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  • 2 May 2013

There have been a number of recent high-profile intoxicated driving cases in Austin:

  • Gabrielle Nestande was a former legislative aide arrested on a number of charges, including DWI, after a hit and run accident leading to the death of a bicyclist. While she was not convicted of driving while intoxicated, she was sentenced to six months in jail for after a jury found her guilty of criminally negligent homicide.
  • Representative Naomi Gonzalez was arrested in March and charged with DWI after her car allegedly struck another vehicle from behind and pushed it into a passing cyclist. That case is still pending.
  • Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg is currently serving a 45-day jail sentence after she was convicted of DWI.

Several bills have been introduced in the legislature dealing with drunk and drugged driving, but the measures have been moving very slowly through the approval process, notwithstanding the above events. Two bills would increase the number of judges available to issue warrants for drawing blood on DWI suspects, neither of which has yet been voted out of committee. Another bill would establish a new office – DWI Commissioner – who would recommend changes in Texas law after examining how other states are dealing with the issue.

The push for stricter laws comes in the wake not only of the recent cases, but also because Texas has historically been at or near the top among all the states in the country in DWI accidents. In 2011, for example, the Texas DOT reported that there were over 2,700 fatal drunk driving crashes in the state. There were also close to 140,000 injuries resulting from the accidents, about 58,000 of which were serious injuries. Among all the vehicular deaths during that year, 40% involved drivers who were intoxicated. MADD ranks Texas in the top five states in the nation in the percentage of DUI/DWI related traffic deaths as compared with total traffic deaths.

But while the pending measures are moving too slowly for some, the fact is that the DWI laws in Texas have been strengthened, albeit gradually, over the years. And we expect that at least some of the pending bills will be enacted into law in the near future.

Law Office of David D. White, PLLC
1205 Rio Grande Street
Austin, TX 78701
(512) 369-3737

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This Website is meant for marketing purposes only. The website and communications through it do not constitute a client-attorney relationship. David White is a criminal defense attorney with offices in Austin Texas. David defends clients throughout Austin and the surrounding areas.

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608 W. 12TH ST.
Austin, TX 78701
(512) 369-3737
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