Criminal Law Blog
September 02, 2005
Legislature Takes Aim At Felony DWIs and Misses ... Again
House Bill 2275 passed, making it possible for the police to seize as “contraband” any property used in the commission of a felony DWI if the defendant has at least three prior DWI convictions.
If the legislature thinks they are doing anything other than adding an additional page to the lawyers’ full employment act, they’re kidding themselves.
By the time a guy has 3 DWI convictions, he often doesn’t have a car of his own to begin with.
So if he’s arrested for a 4th DWI, he’s driving someone else’s car. That means someone else has to sue the State to get the car back. This really won’t be pretty. Pretty soon a police officer will answer questions, under oath, about why he seized someone’s car. He will feel a little defensive and will say things like “I didn’t know whose car it was.”
And he’ll regret statements like that.
In Austin, Texas, the police can look up on their mobile display terminal (the little computer screen mounted on the dash) to find out who the registered owner of a given vehicle is. So just because the officer “didn’t know whose car it was” doesn’t mean he couldn’t have easily found out.
If you are really interested, you can read House Bill 2275 for yourself. The link below will help you search for it. Just click on the link and type “HB2275” in and hit enter.
http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlo/legislation/bill_status.htm
Be sure the session shown is the 79th Regular Session, not some other Session of the 79th Legislature.
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