Austin DWI probation program

San Antonio Express News ran a report last week of a Tarrant County DWI probation program called Felony Alcohol Intervention Project. It is designed for offenders with three or more DWIs. This program these repeat offenders to accept a “plea bargain for a seven-year prison sentence that is probated to four years. The goal of the program is to reduce the number of injuries and deaths from alcohol related accidents. Currently, there are 175 probationers with 10 graduates.

FAIP include the following requirements:

- 10 days jail

- work 40 hours a week

- Driver’s license suspense for 6 months to a year

- random urinalysis

- counseling and alcohol treatment; including daily meeting for the first 90 days

- ankle monitor that detects alcohol for the first 90 days

- attend court weekly for judicial review

- meet with their probation officer once a week

- community service at homeless shelters


While this may be good resolution for some folks, it is clearly not a one size fits all solution. Some case just need fighting, and not just a quick probation outcome. If this type of programs comes to Austin, we will sure look at on a client by client bases. Pleading guilty to a felony DWI is always an avenue of last resort.

Texas DWI New Laws.

As of today, September 1, two new laws go into force that deal with DWIs in Texas. Section 724.017 of the Transportation Code is now expended to allow more situations where police can do a forced blood draw without a warrant. Mandatory warrantless blood draws are now allowed if a person is arrested for DWI, or BWI, the person refuses to submit to the taking of a specimen volutarily, and: 1) an individual other than the person arrested has suffered bodily injury and was transported to a hospital or other medical facility for medical treatment; 2) the person is arrested for DWI with a child passenger under 15; 3) the officer has reliable information that the person has been previously convicted of DWI two or more times; or 4) the officer has reliable information that the person has been previously convicted of DWI with a child passenger under 15, intoxication assault, or intoxication manslaughter.

The Legislature also tried to give some assurance to the health care providers that actually draw the blood persuant to a blood warrant, or mandatory blood draw. Section 724.017 of the Transportation code was amended to provide protection to those who take blood specimens according to "recognized medical procedures." However, this change in the law DOES NOT relieve a person from lability for negligence in the taking of a blood specimen. And there lies the danger to anyone that takes blood under these intrusive warrant/warrantless blood draws.

DWI Austin

In December 2006, Gregg County commissioners approved a grant to participate in the statewide “Drink, Drive, Go To Jail” campaign. This grant provides resources necessary to conduct DWI enforcement throughout the holiday periods to increase the arrests of folks that drink and drive.

Captain Ken Hartley with the Gregg County Sheriff’s Department says; “We’d just like to remind people to drive responsibly. Don’t drink and drive. Enforcement will be out there and it’s not worth that chance and certainly not taking a chance of hurting yourself or others.”

What they are totally ignoring is the fact that is not against the law to drink and then drive as long as you are at least 21 years of age, and you are not intoxicated. I believe that the Sheriff is setting up a great argument for the fact that people are going to be arrested that don’t meet the above criteria.

The police and prosecutors always want to lower the standard, but it just isn’t the law. Another example of the attempt to lower this standard is the “Buzzed driving is Drunk Driving” billboards. Neither Buzzed driving, nor Drunk Driving is the standard…..Intoxication is.

I certainly hope a defense attorney in Gregg County is paying attention to this and is willing to use this to show the juries there that THIS Sheriff’s deputies have the potential for making wrongful arrests.

While we all know the Austin Police practice a “Drink, Drive, Go to Jail” policy, the administration has been smart enough not to voice it publicly.

Austin DWI

In December 2006, Gregg County commissioners approved a grant to participate in the statewide “Drink, Drive, Go To Jail” campaign. This grant provides resources necessary to conduct DWI enforcement throughout the holiday periods to increase the arrests of folks that drink and drive.

Captain Ken Hartley with the Gregg County Sheriff’s Department says; “We’d just like to remind people to drive responsibly. Don’t drink and drive. Enforcement will be out there and it’s not worth that chance and certainly not taking a chance of hurting yourself or others.”

What they are totally ignoring is the fact that is not against the law to drink and then drive as long as you are at least 21 years of age, and you are not intoxicated. I believe that the Sheriff is setting up a great argument for the fact that people are going to be arrested that don’t meet the above criteria.

The police and prosecutors always want to lower the standard, but it just isn’t the law. Another example of the attempt to lower this standard is the “Buzzed driving is Drunk Driving” billboards. Neither Buzzed driving, nor Drunk Driving is the standard…..Intoxication is.

I certainly hope a defense attorney in Gregg County is paying attention to this and is willing to use this to show the juries there that THIS Sheriff’s deputies have the potential for making wrongful arrests.

While we all know the Austin Police practice a “Drink, Drive, Go to Jail” policy, the administration has been smart enough not to voice it publicly.



Austin dwi - part 1

USA Today posted a good article about the fact that punishment for drunken driving among the states is inconsistent at best. Get arrested in Alaska, Tennessee or Georgia and you will face mandatory jail time for your first offense. These three states require mandatory sentences ranging from one to three days. Get arrested in California, Texas, Connecticut or Indiana and you won't face mandatory jail time for your first offense.

In some states, like Wisconsin, first-offense DWIs aren’t even considered a criminal matter. It's a civil infraction that results in a ticket. So far, there are no punishment guidelines for the states. It is up to each State's Legislature to figure out what the punishment range should be.

The article states that National research suggests jailing first-time offenders "has no impact" on whether they will do it again.

Sentencing guidelines drawn up in 2006 by federal highway officials and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism concur. "The available evidence suggests that as a specific deterrent, jail terms are extremely costly and no more effective in reducing (drunken driving) recidivism," the guidelines note.

Domain Registration

All registered domains are saved in a database called domain name registry.  And it part of the DNS of internet that have the registered domain name in a database.  Domain name registration based on FCFS (First Come First Serve) and registries may have their local languages on their web sites.  Sub-Domain registration is nothing but they can use their domain for sub domain registration. For example javamain.com this is main domain and sub domain is app.javamain.com