1st time ever been in trouble

[hansonrdr]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Texas. I was at a halloween party sponsored by some freinds i have in the business i;m in. I almost decided not to go, i was feeling kinda sick, and i had to get up and go in for work 3am the morning of the party. I usually don,t drink,and if i do it is verry seldom. My wife usually drives she does not drink at all. we don;t keep alcohol around the house because we have kids, and we try to set a good example. This party was an annual thing put on by local business leaders in my feild. I usually only go because i get a chance to chat with reps and manufactures. of course they do have alcohol at these events. To get to the point. A friend had died that we all had known or had dealings with, a toast was given . I was given a shot of crown royal had may be 2 bud lights before, and had one i nursed the rest of the night. i got to the party at about 9pm, we had food ,games (horse shoe pit) and a large fire pit in the back yard.As it got to be later in the evening,around 2am, people started leaving.I stopped all alcohol consumption, and tried to help with some of the clean up. i wanted to be sure i waited a couple of hrs before i got on the road home. at 4am i was the last to leave, I did not feel intoxicated, just tired been a long day for me. so I walked around my car like i normally do to check the tire(you never know) these people lived out in the country,and i didn,t want to be caught with a flat. I left started home the roads are dark, and ,i felt i got turned around. so i pulled off the road. and called my brother who was verry familiar with the area, to get info that i was on the right way home.Like i said i was verry tired. so i leaned my head back for a few moments,and closed my eyes.Next thing i know there is a tapping on my window, it was a police officer. I rolled down my window,and he asked if every thing was alright i said yes. then he asked if i had been drinking, and i was truthful and told him that i had come from a party, but it had been a couple of hours since i had anything..big mistake on my part. But i respect police officers and the job they do, and i believe honesty is the best policy. next thing i know i was asked to step out side.I kinda figured what was going to happen next. I am a 52 year old former marine, i have sever traumatic arthritis in both knee's and back,neuropathy in my left leg,and am stone deaf in my left ear. the first thing he asked me to do was the walk, heal to toe and balance on booth feet,not knowing i could refuse the test, i cooperated with the officer,but i told him i could,t do that in any state,but i would try and i did not verry successful. The next thing was the pen thing. being with out my hearing aid and the noise with the wind blowing, made it hard for me to understand what he was trying to say.!st he said follow the pen with your eyes,and i did ,but then he would start talking,it is a natural reaction for me to turn and look at some one when i can't quite understand what he said, when i did he would say don,t look at me fallow the pen, but for me to fully understand what he was saying i would turn and look at him again so i could read his lips, this was only because of so much background noise,and being with out my hearing aid.then he asked me to count to 67 , and i did but, i was starting to get so nervous i forgot what number he wanted me to count to, i got no short term memory ,especially under stress. Well i sure you know what happen next. I was cuffed and taken to the county jail which was about a 20 min drive. The officer was nice and ask if everything was ok ,I mentioned the cuffs were kinda tight but i was ok. we get to the jail and i was put in a room, and told to look into a camera, and then asked to consent which i did to a breath and blood test. the officer then told me to blow into a breathalyzer. the 1st time i did it,i thought he said i blew0.072, but he said i did it incorrectly, and asked me to do it again. the 2nd time he said i blew0.081 i think, hard to understand with out my hearing aid. Then he made some calculations,something i figure to do with my body weight, don't know? Still don't know what my blow was, but i was,t asked to do the blood test even though i consented for it. I probably left a lot of thing out not sure i did not want t make a huge min by min description on what happen to me. But i was booked and went before the judge in the jail and charged with dui/dwi but my lic would not be suspended? bond set 3000. then put in jail. this is the first time i have ever been charged with any thing this serious in the last 25 years.and that was failure to pay a ticket,way back in my younger days before i was married. when i was bonded out all they gave me was 1 form a dic-24 form, the consent to breath and blood test. I have no criminal record, don't hang out in bar's, try to be a good influence to my kids. i was told to go get a layer and i did, now it is a waiting game. I was wondering what to expect,been hard to explain to my kids what i done,especially when i have preached to them about things of this nature. I have no record and am a hard working family man. any info would be apprecieated!!

[Proserpina]

OP, please edit your post - use paragraphs and white space

(help us help you !)

[ElvinMelvin]

Originally Posted by Dogmatique

OP, please edit your post - use paragraphs and white space

(help us help you !)

I read the whole thing. Please allow me to distill (no pun intended):

OP goes on at length to convince us the following is atypical behavior for him.

OP went to a party and drank. Claims one shot and two beers at the beginning of the party and one more over the course of 5 hours (between 9PM and 2AM).

Tried to drive home but got lost. Pulled over and passed out--Oops! I mean, fell asleep behind the wheel.

Predictably, OP is awakened by PO.

