Austin Alcohol Offense Lawyer

Texas alcohol offenses are defended on the law, the science, and the stop — every time.

The Law Office of David D. White, PLLC has practiced criminal defense exclusively since 2004 across Travis, Williamson, Hays, Caldwell, Lee, Coryell, Bell, Burnet, Milam, and Bastrop County courts. Three attorneys — David White, Kenneth Hines, and Taylor Kacir — handle every case as a team, with weekly case reviews and shared notes through Clio. By the time you walk into your first consultation, the firm has obtained your Probable Cause Affidavit, read it, and identified the points where the State’s evidence is weakest.

Texas alcohol offenses run from a $500 ticket for a fake ID up to first-degree felony charges carrying life in prison. The strategy is different at every level. The constants are these: the State has to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt, the stop and the arrest have to comply with the Fourth Amendment, and the breath or blood evidence has to be obtained and analyzed correctly. We work each of those three angles on every alcohol case, and we file motions to suppress when the evidence was collected outside what the Constitution allowed.

Alcohol offenses we defend

The firm handles the full statutory range of Texas alcohol offenses, including:

• Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) — Texas Penal Code § 49.04. First offense, second offense, third offense (felony), DWI with a child passenger, and DWI with a BAC of 0.15 or higher. The firm has a dedicated DWI page covering Class B, Class A, and felony DWI defense in detail.
• Boating While Intoxicated (BWI) — Texas Penal Code § 49.06. Charged the same as a first-time DWI in most respects, with the same intoxication standard.
• Intoxication Assault — Texas Penal Code § 49.07. Third-degree felony when intoxication leads to serious bodily injury to another person.
• Intoxication Manslaughter — Texas Penal Code § 49.08. Second-degree felony, or first-degree if the deceased was a peace officer, firefighter, or EMT in the line of duty.
• Public Intoxication — Texas Penal Code § 49.02. Class C misdemeanor.
• Open Container — Texas Penal Code § 49.031. Class C misdemeanor.
• Minor in Possession (MIP) — Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code § 106.05. Class C misdemeanor for possession of alcohol by anyone under 21.
• Minor in Consumption — Texas ABC Code § 106.04. Class C misdemeanor.
• Misrepresentation of Age (fake ID for alcohol) — Texas ABC Code § 106.07. Class C misdemeanor with optional license suspension.
• Sale to a Minor — Texas ABC Code § 106.03. Class A misdemeanor for the seller.
• Driving Under the Influence by a Minor — Texas ABC Code § 106.041. Separate from adult DWI; lower BAC threshold.

For DWI specifically, see the firm’s DWI lawyer in Austin and Felony DWI Lawyer pages.

Penalty ranges

Class C misdemeanor — fine up to $500. No jail. Examples: public intoxication, open container, MIP, MIC, fake ID for alcohol.

Class B misdemeanor — up to 180 days in county jail and a fine up to $2,000. Example: DWI first offense.

Class A misdemeanor — up to one year in county jail and a fine up to $4,000. Examples: DWI second offense, sale of alcohol to a minor.

State jail felony — 180 days to 2 years in state jail and a fine up to $10,000.

Third-degree felony — 2 to 10 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000. Examples: DWI third or subsequent, intoxication assault, DWI with a child passenger.

Second-degree felony — 2 to 20 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000. Example: intoxication manslaughter.

First-degree felony — 5 to 99 years or life and a fine up to $10,000. Example: intoxication manslaughter where the victim was a peace officer, firefighter, or EMT in the line of duty.

Beyond the statutory penalty, every Texas alcohol conviction also carries collateral consequences — driver’s license suspension, ALR fees, surcharges, ignition interlock requirements, immigration consequences, and a permanent record visible to employers, landlords, and licensing boards. The collateral cost of a conviction is often higher than the fine.

How we defend Texas alcohol cases

Every alcohol case starts with the stop. The Fourth Amendment requires reasonable suspicion to stop you, probable cause or another lawful basis to detain you longer than the traffic violation justifies, and probable cause or a warrant to draw your blood. When officers cut corners on any of those, the evidence comes out — and when the evidence comes out, the State’s case usually collapses.

We obtain the Probable Cause Affidavit, the dash-cam, the body-cam, the radio traffic, and the field reports on every alcohol case before the first court setting. We look for:

• Stop legality. Did the officer have an articulable reason to pull you over? A traffic violation that the dash-cam contradicts is a stop without reasonable suspicion. The evidence is suppressible.
• Detention scope. A traffic stop ends when the citation is written. Continuing the detention to wait for a K-9 or to develop a DWI investigation requires its own justification. When officers extend the stop without it, suppression applies.
• Field sobriety test administration. The standardized field sobriety tests have specific procedural requirements. Officers who skip steps, alter the instructions, or miscount clues produce results that may not be admissible.
• Breath test calibration and operation. Texas Intoxilyzer 9000 results depend on calibration logs, certified operator credentials, and a 15-minute observation period. Defense counsel can subpoena the calibration records and the operator’s certification status.
• Blood draw chain of custody. Blood evidence has to be drawn by a qualified person, stored properly, and analyzed by a state-certified lab. Each link in the chain is challengeable.
• Statutory warning compliance. The DIC-24 warning has specific language. Officers who deviate create grounds to challenge the implied-consent finding and the resulting license suspension.

