If you are facing criminal charges for a DWI (driving while intoxicated), domestic assault, or other offense in Euless, you could see legal penalties and other consequences. 

A criminal defense lawyer from our team can help by explaining your charges, collecting evidence to build your case, and more.

How You Can Benefit from a Criminal Defense Lawyer

While you can accept any criminal charges brought against you, it may be in your best interest to fight them in court. Accepting the charges without obtaining legal counsel could mean you receive the highest penalty.

When you hire us, a criminal defense lawyer from our firm will work to help you gather details that support your case and ensure you do not receive penalties that are greater than you deserve for the offense. 

Your Legal Rights in a Criminal Defense Case

Your greatest right when you are being charged with a criminal offense of any kind is to obtain legal counsel, but you also have other rights. Our team can explain these legal rights and the laws that may apply to your case.

What Factors Can Affect Your Case?

A number of factors may affect your criminal offense case. The penalties you could face, such as fines and jail time, will depend on the type of offense you are accused of committing. For instance, a DWI conviction can come with fines, a misdemeanor or felony charge, and effects to your license, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS).

Types of offenses for which you may receive criminal charges in Texas include: 

• Assault and battery
• BWI (boating while intoxicated)
• Domestic violence
• Drug possession 
• Underage DUI

The Texas Penal Code applies to each offense and establishes the maximum penalty you may receive if convicted. However, penalties are quite different for misdemeanors and felonies.

Possible Criminal Charges You May Face

Many first-offense criminal charges result in misdemeanors. However, this is not always the case, depending on the severity of the charges. Whether you are charged with a misdemeanor or felony in your criminal case will depend on the gravity of the offense, whether it was your first offense, the type of offense, and more.

Misdemeanors

Misdemeanor charges can result in lower level fines and jail time. Types of possible misdemeanors in Texas include: 

• Class A misdemeanor: up to $4,000 fine, up to 1 year in jail, or both (TX Penal Code Title 3, Ch. 12, Sec. 21)
• Class B misdemeanor: up to $2,000 fine, up to 180 days in jail, or both (TX Penal Code Title 3, Ch. 12, Sec. 22)
• Class C misdemeanor: fine up to $500 (TX Penal Code Title 3, Ch. 12, Sec. 23)

Felonies 

Unlike misdemeanors, a felony charge can be permanent, meaning it will stay with you for life. If you are facing a felony charge, it is in your best interest to work with a criminal defense lawyer to help ensure you have a fair chance of reaching the most favorable outcome. Possible types of felony charges in Texas include:

• 1st-degree felony: 5 years to life in prison (TX Penal Code Title 3, Ch. 12, Sec. 32)
• 2nd-degree felony: 2 to 20 years in prison (TX Penal Code Title 3, Ch. 12, Sec. 33)
• 3rd-degree felony: 2 to 10 years in prison (TX Penal Code Title 3, Ch. 12, Sec. 34)
• Capital felony: life in prison without parole, or the death penalty in some cases (TX Penal Code Title 3, Ch. 12, Sec. 31)

Our criminal defense lawyer can explain more about your charges in your Euless case and their associated consequences. We want to help you prepare a defense and seek the best possible outcome for you.

Other Consequences of Criminal Charges

In some cases, you may be able to get misdemeanor charges removed or expunged, especially if the charges are not severe or if you have not been convicted of the same charges before.

Meanwhile, more serious misdemeanor charges will be on your record for a number of years before expungement, and felony charges will follow you for life. Changes to your criminal record can affect the following areas of your life.

Employment

Some employers may have a policy in place to not hire people with felony convictions or even with serious misdemeanor on their record, depending on the job position.

Employers have certain protections in place when it comes to hiring practices, according to the Texas Guidebook for Employers. 

Custody Changes

If you are convicted of a felony offense, you may not be able to see your child, depending on the offense. Some charges that affect child custody include sexual assault, kidnapping, and homicide. 

For this reason, it is important to work with a criminal defense lawyer—to increase your preparation in court to fight these charges.

Effects on Loan and Credit Application Approval

After serving time for a conviction, you may still see far-reaching effects, such as being unable to get approved for a personal loan or home loan.

Ways Our Criminal Defense Lawyers Can Help

When you work with a criminal defense lawyer from the Law Offices of Randall B. Isenberg, you are gaining access to a lawyer with more than 30 years of experience as a prosecutor and state district judge.

We can help fight your charges by: 

• Explaining your legal rights and charges: We can help you understand both the best possible and worst possible outcomes for your case.
• Examining all forms of evidence to build your case: To build a strong defense, you will need every type of evidence available. We will ensure we have access to it.
• Undergoing negotiations for your case: Criminal cases may involve back-and-forth negotiations to reach a plea deal or otherwise secure a lighter sentence.