Fails FST (with many many rationalizations as to why).

Gets to PD. He thinks PO told him he blew 0.072 on first try, is positive about blowing 0.082 on second try.

Would like to know what to expect in court.

OP claims he got a layer [sic] who I have to imagine would have told him what to expect for a first offense dwi as described in the Texas Driver's Manual, that is $0-$2000 fine, 72hrs-180hrs in jail, and 90 days -365 days suspension of license with the court able to probate jail time and waive license suspension at its discretion.

I suspect--and this is ONLY OPINION--that his lawyer told him this but he didn't like the answer and so came to get sage advice from the Senior Members of this group.

Since I am only a Junior Member myself, OP should feel free to ignore all of the preceding.

Hope this helps.

[Country Living]

I like the Cliff Notes. They were an easy read, had good subject overtones, and preserved the intial spelling where appropriate. Good job!

[HighwayMan]

Don't you think it would have been beneficial to find out for sure what was going on at the time? If you couldn't hear something then you should have asked it to be repeated. You don't even know the results of the breath test!

It sounds like the SFST battery was given incorrectly. That and given your supposed physical problems might be a challenge to the arrest (prior to the breath test), although who knows what other observations the officer was going on.

You say you have an attorney, so make sure he aware of the whole story and for Heaven's sake, wear you hearing aid when you talk to him so you understand what he's telling you.

You claim you don't drink very much, yet you can't determine when you feel under the influence of alcohol? If you understand your test results correctly (and that's in doubt) you were very under the influence. Most people would know the difference between fatigue and intoxication.

And by the way, driving while tired can be just as hazardous as DWI. Maybe you should have stayed and slept at your friends house.

And what happened to your hearing aid? Hard to believe you were at a party and didn't use it all night (or didn't have it), then suddenly it became an issue when dealing with the police?

[hansonrdr]

Originally Posted by HighwayMan

Don't you think it would have been beneficial to find out for sure what was going on at the time? If you couldn't hear something then you should have asked it to be repeated. You don't even know the results of the breath test!

It sounds like the SFST battery was given incorrectly. That and given your supposed physical problems might be a challenge to the arrest (prior to the breath test), although who knows what other observations the officer was going on.

You say you have an attorney, so make sure he aware of the whole story and for Heaven's sake, wear you hearing aid when you talk to him so you understand what he's telling you.

You claim you don't drink very much, yet you can't determine when you feel under the influence of alcohol? If you understand your test results correctly (and that's in doubt) you were very under the influence. Most people would know the difference between fatigue and intoxication.

And by the way, driving while tired can be just as hazardous as DWI. Maybe you should have stayed and slept at your friends house.

And what happened to your hearing aid? Hard to believe you were at a party and didn't use it all night (or didn't have it), then suddenly it became an issue when dealing with the police?

you are right i should of worn my hearing aid , but i do all right usually by reading lips with combination of my good ear. I did ask the officer to repeat himself quite a few times. (as far as knowing what being intoxicated , i was a marine for many years, we worked hard, we played hard) I got lucky and got married to my wife that set high standards for raising a family, I;m on this post not to try to profess my innocence, just looking for information. i have enuf trouble trying to explain to my kids, which is hard enuf. I have been good for a long time . this was a stupid mistake.. and i will have to pay for it i know. I was just looking for some answers, that's all. I'm definitely no angel in my younger years, that's for sure..as far as my lawyer, it is just a waiting game until court. I don,t have any hard feelings for the policemen, they wear a uniform too...just trying to find out from others what might happen to me for this mistake. Thanks for your in put!

[hansonrdr]

Originally Posted by Dogmatique

OP, please edit your post - use paragraphs and white space

(help us help you !)

sorry! i have never posted on the Internet. I know it was a hard READ, I READ IT MYSELF!! my apologies. I hope to never have to post something like this ever again!!

[Antigone*of*Greece]

Originally Posted by ElvinMelvin

I read the whole thing. Please allow me to distill (no pun intended):

OP goes on at length to convince us the following is atypical behavior for him.

OP went to a party and drank. Claims one shot and two beers at the beginning of the party and one more over the course of 5 hours (between 9PM and 2AM).

Tried to drive home but got lost. Pulled over and passed out--Oops! I mean, fell asleep behind the wheel.

Predictably, OP is awakened by PO.

Fails FST (with many many rationalizations as to why).

Gets to PD. He thinks PO told him he blew 0.072 on first try, is positive about blowing 0.082 on second try.

Would like to know what to expect in court.

OP claims he got a layer [sic] who I have to imagine would have told him what to expect for a first offense dwi as described in the Texas Driver's Manual, that is $0-$2000 fine, 72hrs-180hrs in jail, and 90 days -365 days suspension of license with the court able to probate jail time and waive license suspension at its discretion.

