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Board Certified - Criminal Law - Texas Board of Legal Specialization

Criminal Law Blog

November 12, 2005

Do You Really Need A Lawyer After A DWI Arrest?
Well, you decide.  But don’t make the same mistakes Aziz did. 
Aziz emigrated from Africa to the United States after completing college, so he wasn’t very familiar with the U.S. legal system. 
Roughly 11 months after coming to America, Aziz was arrested for DWI. 
Aziz believed that he had made a mistake by driving after having too many drinks, but he knew that didn’t make him a bad person.  He had only made a mistake. 
Aziz got out of jail on a personal bond.  He didn’t think he needed a lawyer to handle his mistake.  Lawyers are expensive, he thought, and this wasn’t really all that serious.  He had just made a mistake. 

Aziz read the paperwork that the police gave him after they took his license and he called the Department of Public Safety ("DPS") to request an Administrative License Revocation ("ALR") hearing.  He then got a notice from DPS telling him to attend a hearing on May 5, 2005. 
By coincidence, May 5, 2005 was also the date he was supposed to visit the Court Administration office to find out which court he should go to handle his criminal case, and when. 
But because Aziz wasn’t familiar with the U.S. legal system, he got the ALR hearing confused with his criminal case court setting. 
So he didn’t show up in criminal court.  He only showed up for his ALR hearing. 
The criminal judge then called his name in open court on May 5, 2005, the date Aziz was supposed to show up, but of course Aziz didn’t answer.  So the judge forfeited Aziz’s bond and issued a warrant for his arrest.
About one month after Aziz’s bond was forfeited, the County Attorney filed suit against him on his personal bond. 
Aziz only realized what a mess he had on his hands when he was served with the County’s lawsuit.  He didn’t know how bad a mess it was.  But he knew he had a mess. 
When Aziz came to speak with me, I explained that four things were going on all at once.  There was a criminal case that resulted from the DWI arrest.  There was an administrative case to suspend his license as a result of the DWI arrest.  And because he had failed to show up in court, there was a warrant outstanding for his arrest.  And also because he failed to show up in criminal court, he was being sued on his bond. 
When Aziz visited me, I had to quote him a higher fee than I usually would, because of all the extra time it would take to deal with the big mess. 
It was a mess that Aziz could have avoided by hiring a qualified criminal lawyer in the first place. 

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