What Does The Prosecution Have To Prove To Prosecute Me For A DWI?

In order for the prosecution to substantiate a charge of driving while intoxicated in the state of Texas, they are going to need to prove 4 different elements of the charge. The first is going to be that the individual who was charged was operating a motor vehicle in a public place while intoxicated. Driving is operating, but it’s also other things that might not involve driving. Certain cases have shown that a person who was sitting in their car with the vehicle and using the air conditioning and the radio may or may not constitute operation of a motor vehicle and there is no specific definition given by the legislature for what constitutes operation. It’s just the general language understanding of what a person might consider to be operational. It’s going to be a fact question for the jury. However, a DWI defense lawyer in Austin Texas can throw some light on the matter. The DWI defense attorneys in Austin, Texas at the office of Blackburn Betts PLLC have handled numerous DWI cases over the years. Our attorneys and lawyers are experienced in handling all kinds of DWI cases.

Motor vehicle is more things than you might think. A motor vehicle is any type of conveyance designed to convey people or goods on a highway but excluding railed vehicles. So if you think about it, broadly what that means is that tricycles are considered as motor vehicles, motorcycles are motor vehicles, and cars are certainly motor vehicles. Trains are not motor vehicles. We are generally speaking about someone who is driving a car, but even a bicycle could count under the law as a motor vehicle.

A public place is any place that the public has substantial access to. So if you are on your ranch, on the roads that are solely contained in the ranch that is private property, it wouldn’t be a public place but most roads that the person would be pulled over for a DWI are public places. Generally, a public place is not the thing we are fighting about with the prosecutors and the operation is infrequently one of them. The most important one is intoxication and intoxication in Texas is defined as one of 3 different things. At first, it can be at or above a 0.08 blood, breath or technically urine, but nobody uses urine alcohol concentration. That’s if they are trying to prove an alcohol DWI and if they have a chemical test (breath or blood) that they can base it on or if they are going with a combination alcohol and drugs DWI. If they are going with an alcohol DWI where they don’t have a chemical test where you can say you were actually at this specific level. Then they are going to try one of two separate ways that the law allows them. A prosecutor doesn’t have to pick which one of these ways they are going to go about doing it but they can either prove having lost normal use of mental faculties or having lost the normal use of physical faculties by reason of the introduction of alcohol, a drug, a dangerous drug, a controlled substance, any substance, or a combination thereof, and any of those can be a means of a prosecutor proving intoxication.

So if they can get all 4 of those elements; (1) operating (2) a motor vehicle (3) in a public place (4) while intoxicated, Then that’s how they are going to attempt to prove up a DWI. Defending such a case can often be tricky and requires professional legal representation from a DWI defense lawyer in Austin, Texas.

For more information on Prosecution Of A DWI Case In Texas, a free initial consultation with our DWI defense lawyer in Austin, Texas is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling our DWI defense attorneys in Austin, Texas at (512) 478-9898 today.