I suspect--and this is ONLY OPINION--that his lawyer told him this but he didn't like the answer and so came to get sage advice from the Senior Members of this group.

Since I am only a Junior Member myself, OP should feel free to ignore all of the preceding.

Hope this helps.

This is great Elvin. I think all Junior Members should be designated to decipher all extra longs postings. Since you are the member to bring this about we shall call this the "doing the Elvin"

[hansonrdr]

Originally Posted by ElvinMelvin

I read the whole thing. Please allow me to distill (no pun intended):

OP goes on at length to convince us the following is atypical behavior for him.

OP went to a party and drank. Claims one shot and two beers at the beginning of the party and one more over the course of 5 hours (between 9PM and 2AM).

Tried to drive home but got lost. Pulled over and passed out--Oops! I mean, fell asleep behind the wheel.

Predictably, OP is awakened by PO.

Fails FST (with many many rationalizations as to why).

Gets to PD. He thinks PO told him he blew 0.072 on first try, is positive about blowing 0.082 on second try.

Would like to know what to expect in court.

OP claims he got a layer [sic] who I have to imagine would have told him what to expect for a first offense dwi as described in the Texas Driver's Manual, that is $0-$2000 fine, 72hrs-180hrs in jail, and 90 days -365 days suspension of license with the court able to probate jail time and waive license suspension at its discretion.

I suspect--and this is ONLY OPINION--that his lawyer told him this but he didn't like the answer and so came to get sage advice from the Senior Members of this group.

Since I am only a Junior Member myself, OP should feel free to ignore all of the preceding.

Hope this helps.

I understand now, after hours of research on the internet. This forum just popped up and i decided to try to post as you can see i'm not verry good at it. My lawer who i called on the phone and talked to, i have never seen him one on one yet, but he is supposed to be one of the best in this aera. He did explain some of the sitiuations, and that haveing a good record can help ,it is no garrented thing of the out come. So i will wait untill he calls me and do what i,m supposed to do and hope things come out ok. one thing i will never do is go to a event like that again with out my wife. She dosent drink at all, and after this it will be a long time before i will ever feel comfortable enuf to drink a beer for sure. thank for you in put sorry for the read!!

[Proserpina]

Originally Posted by Wirelessany1

This is great Elvin. I think all Junior Members should be designated to decipher all extra longs postings. Since you are the member to bring this about we shall call this the "doing the Elvin"

I am so much in agreement it's not even cute

[Proserpina]

Originally Posted by ElvinMelvin

I read the whole thing. Please allow me to distill (no pun intended):

OP goes on at length to convince us the following is atypical behavior for him.

OP went to a party and drank. Claims one shot and two beers at the beginning of the party and one more over the course of 5 hours (between 9PM and 2AM).

Tried to drive home but got lost. Pulled over and passed out--Oops! I mean, fell asleep behind the wheel.

Predictably, OP is awakened by PO.

Fails FST (with many many rationalizations as to why).

Gets to PD. He thinks PO told him he blew 0.072 on first try, is positive about blowing 0.082 on second try.

Would like to know what to expect in court.

OP claims he got a layer [sic] who I have to imagine would have told him what to expect for a first offense dwi as described in the Texas Driver's Manual, that is $0-$2000 fine, 72hrs-180hrs in jail, and 90 days -365 days suspension of license with the court able to probate jail time and waive license suspension at its discretion.

I suspect--and this is ONLY OPINION--that his lawyer told him this but he didn't like the answer and so came to get sage advice from the Senior Members of this group.

Since I am only a Junior Member myself, OP should feel free to ignore all of the preceding.

Hope this helps.

I am literally swooning here!

[HighwayMan]

Once again, since you have an attorney, he/she should be your best source of information. You're probably paying good money for his/her services - make the most of it.

[ElvinMelvin]

Originally Posted by Wirelessany1

This is great Elvin. I think all Junior Members should be designated to decipher all extra longs postings. Since you are the member to bring this about we shall call this the "doing the Elvin"

I am humbled by your appreciation

[ElvinMelvin]

Originally Posted by Wirelessany1

This is great Elvin. I think all Junior Members should be designated to decipher all extra longs postings. Since you are the member to bring this about we shall call this the "doing the Elvin"

And now suddenly I find myself a Member, apparently ending my tenure of "doing the Elvin" even as it was named after me!

Was this some sort of reward by the powers that be for my perspicacity and erudition or is it just because I've added the minimum amount of junior member blather to qualify?

[>Charlotte<]

Originally Posted by ElvinMelvin

Was this some sort of reward by the powers that be for my perspicacity and erudition or is it just because I've added the minimum amount of junior member blather to qualify?

The second one. You also get ten days of vacation (unpaid) and the 0/100 dental.