The following are some important points to remember regarding DWI offenses:

1. HIRE A DWI TRIAL LAWYER! - If you find yourself arrested for DWI the most important step you can take is to hire an experienced DWI trial lawyer.

2. JUST SAY NO! – Don’t take the police balance exercises. Don’t give consent for the police to take your breath or blood. You have the right to speak to an attorney once you are arrested for any criminal offense.

3. INVALID STOP OF PERSON OR VEHICLE – The police must have a valid reason to make a traffic stop on a vehicle. You can’t be legally stopped for weaving inside your lane of traffic. State v. Tarvin 972 S.W.2d 910 (Tex.App. Waco, 1998)

4. FAILURE TO PROVE DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE – Your admission to driving, without more, does not prove a charge of driving under the influence. The state must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you were intoxicated when driving.

5. STANDARD FIELD SOBRIETY TESTING (SFST) CAN BE INACCURATE – Under laboratory conditions to healthy, coordinated individuals, the one-leg stand test is 65 percent accurate, and the walk-and-turn test is 68 percent accurate in determining if a person is intoxicated. You are not a candidate for the tests if you have certain injuries or medical conditions, are 50 pounds or greater overweight, and/or 65 years or older.

6. NON-STANDARDIZED FIELD TESTS ARE INVALID – These tests include saying the alphabet, counting backwards, touching your finger to your nose, or estimating time with your eyes closed. These tests were deemed accurate only 50 percent of the time. You might as well have the officer flip a coin. Heads you pass. Tails you go to jail.

7. HGN (HORIZONTAL GAUZE NYSTAGMUS) – The cops will testify that they are only looking for alcohol induced nystagmus and that is the only type they can recognize. What the cops don’t know is that there are 38 causes of HGN and 47 known causes of nystagmus.

8. PATROL UNIT OVERHEAD LIGHTS CAUSE OPTIKINETIC NYSTAGMUS - The police overhead lights can cause nystagmus which the cop incorrectly interprets as probable cause to arrest you.

9. MEDICAL AND HEALTH PROBLEMS – Orthopedic problems, earaches, ear infections, sinus and allergy concerns, fatigue and assorted eye problems all affect the validity of the field sobriety tests. Many other health issues also mimic intoxication, but the cops never allow you to explain their confusion and you go to jail.

10. PATROL UNIT VIDEOS – Often times, these videos contradict and expose embellished police testimony. These videos help us more than they help them. I have never seen a video that showed a client that was “drunker” than the written version in the police report.

11. NO MIRANDA WARNINGS – The state can’t use any answers you give while in custody for a DWI without this warning. The best advice to follow is to “use your right to remain silent.”

12. FORCED BLOOD DRAWS – In Texas, the police cannot take a blood test without the driver’s consent unless certain aggravating factors are present in the case. (See www.dwidude.com)

13. INACCURATE HOSPITAL BLOOD TESTS – Blood tests can overestimate a person’s true blood alcohol content level by 18 percent to 25 percent in healthy, uninjured individuals, and are not statistically reliable in severely injured people.

14. HAND HELD ALCOHOL DETECTION DEVICES – Texas prohibits the admission of the resulting BAC (breath alcohol content) of the pre-alcohol screening (PAS) device and pre-breath test (PBT) devices except for “presence of alcohol.”

15. MOUTH ALCOHOL – Mouth alcohol can greatly increase the results of a breath test. Alcohol can get trapped in the mouth if you recently ate, have dentures, cavities, retainers, were chewing gum or tobacco.

16. BREATH TESTS – Forget the notion that the breath test isn’t beatable. The machine assumes that you are an average person. Breath testing has a 25 percent margin of error! These machines use the Atari® technology used in the video game PONG. There are multiple factors that can elevate the results of a breath test.

17. INDEPENDENT WITNESSES – Independent witnesses to your actions prior to your arrest can help establish sobriety.

18. EXPERT WITNESSES – Expert witnesses are available to review the validity of breath tests, blood tests and field sobriety tests.