Walker County DWI Attorney - Punishment Ranges

If you have been arrested for DWI in Walker County or Huntsville, Texas, and the police have taken your blood, you may still have a chance to fight the charges with the help of an experienced DWI lawyer. The lawyer can help you challenge the arrest if you were forced to give consent or if the police obtained a warrant to take your blood.

There are several ways to challenge a blood test in a DWI case. For example, you can argue that the traffic stop was not supported by reasonable suspicion or that the officer did not have probable cause to detain you for a DWI investigation. You can also claim that the blood warrant lacked probable cause, that the blood sample was taken in an unclean facility, or that the instrument used to test the sample was not working properly or certified. Additionally, you can argue that the blood sample was not refrigerated or drawn in the proper grey top forensic tube, or that the hospital blood result was not converted to whole blood.

One strategy to challenge a blood test is to use the "disconnect theory," which highlights a discrepancy between what the officer's body or dash camera video shows and what the lab report says. For instance, if you appear to be sober in the video but your blood test result is well over the legal limit, the lawyer can explain how issues with blood testing procedures, such as blood vial integrity, transportation, and laboratory refrigeration, can affect the accuracy of the blood test result. The lawyer can argue that the jury must believe in the blood test result beyond a reasonable doubt to convict you of DWI, and when there is a disconnect between the video and the lab report, the government's evidence is unreliable.

When an officer arrests you for DWI, they must read you a document called the DIC-24 that explains the consequences for your driver's license if you refuse to provide a breath or blood sample. If you consent, the officer will take a sample of your blood at a hospital or jail facility. The blood sample is then typically sent to a laboratory for testing. The process can take between one and twelve months to complete.

Beating a DWI with a blood test requires an experienced lawyer who can carefully review all the evidence in your case and help you object at each phase of the process. The first step is to challenge the initial reason for the traffic stop in your case, and then the lawyer can help you expose any problems that may have occurred in the collection and testing of your blood sample. There have been cases where a client's blood turned green during the storage process at a DPS facility, yet the lab analysts still issued lab reports and testified in court that this procedure was acceptable.

If you are convicted of DWI with a blood test result between 0.08 and 0.14999, you can face a Class B Misdemeanor charge, with a maximum punishment of 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine. If your blood test result is equal to or greater than 0.15, you may face a Class A misdemeanor charge, with a maximum punishment of 365 days in jail and a $4,000 fine. In addition, first-time DWI offenders may be issued a state traffic fine of $3,000, while a fine of $6,000 may be imposed if the blood test result was 0.15 or more.

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