Eric Benavides, a Brazoria County DWI Attorney, explains why it is important to quickly hire a DWI Attorney ASAP in Brazoria County, TX.

As a Brazoria County DWI Attorney I see many individuals make one crucial mistake when they are arrested for DWI.  They wait until their court date to hire an attorney.

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What is the Problem with Waiting to Hire a Brazoria County DWI Attorney?

The problem is in Brazoria County, sometimes you do not get a court date for months.  And remember, one of the most important things to remember when you are arrested for a DWI in Texas is that you only have 15 days to save your drivers license.  Within the first 15 days you need to request an ALR Hearing, ALR is short for Administrative License Revocation hearing.  If you do not do that your license will automatically be suspended for 90 days up to 2 years depending on the situation you find yourself in.

If you have a DWI in Brazoria County and you don’t act right away, you are going to find yourself with a mandatory license suspension, before you ever go to court.  Is that fair?  No, it is not, because they don’t even wait to see if you are innocent or guilty, but unfortunately that is the law.

Why is it Good to Have an ALR Hearing?

Two reasons. First, if I do my job correctly and the officer does not show up to your hearing then the license case gets dismissed and you do not lose your license pursuant to a DPS suspension (you could still potentially lose your license through the criminal judge, but that is something that can typically be prevented on a 1st DWI).  And if the officer does happen to show up, then I get the opportunity to question him before trial.  That is something that could potentially make the difference in your defense.  It gives me the opportunity to see what the cop is going to say before we get in front of a jury.  Even if we lose the hearing (which most likely will happen if the cop shows up), it is still a win because I get a chance to get valuable information from the cop, and I get a chance to lock him into a story on the record.

If you are reading this and you didn’t request an ALR hearing on time, its ok.  It doesn’t change anything about your defense, so do not worry.  The ALR hearing is simply a free opportunity to save your license or cross the cop before trial.  Its really a win/win if you request it, but it doesn’t hurt you if you do not.

If you are in the unfortunate situation of having to drive into Angleton for court on a DWI in Brazoria County Texas, give me a call.  As a Brazoria County DWI Attorney I can work through the details and figure out the best option for you.