Even though my practice is focused primarily in smaller counties, every so often, I end up in Bexar County. As such, I was intrigued to hear about the new DWI program they are implementing down there. Bexar County is different from most of the other counties where I practice in that they don't offer pretrial diversion for a DWI first offense. I was interested to see what changes Bexar County would make in the way they handled DWIs. After looking at the particulars of the new program, I am not exactly sure that this will be a docket-clearing change.
Essentially, the program allows qualified defendants to plea to "Obstruction of Highway - Intoxication" and avoid a charge of Driving While Intoxicated. However, the deal isn't as simple as showing up in court, taking your Obstruction of Highway plea deal and going about your day.
To begin with, the defendant must plead within 30 days of the arrest (defendants with cases that are currently pending will have until May 16th to plead). Then, the defendant receives one year probation, unless the defendant's BAC is .15 or greater, in which case the probation is two years. As part of the probation, the defendant will have to have to submit to Ignition Interlock, Antabuse or SCRAM depending on whether the defendant owns a vehicle. A DWI education course is also required.
The benefits of such a deal appear to be that defendants will avoid an enhancement in the event of another intoxication offense. Another benefit that has been discussed is defendants not having to pay the $1000 DPS surcharge normally levied on DWI offenders. However, since the program is new, we still have to see whether DPS will refrain from enforcing the surcharge.
On the whole, I will probably refrain from recommending this deal to my clients until we all get a better understanding of the consequences of this new program.
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3 comments:
thanks for your comments on this, I'm reviewing the issue for a DWI Defendant client in San Antonio; by the way, pls post name and which location that you practice in.
Dave
What pops up on a record if a client takes an obstruction plea is "obstruct highway-intoxication," so, while it may beat a DWI conviction, it could be ambiguous to e.g. a potential employer running a background check.
Thanks for reminding people of the employment-related aspects of the plea. People often have to be reminded to take such things into consideration when taking a plea.
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