Find Help from a Criminal Defense Lawyer Today

Reach out to the Law Offices of Randall B. Isenberg and speak to a staff member about how to get connected with a defense lawyer for your Euless criminal case. There is no time to waste in building your defense, so call us today at (214) 696-9253. 

Call or text or complete a Free Case Evaluation form

(214) 696-9253

If you have been issued an under 21 driving under the influence (DUI) charge, you can face serious penalties if you are convicted. These penalties range from community service and a suspension of driving privileges to jail time. 

The law gives you the right to fight the charges you face. We can use several strategies to help you overturn, dismiss, or lower the charges or penalties you face. You can learn more about how a lawyer from our team serving Euless can help handle your under 21 DUI case.

DUI Penalties in Texas

In Texas, if you drink and drive, you can receive a DWI charge for driving while intoxicated. DUI charges, however, refer to driving under the influence and are reserved for underage drinking, i.e., drinking and driving under the age of 21.

Texas follows strict zero-tolerance laws for drinking and driving, and minors can even be tried as adults if they are found driving with any detectable amount of alcohol in their system. 

The age of 21 is often referred to as the minimum legal drinking age (MDLA), per the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). This is because minors cannot legally purchase, consume, or possess alcoholic drinks. Doing so can lead to serious charges.

BAC Can Determine the Kind of DUI Charges You Face

The charges you may face for a DUI depend on your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) at the time of your arrest, your record of prior arrests or convictions (if any), and injuries or damages that you may have caused while drinking and driving.

DUIs are classified as a Class 3 misdemeanor. They include a two-month suspension of your driving privileges and a maximum fine of $500. Keep in mind, however, that as per the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), if you were drinking and driving under the age of 21, you can still receive a DWI. This will be at the discretion of the officer who issued you a ticket or arrested you.

If that happens, you can face the following penalties:

• For a first DWI, you can be jailed for between 3 and 180 days.
• For a second DWI, you can be jailed for between 30 and 365 days, with a minimum jail time of 72 hours upon conviction.

If you have a BAC of 0.15% or higher, you can be charged with either a Class B or a Class A misdemeanor, both of which are higher-order charges than a Class 3 misdemeanor. The same applies if you have an open container in your car or cause an accident that injured people.

Records in a DUI Case Cannot be Sealed

Furthermore, drinking and driving charges that include an accident will mean you will never be able to have your record sealed. This is why it is so important to understand the legal implications of the charges you face. Consider speaking with an attorney for assistance with dismissing or lowering those charges.

Misdemeanors and felonies on your record can make it difficult or impossible to find work. They can also raise your insurance premiums and make it harder to secure loans, rent vehicles, and enjoy unimpeded access to a host of other services. In short, DUI and DWI charges cannot only lead to fines and a loss of driving privileges, but can  also affect your long-term independence.

Overturning or Dismissing a DUI Charge

Although you may be able to represent yourself in court and fight a DUI charge independently, losing your case can leave an indelible mark on your criminal record. We already discussed the long-term consequences of a DUI, so it should be clear that it is not worth the risk to have a blemished record or to go to jail or face the other penalties associated with DUIs.

An attorney from our team can help you fight the charges you face. Based on the nature of your arrest, the type of ticket you received, how you were stopped, and other case specifics, we will work to overturn, dismiss, or lower the charges you face. A few strategies that can be employed to do this are as follows.

Investigating the Nature of Your Arrest

If you received a DUI, the officer in question must have had a good reason for stopping you. If we can show that the officer who arrested you or issued you a ticket for a DUI did not have just cause for stopping you, we can aim to get your charges dismissed based on that fact.

If eyewitness testimony, dashcam footage, or surveillance footage show that you were not violating any laws or were not driving unsafely when stopped, this may be enough to prove a lack of just cause, and that can potentially suffice as grounds for dismissing your case.

Unreliable Test Results

Field sobriety testing (FST) equipment must be regularly serviced. If not, these instruments may not function properly or provide accurate readings that can be used in court. There can be significant swings in test results as well. Your physical condition, medicine use, tolerance or intolerance to alcohol, and the timing of the test can all cause measurable changes in results.

If it can be shown that the results produced by the prosecution to show that you were intoxicated while driving are unreliable, you may be able to dismiss the charges you face.

Officer Experience and Certification

Police officers must be certified and have the requisite experience to use the FST equipment to test you when you were stopped. We can seek to obtain the training records and credentials of the officer who arrested you or issued you a DUI. If they did not have the permission, certification, or expertise required to administer the test that was used as a basis for arresting you or issuing you a DUI, we will argue this on your behalf..

In addition to these three strategies, we will evaluate your case evidence and devise an appropriate defense based on the specifics of your case.

Contact Our Team Today

The long-term implications of a failed DUI defense are not worth the risk of representing yourself in court. For assistance with your case in Euless, contact the Law Offices of Randall B. Isenberg at (214) 696-9253. Our lawyer will help you fight the under 21 DUI charges you face.

