The services of drunk driving lawyers in Houston are essential when someone faces substantial problems if convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol. Many individuals decide to simply accept the consequences, which include paying the steep fines and dealing with the driver’s license suspension. Others, however, face worse trouble. They may have a job that prohibits having a conviction of driving while intoxicated on the record, for instance, even if the incident did not occur while on the job.
Negotiating Plea Bargains
In some instances, drunk driving lawyers in Houston may be able to negotiate a plea bargain with the prosecuting attorney. Reducing the charge for reckless driving is a common goal of defense lawyers. However, Houston State is very restrictive in this matter and rarely allows plea deals except for reducing a more serious DWIU charge to a less serious one.
Thus, a person charged with aggravated DWI, which means the blood alcohol content (BAC) was higher than .07, may have the charge reduced to a standard DWI. Unfortunately, this does not help someone whose life will be seriously disrupted by any type of drunk driving conviction.
Using Additional Defense Strategies
Another strategy that defenses attorneys use is to investigate whether law enforcement officials acted improperly during the arrest proceedings. For example, police officers cannot pull a driver over just because they suspect this person is intoxicated. Either the driver must have done something to justify being stopped, or the vehicle must have had a safety issue that the officers noticed, such as a non-functional headlight. If the police records indicate, there was no clear reason to stop the driver. The lawyer may be able to convince the district attorney to drop the charges or the judge to dismiss the case in court.
An attorney with an organization like the Law Office of Jesse Hernandez may find issues in regard to field sobriety testing or breath testing. Another possibility might be that the person’s BAC was just borderline over the legal limit, which provides some leverage when negotiating with the prosecution.
