Building a Fort Worth Second-Offense DWI Defense

The stakes in a second offense DWI are usually higher than a first offense. In these cases, the defendant’s lawyer may need to know how to challenge the administration of the field sobriety tests and be an expert on the breath and blood testing. When building a Fort Worth second-offense DWI defense, the lawyer must have knowledge of the legal principles, factual issues, and constitutional principles regarding stops, detentions, arrests, and search and seizure laws.

An inexperienced attorney may find it difficult to fight a second-offense DWI. While some attorneys may think they could handle DWI cases because they have a license and tried a few criminal cases, they may not have the requisite knowledge, experience, and expertise to handle DWI cases that are so specialized. This may be true even if the attorney is excellent at trial. If you need assistance building a Fort Worth second-offense DWI defense, our team of experienced second-offense DWI attorneys could help.

Cross-Examining the Arresting Officer

The first and most important thing a lawyer could do when building a Fort Worth second-offense DWI defense is demand an administrative hearing. At the hearing, the lawyer will have the opportunity to cross-examine the arresting officer. The defendant’s attorney could subpoena the officer to the hearing and prepare for it by demanding discovery from the Department of Safety. The lawyer could then use the discovery to cross-examine the officer to identify potential mistakes made by the officer and uncover any other possible issues that could be used to the defendant’s advantage.

Collecting Evidence

Collecting evidence is vital to building a Fort Worth second-offense DWI defense. To do so, the attorney could investigate the arrest. If there was a wreck, the lawyer could obtain photos of the scene and the damage to the vehicles. Measurements could be made and aerial photos could be located. The lawyer could then determine if there are issues regarding traffic signs or signals, street conditions, weather conditions, and construction. This evidence could be built upon and used to defend the accused person by recreating the facts around the night of the arrest to discredit the evidence put forth by the prosecutors.  The arresting officer could be investigated to see if there are issues in the officer’s past and to determine whether the officer has the proper training to do the blood and breath testing.

Blood and Breath Tests

After an investigation of the blood and breath tests and subpoenaing the records regarding those tests, our team of lawyers could search for issues with the machines that were used for testing. Maintenance repair logs and subject test records could be subpoenaed and the attorney could show that there is a problem or mistake or the machine was not working properly when the test was conducted.

A defendant typically needs legal counsel with the necessary expertise regarding breath and blood testing to find potential problems with the test. If an issue is found, our team of attorneys could have the tests ruled inadmissible or show the jury why the tests are inaccurate. A defendant could verify that their attorney has training and knowledge about how the tests are administered. If you have been charged with your second DWI, begin building a Fort Worth second-offense DWI defense by calling our attorneys.