Dallas Lawyers for Charges of Driving While Intoxicated with a Child Passenger

If you are facing charges for driving while intoxicated with a child passenger, you are probably frightened of the possible consequences of your actions and how they will affect your future. Driving while intoxicated with a child passenger is a serious criminal offense, and the penalties are harsh. If you want to minimize your penalties and the long-term consequences of your charges, you need to act quickly to hire an experienced Dallas DWI defense lawyer who knows how to build a strong defense for you. Find out how Law Offices of Mark T. Lassiter can help. Call (214) 845-7007, or contact us online today for a free consultation and case evaluation.

drunk driver

What Is DWI with a Child Passenger?

Under Texas Penal Code 49.045, driving while intoxicated with a child passenger is defined as operating a motor vehicle in a public place while intoxicated with a passenger who is younger than 15 years.

To be “intoxicated” means:

To have a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08% or higher; or
Not having the normal use of physical or mental faculties due to the consumption of alcohol, drugs, or other substances.

To determine whether or not you are intoxicated, a police officer is required to offer you a blood or breath alcohol test, as well as field sobriety tests.

What Are the Penalties for a DWI with a Child Passenger?

Being arrested for a DWI with a child passenger is far more serious than a typical DWI arrest and involves greater penalties, which include:

Automatic driver’s license suspension for up to 180 days
Fines of up to $10,000
Up to two years in jail

If you have a record of prior felonies or DWI charges, these penalties will likely be increased due to habitual criminal offenses.

A DWI charge also results in you losing certain constitutional rights, including the right to vote, bear arms, and serve on a jury. DWI charges also show up on background checks, which can affect your current and future employment, professional licensing, and rental housing applications.

Additional Charges: Serious Bodily Injury

Additional charges resulting in even greater penalties are possible if others were seriously injured or killed as a result of an accident you caused when driving while intoxicated. If your child passenger was injured, you might be charged with intoxication assault with serious bodily injury in addition to the DWI charges. And if you also caused serious injuries to a driver or passenger in another car or to a pedestrian or cyclist, you may be facing multiple charges of this kind.

Additional Charges: Child Endangerment

According to Texas law, a child is endangered when they are put at risk of injury, physical impairment, or death. Driving while intoxicated is an obvious way to endanger a child and, if your drunk driving caused an accident, the evidence against you for child endangerment is even greater.

If you are charged with a DWI with a child passenger, Child Protective Services will likely conduct their own investigation to assess your criminal and drinking history and evaluate whether or not you are fit to be a parent. This means that you could lose custody of your children, whether you have sole or joint custody with a partner. You could also lose any visitation rights you have. Furthermore, if you are going through a divorce, this situation can quickly diminish your parenting rights in the divorce proceedings.

stop! child endangerment

Possible Defenses for a DWI with a Child Passenger

There are many possible defenses that can be used in a DWI with a child passenger case. Every case is unique, and you need a Dallas criminal defense lawyer who knows how to assess the facts and evidence in order to build a strong defense for your particular circumstances.

Examples of possible defenses that may be used against a DWI with a child passenger charge include:

You were not actually intoxicated
- If you provided a blood or breath test and your blood alcohol level was 0.08 or lower, this creates reasonable doubt as to whether you were actually intoxicated while driving. Additionally, the time between you driving and taking the blood alcohol test affects the reliability of the result.
- If you took field sobriety tests, it is possible that the police officer overstated your failure to pass the tests. Test scoring sheets and videos can be reviewed to determine whether or not you actually failed the tests, as the officer claims.

The tests were not administered correctly – Incorrectly administered tests cannot be used as evidence in court.
- If your blood alcohol test was not administered by a trained professional using properly maintained equipment or if it was contaminated or not stored correctly, it can be excluded from evidence.
- Field sobriety tests are standardized, and if the available video footage shows that the police officer did not administer them according to the correct protocols, these too can be excluded from the evidence.