When any of these breaks down, we file a motion to suppress. When the motion is granted, the evidence is out — and most alcohol cases cannot proceed without it.

ALR — 15 days to act

If you were arrested for DWI and either refused or failed the breath or blood test, you have 15 days from the date of arrest to request an Administrative License Revocation hearing with the Texas Department of Public Safety. Missing the deadline forfeits the hearing, and the license suspension goes through automatically — 90 days for a failed test on a first DWI, 180 days for a refusal, and longer for repeat offenses.

The ALR hearing is also a discovery opportunity. It is the first chance to put the arresting officer under oath about the stop and the test administration before the criminal case proceeds. Call (512) 369-3737 promptly so the ALR request is filed in time.

Expunction and nondisclosure for alcohol offenses

Two different remedies, two different statutes, two different outcomes.

Expunction under Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Chapter 55A destroys the record. It is available when the case was dismissed outright, the grand jury no-billed, you were acquitted at trial, or the arrest never resulted in a charge and the statute of limitations has run. There is one narrow alcohol-specific exception under the Alcoholic Beverage Code — a Class C misdemeanor for underage possession or consumption may be expunged even after a conviction.

Nondisclosure under Texas Government Code Chapter 411, Subchapter E-1, seals the record from public view but does not destroy it. Law enforcement, prosecutors, courts, and certain licensing boards still see it. Nondisclosure is the path when you completed a deferred adjudication probation successfully — most commonly after a Class A or B misdemeanor where deferred was the negotiated outcome. Most alcohol-related nondisclosures require a two-year waiting period after probation completion for misdemeanors and five years for felonies. DWI deferred adjudication has its own statute, Government Code § 411.0731, with a longer waiting period and stricter eligibility — and is only available for first-offense DWI without an accident.

The fee structure: expunction is $1,900 flat in Travis County, $2,500 outside Travis County. Nondisclosure is quoted by case after eligibility analysis. Kenneth Hines leads the firm’s expunction and nondisclosure practice.

For a more detailed treatment of dismissal-to-clearance, see What happens after a charge is dismissed in Texas.

Fees

The firm uses flat fees. The free consultation includes the Probable Cause Affidavit review and a frank conversation about what the case is actually worth defending and how.

• DWI 1st — $5,000
• DWI 2nd — starting at $6,000
• Felony DWI (3rd+, with child, intox assault, intox manslaughter) — starting at $7,500
• ALR (standalone) — $1,500; included when the DWI fee is paid in full at engagement
• Class A misdemeanor (e.g. sale to minor) — $5,000
• Class B misdemeanor (e.g. DWI 1st) — $5,000
• Class C misdemeanor (public intox, MIP, open container, fake ID) — $1,000
• Expunction (Travis County) — $1,900 flat
• Expunction (outside Travis) — $2,500 flat
• Nondisclosure — quoted by case after eligibility analysis

Half is paid as good-faith retainer at engagement. Some cases are quoted full upfront depending on complexity. Payment plans are discussed case by case.

The attorneys handling your case

David White — Managing attorney. Licensed in 2004. Twenty-two years of criminal defense practice. Never employed as a prosecutor. Bar Number 24047094.

Kenneth Hines — Associate attorney; leads the firm’s expunction and nondisclosure practice. Eighteen years of practice with criminal defense as a consistent component throughout. Former General Counsel to the Texas Senate Jurisprudence Committee, 2010–2012.

Taylor Kacir — Associate attorney. Former Senior Misdemeanor County Attorney at the Bell County Attorney’s Office. JD, St. Mary’s University School of Law (with honors), 2022. Practices daily from the firm’s Georgetown office.

When you call (512) 369-3737 after hours, an attorney answers. Not voicemail. Not an answering service. Kenneth Hines and Taylor Kacir take after-hours calls directly through the firm’s call routing.

What clients say

“Absolute best law practice I’ve ever needed and used. Easy communication. From informative paralegals (Christi) to the attorneys David & Kenneth who helped me in getting my case dismissed.”

— Breah Richardson

“David & Kenneth are heaven sent, the best team in Austin Texas, they had two felonies and one misdemeanor dismissed for me, I was looking at 2-20years and they were ready to take it to trial if need be, the charges didn’t even get indicted.”

— Ashley Norris

The firm has more than 250 five-star client reviews across Google, Avvo, and other legal review platforms.

If you have been charged with an alcohol offense

Call (512) 369-3737. An attorney answers, not voicemail. The consultation is free and includes a review of your Probable Cause Affidavit. Bring any paperwork you have from the arrest — bond conditions, citations, charging documents, the DIC-24 warning if you received one, anything law enforcement handed you.

Or fill out the contact form below and you will hear back within 24 hours.

 

“When you hire me, you get me. Not my admin, not my associates. I’ll meet, talk, text, and work with you directly to get you the best possible outcome in your case.”

David D. White

Criminal Defense Lawyer