Another reason to request an ALR hearing after your Driving While Intoxicated arrest. I recently had a client get a DWI case dismissed by a prosecutor's office. However, when he originally got arrested, he decided not to contest the automatic driver's license suspension for refusing to take a breath test, and the Department of Public Safety suspended his license for six months as a result.
So, of course, he assumes that, since his DWI case was dismissed in criminal court, that he gets his driver's license back, right? Unfortunately, the answer is "no." Under the Texas Transportation Code, you can only get a driver's license suspension rescinded if you are "acquitted" of your DWI in criminal court. However, DPS conveniently interprets "acquitted" as meaning you actually went to trial and were found not guilty.
The mere act of a prosecutor deciding to dismiss a case on his own because he believes the evidence is insufficient is not considered to be an "acquittal" by DPS because no judge or jury actually rendered a verdict in the case. So even though the client walked on the DWI case, he still gets to live with the license suspension for months to come. If you are trying to keep your license, always have your lawyer request a license suspension hearing. Don't pin your hopes on the outcome of the DWI in criminal court.
Cat scratch fever. Looks like there is civil war brewing in the Guadalupe County Courthouse (a.k.a.: The Giant Eyesore with the Tacky Landscaping and Big Concrete Pecan Out Front).
Guadalupe County employs a throwback criminal justice setup known as "bifurcated prosecution", where there are two separate prosecutor's offices -- a District Attorney which prosecutes felonies and a County Attorney which prosecutes misdemeanors. The idea of dividing up responsibility this way is that it keeps a single elected prosecutor from getting too much power over the local criminal justice system.
The Texas Legislature meets for its bienniel session starting in January, but legislators have already begun prefiling bills. One of the bills I will have an eye on is HB 293, filed by State Representative Harold Dutton of Houston, which pertains to expunctions of records following criminal cases. As of the summer of 2007, the Texas Supreme Court issued a decision which effectively imposed a waiting period to get an expunction following a dismissal or acquittal in a misdemeanor case of two years from the date of the offense.