The police officer did not have reasonable suspicion to stop you – A police officer is required to have reasonable suspicion to pull you over. This means they must be able to report that you committed a traffic violation or that they had some other good reason to believe you were driving while intoxicated. If it is found that you were illegally stopped by the officer, all evidence can be suppressed, and your case could even be dismissed.

You Need an Attorney from Law Offices of Mark T. Lassiter

The penalties for a DWI with a child passenger charge are severe and have far-reaching consequences that can affect your freedom, your professional life, and your relationship with your children. Acting quickly to hire an attorney is the most important step you can take to minimize the long-term consequences of your actions.

Only an experienced Dallas DWI defense lawyer knows how to defend you and your rights in a DWI charge and avoid child endangerment escalation of your case. At Law Offices of Mark T. Lassiter, we view every case as unique and thoroughly review the facts of each situation to determine the strongest and most effective defense strategy possible. Call us at (214) 845-7007, or contact us online for a free consultation and case evaluation today.

TESTIMONIALS

Recommendation for Mark LassiterI am pleased to write a letter of recommendation. I highly recommend Mark Lassiter to others who are seeking such assistance. His representation allowed me to do very little in my case. It was Mark’s proven expertise and his legal knowledge that was valuable in getting my case dismissed. In short, I recommend Mark enthusiastically without reservation and I do believe he would be a valuable asset to you.

- Name Redacted

dear Markplease accept this letter on my and Susan’s behalf. there is a powerful message and testimony we would like to share with you for the first time.for over a year the weight of what happened to Reid was heavy on our souls. at first we held great anger, resentment and disgust toward Angel (the passenger). it became evident after turning 21 the Angel has a severe alcohol problem which my son nor us fully understood. The arrest also brought us great disappointment, frustration and disheartenment toward Reid.We have found that God often surprises us with his answers to our prayers. Prior to the arrest was had been in prayer that God help turn Reid away from selfishness, childishness and destructive ways. We prayed that God move to change him toward everlasting values and better choices in his life. We believe that God answered that prayer with the arrest. We blamed ourselves for bringing this calamity but understood it would take something this powerful to reach him. There is no doubt in our minds this ordeal has placed a permanent imprint on his soul.during the many delays associated with this case we were able to put forgiveness in our hearts toward Angel. Also during the many delays the full weight of the case in our and Reid’s mind triggered conversations pertaining to life decisions and direction. Time allowed us the opportunity to be rid of the noise and cloudiness of our emotions. We believe this to be a part of the master plan that God was overseeing.Only today did the full story become revealed. During this case with all the odds against us can we say without question that God was in it. How else could the series of events occurred within the judicial process that could put the opportunity in to your mind that there was a way to victory. The entire morning Susan and i were in fervent prayer even after your told us we had only a 25% chance of winning.Grace is the receipt of a blessing that is undeserved. Reid did not deserve to win today. We all are eternally marked by the message of grace given to us and you were the instrument that brought the gift to our house. Thank you from bottom of our souls and may God bless and keep you all of your days.

- Name Redacted

Dear Mr. Lassiter,Today you saved my son’s life. When he received a DWI, it broke my heart because I knew it would be on his record forever. It would limit his options in life. He would be paying for his stupid mistake for the rest of his life. At 21 years of age he was overwhelmed with the depth of the problem he created for himself.I decided to find him the best lawyer in Dallas, and I did. I researched lawyers for two days, and then I found you. I knew from the moment I read about you that you were the one we needed. When I met you, I knew instantly that I had complete confidence in you. Even if the result had ended with my son being guilty, I would have had peace knowing that he had had THE BEST lawyer.Listening to you “own” the courtroom today was amazing. You told us in the morning that we only had about 25% chance to win; however, by the middle of the afternoon the case was over before the prosecutors even finished, and we won! What an incredible lawyer you are!I will be grateful forever to you. Your work has given my son a second chance. He left the courtroom today with a whole new perspective on life…thanks to you!Very sincerely,

