San Antonio DWI & DUI Attorney

Texas defines the offense narrowly, and the definition is where most DWI cases can be attacked.

Under Penal Code chapter 49, the State must show you were operating a motor vehicle in a public place while intoxicated. Intoxication means either a blood or breath alcohol concentration of 0.08 or higher, or the loss of the normal use of your mental or physical faculties from alcohol, drugs, or a combination. That second path matters: you can be charged without any test result at all, based purely on an officer's opinion of how you looked and spoke on their body cam.

An opinion is not proof. Neither is a machine reading that nobody has calibrated or verified.

Penalties climb steeply with each offense, and certain facts push a first arrest straight into felony territory.

Beyond the sentence, a conviction adds a separate state fine at judgment, commonly $3,000 for a first offense, $4,500 for a second, and $6,000 when the BAC reads 0.15 or higher. An ignition interlock device is mandatory on a second offense and frequently ordered as a bond condition on a first. Texas also treats DWI as an enhanceable offense, so a conviction today raises the ceiling on any charge years from now.

Here is what surprises nearly every client. Your criminal case and your driver's license suspension run on separate case tracks, in front of different decision-makers, on different clocks.

The license track is called Administrative License Revocation, and it moves first. If you refuse the breath or blood test, DPS will suspend your license for 180 days. If you take the test and register 0.08 or higher, the suspension is 90 days. You’re allowed to keep driving on a temporary license for 40 days after the arrest, which is why people wrongly assume nothing more will happen to their license.

You have 15 days from the arrest to request an ALR hearing. Miss it, and the suspension takes effect automatically, with no argument and no review. Request it, and we get a hearing where the officer has to justify the stop and the arrest under oath, often months before the criminal case reaches the same questions. What the officer says there can reshape the criminal case.

This is the kind of difference hiring an experienced, private attorney will make in your case. A court-appointed lawyer is assigned to your criminal charge only. Nobody is appointed to protect your license.

If your license is already suspended, we can petition for an occupational driver's license so you can legally drive for necessary things like work, school, and childcare.

Cases here follow a rhythm, and knowing it removes a lot of the fear.

After the arrest, the Central Magistrate Office sets your bond and first court date, typically about a month out. At this first hearing, the prosecutor often extends an offer before either side has fully examined the evidence. Accepting it that early is almost always a mistake. From there, the case moves to pretrial, where we file and argue motions to suppress the stop, the testing, or the arrest. Misdemeanor DWI is heard in the Bexar County courts at law before a jury of six. A third offense is a felony and goes to the district courts downtown.

Attorney Hagee worked these same courts for years from the prosecution’s side of the table. He knows which arguments land with which judges and how each court handles bond, motions, and negotiation.