If you cause an injury accident while driving under the influence, you could face intoxication assault charges — and a potential prison sentence. In addition to a potentially lengthy prison sentence, you may have to pay hefty fines, lose your driver’s license for a year or more, and have a permanent criminal record.
Before you make a statement or any decision about your case, talk to an intoxication assault lawyer in Rockwall. Call the Law Offices of Randall B. Isenberg today at 214-696-9253 for a no-cost consultation.
How Can an Intoxication Assault Lawyer in Rockwall Help You?
Unless you are prepared to send at least two years behind bars, you need help from an intoxication assault lawyer.
This crime carries second-degree felony charges. In addition to your prison sentence, you will likely pay a substantial fine and lose your license for at least six months.
A DWI lawyer will protect your legal rights and help you understand the serious consequences of an intoxication assault conviction. Your lawyer will comb through the evidence in your case to identify potential weaknesses or errors that the police may have committed.
Using this information, your attorney can go to the prosecutor and attempt to negotiate for a lesser charge. If the prosecutor will not consider reducing or dropping your charges, your lawyer will begin building a case for your defense.
Taking your case to court will give your lawyer the opportunity to establish reasonable doubt in the jury’s mind, potentially leading to a “not guilty” verdict.
How Long Will You Spend in Prison for Intoxication Assault?
The Texas Penal Code defines intoxication assault as an injury that results from an unintentional accident caused by driving under the influence. The injured person may be anyone, including a passenger in your car or another car, a pedestrian, bicyclist, or bystander.
Although the minimum sentence for an intoxication assault conviction in Rockwall is two years in prison, you could potentially spend two decades behind bars, depending on the circumstances of your case.
In most cases, intoxication assault qualifies for third-degree felony charges. A conviction carries penalties including:
- Prison sentence of 2 to 10 years
- Fines of up to $10,000
- Driver’s license suspension up to one year
- Mandatory alcohol education program
- Supervised probation
- Community service up to 1,000 hours
- Ignition interlock devices on your vehicle(s)
- Alcohol and drug testing
The prosecutor will pursue second-degree felony charges if you had any aggravating circumstances connected with your accident. This may include having an open container of alcohol in the vehicle or having a child under age 15 as a passenger.
Conviction on a second-degree felony charge qualifies for as much as 20 years in prison, a $20,000 fine, and a two-year suspension of your license.
If your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) was 0.15 or above, the penalties for a conviction will be even more severe.
Potential Legal Challenges to Intoxication Assault Charges
A lawyer from the Law Offices of Randall B. Isenberg can explain what a conviction might mean for your future and determine the best way to approach your case.
After reviewing the evidence and identifying potential weaknesses in the case, your lawyer will negotiate with the prosecutor to have your charges reduced or potentially even dropped.
However, because of the serious nature of an intoxication assault, some prosecutors will be unwilling to reduce charges. In this case, Randall and his team can go to work building a case for your defense. The prosecutor has a high burden of proof for conviction, which provides your lawyer with many potential options for making your case.
Depending on the facts of your case, we may have quite a few options for possible defense strategies.
To obtain a conviction, the prosecutor must demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that you caused the accident in question — and that the accident caused the victim’s injuries. To challenge this assertion, we can argue that either:
- You did not cause the accident. (Being involved in a car crash does not mean you caused it, even if you were intoxicated. The prosecutor may be able to prove DWI, but the penalties for that crime are significantly less than those for intoxication assault.)
- The accident did not cause the victim’s injuries. (The injuries could have resulted from the victim’s failure to wear a seat belt, for example.)
Your attorney may also elect to argue that you were not legally impaired at the time of the accident. Even if your chemical BAC test results indicated a legal level of impairment, we can argue that you did not have that level of impairment at the time of the accident.
Faulty BAC testing offers another option for fighting your intoxication assault charges. If the police violated any of the required guidelines for BAC testing, the court may disallow the resulting evidence.
Another possible defense strategy involves arguing about the extent of the victim’s injuries. The applicable statutes define intoxication assault as causing life-threatening physical injury or some type of permanent harm to the victim. Although prosecutors may assert that the accident caused significant damage, we may argue that the victim did not sustain any life-threatening injuries or long-term damage from the accident.
These are just a few of the possible legal strategies your lawyer can use in your defense. For the best possible legal representation, trust your case to a knowledgeable intoxication assault attorney in Rockwall.
Schedule a Free Consultation with a Rockwall Intoxication Assault Lawyer
Attorney Randall Isenberg understands how frightening and confusing it can be to face serious criminal charges.
Attorney Isenberg has more than 30 years’ experience, and he will put his extensive knowledge to work for you.
Call the Law Offices of Randall B. Isenberg today at 214-696-9253 to schedule a complimentary, no-obligation consultation with an intoxication assault lawyer in Rockwall.
