A drunk driving charge in McKinney can cost you your driver’s license for as long as two years. You will face a substantial fine and likely spend time in jail. And, even after you pay your fine and do your time, you will have a permanent criminal record that can interfere with your ability to get a job or hold a professional license. Before you make any decisions that could profoundly affect your future, talk to a DWI lawyer in McKinney to explore your options.
The Law Offices of Randall B. Isenberg can help clients who face any type of DWI in McKinney and the surrounding areas. Contact us today at 214-696-9253 to learn more about how we can help you.
What Are the Penalties for a DWI in McKinney?
The nature and severity of penalties you may face for a drunk driving charge in McKinney depend on the circumstances of your arrest and your criminal record.
Texas DWI laws, as established in the Texas Penal Code, define intoxication as having a BAC of 0.08 or more. However, the police can arrest you based on an officer’s opinion of your mental and physical impairment.
For a first offense DWI (if your BAC did not exceed 0.149), you could spend anywhere between three days and six months in jail. You will face a $2,000 fine and you risk losing your driver’s license for as long as one year.
For a second offense DWI, jail time ranges from 30 days to one year, with a mandatory 72-hour stay. You will also owe a $4,000 fine and lose your license for up to two years. A third conviction (felony DWI in the state of Texas) will earn you between two and 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
In addition to those penalties, you must pay all court costs and fees and attend (and pay for) an alcohol safety education course. The judge will likely require you to install an ignition safety interlock device on your car and may impose supervised probation and community service.
When your driver’s license suspension ends, you will have to pay a $1,000-$2,000 fee to have it reinstated and another $2,000 each year for up to three years to keep your license active.
If your DWI arrest involved any aggravating circumstances, or if you had a BAC of 0.15 or above, your penalties double. Aggravating circumstances include having an open container of alcohol in the vehicle or having a minor child (age 14 and below) as a passenger.
What might be the biggest consequence, however, is a permanent mark on your criminal record. With a DWI conviction on your record, you may struggle to get a job or even rent an apartment. Your auto insurance premiums will skyrocket, and you may become ineligible to hold a professional license.
In most cases, you cannot have a drunk driving conviction expunged from your record or sealed from public view. Consequently, any time someone runs a background check on you, they will have access to your record.
How Can a DWI Lawyer in McKinney Help You?
A DWI lawyer from the Law Offices of Randall B. Isenberg will protect your legal rights. With more than 30 years in the Texas criminal justice system, including time spent as a chief felony prosecutor and state court judge, Randall understands how the system works.
This extensive knowledge and experience helps us fight for the best possible outcome for your case.
Our legal team will explain your options and help you choose the best course of action for protecting your future. We will carefully and extensively examine all the evidence in your case, to determine if the police violated your legal rights or mishandled the chemical testing for BAC.
Our legal team can use any potential problems of this nature to negotiate with the prosecutor. In many cases, we can successfully negotiate with the prosecutor to reduce or drop the charges or file a motion in court to have your case dismissed.
Even if that approach fails, we can build the h2est possible case and defend you in court.
Throughout the entire process, we will be by your side, protecting your rights and fighting for your future. Before you give any statements to the police — or agree to plead guilty to DWI charges — contact us to learn what your options are.
Will You Lose Your Driver’s License for a DWI in McKinney?
At the time the police arrest you for drunk driving, they will take your license and issue you a temporary permit to drive. From that time, you have 15 days to request a formal hearing that will determine whether you lose your license and for how long.
This hearing, known as the Administrative License Revocation (ALR) hearing, proceeds separately from the criminal aspects of your case. The Texas Department of Public Safety (TxDPS) oversees the ALR proceedings, which take place in civil court before an administrative law judge.
Our legal team will represent you through the ALR process. This is critical for two reasons. First, we can help fight for your right to keep your license, so you continue to have a means of getting to work or school, as well as to medical appointments and other important personal errands.
More importantly, we will protect your legal rights during the ALR hearing, when you must give sworn testimony that the prosecutor could use against you in your criminal case.
Because the arresting officer must also give testimony at the ALR hearing, we can use this opportunity to learn more about the prosecution’s evidence and use that information to help strengthen your criminal defense.
What Legal Strategies Will We Use to Fight Your DWI Charge?
In addition to negotiating with the prosecutor to have your charges dropped or dismissed, we have many options for defending you against a McKinney DWI.
One approach our legal team may use is to question whether the police had reasonable suspicion to pull you over. If not, we can argue the traffic stop was illegal.
We may also question whether the police had probable cause to arrest you and make you submit to chemical testing for BAC. If the officer used field sobriety testing to establish probable cause, we may argue that they failed to follow the guidelines established by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Likewise, any breath or blood testing for BAC must follow the guidelines established by the NHTSA and TxDPS. Any violations of these standards may render the subsequent evidence inadmissible in court.
And that is why we always advise our clients that, even if the evidence appears incriminating in your case, our legal team may be able to successfully identify strategies to help overcome the challenge.
Did You Know You Can Talk to a McKinney DWI Lawyer for Free?
The Law Offices of Randall B. Isenberg offers free consultations for residents facing McKinney DWI charges. We can answer your questions and help ensure you understand what is at stake for your future. That way, you can make the right choice for you.
Contact us today at (214) 800-5859 to learn more about what a McKinney DWI lawyer can do for you.