- Susan Ellis

unless you are already a petty criminal with countless B and C misdemeanors and a misdemeanor A pending, a DWI charge might not really matter much – for all the others counts: Fight it with all you got – get the best professional to your side you can find!Why should you? A simple google search “Texas DWI penalties” will give you an idea what you are looking at: prison, probation, fines, classes, ignition interlock, insurance rate skyrockets and a criminal record for life (yes – this can happen even for a first time DWI in Texas) Now if you read until this point you probably are charged with a DWI (or simply board) and you are shopping for a lawyer – so some basic guidance:a) Same as in real life: You want to be surrounded by people who know what they are talking about. Nobody likes people who constantly brag around, through around the usual business buzz words which doesn’t mean anything. So: Get somebody who is specialized in this field, means if 50% or more of his work is in the field of defending DWI’s that’s probably a good indicator– Mark is one of them – talk to him you will see!b) Educate yourself – thanks to a wonderful innovation by DARPA (which you are using in this moment) you can read all about it: What happened the night before, what’s a SFT, what is a legal stop, how does an Intoxilyzer 5000 work and what flaws does it have, possible plea bargain options (not so tempting ones in TX anyway) – read the stuff, it’s out there and discuss it with your attorney – if he doesn’t want or can’t answer your questions, that’s a pretty good indicator that your sitting in the wrong office, run!– Mark WILL answer your questions – and I’m convinced you cannot surprise him with a question in your case that he can’t answer or will find an answer for you!c) Your lawyer should – more or less – from the beginning be willing to take your case to Trial, all the way. What do you have to lose? If you are a BAC 0.28 candidate and you plea it down to a misdemeanor B it technically looks better on paper – but it will still follow you for life (most employers wouldn’t even consider the difference or know it – a DWI is a DWI…) If you are a BAC 0.09 candidate your chances are even better – (did you know the Intoxilyzer 5000 gives himself a +-0.02 calibration margin? What now, is a BAC 0.09 and hour after driving now under the legal limit? Guess what, the state will state “off course NOT! The magic machine proved he’s Intoxicated and guilty!” That’s why you need a lawyer on your side who is willing to take it to trial!– Mark is a trial lawyer – those people don’t want to plea out, they need the courtroom as their stage, that’s what they love to do, that’s what they are good at – so let him do it for you!d) Money / Costs – completely neglect. This is not the time for price comparison. You are not out there to shop for new hardwood floor for your living room – you are out there to get the best possible outcome in a situation which initial will hurt you if convicted pretty bad (financially), possible cost you your job, destroy your reputation and will follow you around for the rest of your natural life.– Mark will not overcharge you for his service, in my opinion you are getting a great deal. If you have the feeling you cannot afford a lawyer like Mark put it into perspective: if you hire a $500 lawyer and plead guilty maybe to a DWI misdemeanor B, you will pay much more over the years in court costs, classes, probation fees, DPS surcharges, insurance and and and… But if you hire Mark, you have one of the best at your side, you have a real chance – off course Mark isn’t a magic wizard who can make everything go away in a moment’s notice, but 5,10,20 years down the road you don’t want to think “oh boy, I wish I would have fought this thing more aggressively back then…” I was already a bit into my case when I met Mark. Mark has a can do attitude, does not try to beat around the bush and most importantly: He looks at things, tries different avenues, seeks out weaknesses in the case base on the evidence presented – if you meet him, you will have the same experience. During our meetings we discussed alternatives and other options e.g. expert witnesses, jury trial, bench trial, plea agreement (even if he didn’t like that – Mark doesn’t want to plea, he wants to win for his clients)And here is the outcome:A clear acquittal – NOT GUILTY(even better than a dismissal which technically can be reopened by the DA within the statute of limitations – if I understood that right – Not guilty means you are not guilty, case expunged – that’s the end of it!)Mark’s services helped me to get the best possible outcome you can expect when you are charged with a (DWI / DUI) crime and I hope I will never see him again….. (under such circumstances J ) –

- Daniel

I would never use or recommend anyone else for anybody else for a criminal manner.

- Cory M.

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