rise through the stop and into the time of the chemical test. The rising BAC defense is a pharmacokinetic argument: your BAC at the time of the test rarely reflects your BAC at the time of driving. Evaluating whether this defense applies requires analysis of when and what you consumed, your body weight, your absorption rate, and the timeline of the stop. It is the kind of analysis that a Master’s Degree in Pharmaceutical Science makes possible.

Your First Meeting With Deandra Grant Law

When you contact Deandra Grant Law we will collect the basic information about your arrest and then you’ll be scheduled for an appointment with one of our attorneys.

Deandra Grant Law has offices in Dallas, Fort Worth, Allen, Denton, Waco, and Rockwall. We have appeared in North and Central Texas courts for more than 30 years and have over 500 trials under our belt.

Call (214) 225-7117 now. The 15-day ALR deadline is already running.

Aggressive DWI Defense Lawyer in Texas

Texas DWI lawyer, Deandra Grant, offers you a comprehensive initial meeting in order to help you determine whether you are comfortable in working with her firm. Prior to coming in for your appointment, you will be asked to fill out an important questionnaire that will help make your initial meeting more productive. Your initial meeting will be with Deandra Grant and not one of her associates.