Attorney Isenberg has more than 30 years of experience, and his career as both a former prosecutor and state district judge can be invaluable to your case.

Call or text or complete a Free Case Evaluation form

(214) 696-9253

According to Article 49, Chapter 10 of the Texas Penal Code, you are legally intoxicated in Texas if you drink and drive with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08% or more. However, many people fail to realize that you can be arrested or charged with a DWI (driving while intoxicated) offense as soon as drugs or alcohol affect your ability to operate a vehicle, irrespective of your BAC. 

There are many ways we can help you tackle the charges you face for drinking and driving. You can learn more during a free consultation with us today.

Drinking and Driving in Texas

In Texas, DWIs are used for drivers over the age of 21 found drinking and driving. Meanwhile, driving under the influence (DUI) charges apply to underage driving.

Drinking and driving carries harsh penalties, many of which can affect you for life. An overview of the fines and penalties you can receive for drinking and driving, as per the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), are outlined below:

• First DWI offenses carry fines of up to $2,000, between 3 and 180 days in jail, and the loss of your driver’s license for up to a year.
• Second DWI offenses carry fines of up to $4,000, between 1 and 12 months in jail if convicted, and a loss of your driver’s license for up to 2 years.
• Third DWI offenses carry fines of $10,000, between 2 and 10 years in prison, and a loss of your driver’s license for up to 2 years.

Additional state fines of $3,000, $4,500, and $6,000 respectively will also be assessed when you are sentenced.

Additional Penalties in DWI Cases

If you were driving under the influence with a child under the age of 15 in the vehicle with you, you can be charged with child endangerment. In addition to the penalties above, this can carry additional fines of up to $10,000, prison time of up to two years, and a loss of driving privileges for an additional six months.

Driving with an open container of alcohol in your vehicle is illegal, even if you are not drunk. As per Texas’ open container laws, bottles, cans, and other receptacles that contain any amount of alcohol and are open, have been opened, have a broken seal, or have missing contents are counted as open containers.

If such a container is found in the passenger area of a motor vehicle while the vehicle is on a public highway, you can be charged with an offense. This applies if you knowingly possess an open container in a passenger area of your vehicle, even if you are stopped or parked.

Serious Injuries Can Bring Additional Charges

Finally, in addition to the above, you can face charges of intoxicated assault if you cause serious bodily injuries to anyone while operating a vehicle. Intoxicated manslaughter charges can be levied against you if you cause the death of someone while operating a vehicle while intoxicated.

Fighting DWI Charges

From the above, it is clear that a DWI is a serious offense. A DWI on your record—especially multiple DWIs—can lead to increasingly harsh penalties.

An attorney from our team can help you fight the charges you face. A few strategies we may be able to use to do so are outlined below.

• If you can prove you were not drunk, not operating a vehicle, or not operating a vehicle on a public roadway when arrested or issued a DWI, you may be able to dismiss the charges.
• If you can prove that the field sobriety test equipment used to measure your BAC was faulty or was operated by someone not certified to use it, you may be able to dismiss the DWI.
• If you can show that your arresting officer or the officer who issued you a ticket did not have just cause to stop you, this can be used as grounds to dismiss your case.
• One way to lower the charges you face is by proving you had a BAC lower than what you were charged with.
• If you have an otherwise clean record, you may be able to lower the severity of a DWI charge or have it dismissed.
• An attorney can help you make a case for lighter penalties, such as community service in lieu of fines, jail times, and license suspensions based on your driving record and future commitments to driving safely.
• The statements of witnesses can be used to corroborate your claims that you were not drinking and driving when stopped or arrested.
• The testimony of an expert can be used to demonstrate how DWI test results are not accurate or are unreliable and are therefore inadmissible as evidence against you.

DWI Records Cannot be Expunged in Texas

If you cause bodily harm to someone in an accident that involves drinking and driving, your records can never be sealed. In addition to penalties and potential jail time, you can lose your driving privileges and may face higher insurance premiums. You may also have difficulty securing loans or renting a vehicle in the future.

DWI laws in Texas can be complex. Many cases come down to the opinion of the arresting officer or judgment calls by the court based on the specifics of a case.

Do not leave anything to chance. We can help you gather evidence, understand the law, and craft a defense built on the available evidence. We will strive to dismiss the charges you face or lower the severity of your penalties.

We are Here to Help

Contact the Law Offices of Randall B. Isenberg today for assistance with your DWI case in Euless. Our team is here to help. Attorney Isenberg has 30-plus years of experience. As a former prosecutor and state district judge, he can provide a DWI defense based on the specifics of your case.

We can help gather the evidence needed in your Euless-area case to fight the charges against you. Reach our team today at (214) 696-9253.

Call or text or complete a Free Case Evaluation form

(214) 696-9253