No-refusal weekend in Houston counties saw great success over New Year’s weekend in respect to the number of DWI arrests.

The no-refusal program is funded by the Texas Department of Transportation and has been active throughout 2011 in Montgomery and Harris County. This year in Montgomery County, there were 35 drunk driving arrests that resulted in mandatory blood samples. Harris County saw 40 DWI arrests and six of those were required to give blood samples.

New Year’s weekend qualifies as a zero-tolerance weekend due to it’s high probability of drunk driving accidents.

If you have been charged with a DWI in the Houston area, please contact the Houston DWI lawyers of Johnson, Johnson & Baer, P.C. by calling 713-222-0400 today.

Approximately 2,300 high school juniors and seniors were surveyed by Liberty Mutual and the student organization, Students Against Destructive Decisions, in regards to drinking and driving.

The study shows that 49 percent of the participants believed that New Year’s Eve weekend was the most dangerous time to drink and drive. Ironically, the same participants stated that they most often drove drunk over New Year’s Eve weekend compared to several other weekends including prom night and graduation night.

The teens also noted that they would be more likely to not drink and drive if they were asked not to by one of their friends or passengers in their vehicle.

If you have been charged with a DWI in the Houston area, please contact the Houston DWI lawyers of Johnson, Johnson & Baer, P.C. by calling 713-222-0400 today.

Problems with maintenance on DWI testing vans may cause certain DWI convictions to be overturned. The BAT vans have apparently been experiencing technical difficulty which the Houston Police Department has tried to conceal from the public.

The electrical problems with the BAT vans could have compromised several readings that were taken by individuals who were charged with a DWI. A judge recently reversed a DWI conviction on the grounds that the Houston Police Department didn’t make it clear that these vehicles were experiencing problems.

According to the Houston Police Department, they did not feel it was necessary to reveal this information unless someone were to specifically ask for it. The judge felt that this reasoning was not sufficient and ultimately overturned the conviction.

If you have been charged with a DWI in the Houston area, please contact the Houston DWI lawyers of Johnson, Johnson & Baer, P.C. by calling 713-222-0400 today.

A traffic stop in Kerrville, Texas left one woman facing her second DWI charges.

The 43-year-old woman was stopped in front of a police officer’s patrol car when her car began rolling backwards. She was able to stop the car before it hit the front of the patrol car. The police officer started approaching her vehicle in regards to her broken tail light when her car started progressing towards the police car again, this time striking it.

A strong odor of alcohol was present on the woman and she was taken to jail and charged with driving while intoxicated. This is the second time the 43-year-old woman has been charged with a DWI. She was released from jail on $5,000 bond.

If you have been charged with a DWI in the Houston area, please contact the Houston DWI lawyers of Johnson, Johnson & Baer, P.C. by calling 713-222-0400 today.

This Halloween weekend it is imperative to not operate a vehicle after consuming alcoholic beverages. A 4- day no-refusal weekend has been put into place in Austin, Texas in anticipation of the festive holiday.

The celebrations that accompany this holiday can have deadly consequences if people don’t act responsibly. According to reports, accidents caused by intoxicated drivers are down 29 percent from last year. Party goers are urged to arrange rides ahead of time because numerous roads in the area will be shut down over the weekend.

No-refusal weekends are becoming increasingly popular during holiday weekends throughout the year. This means that if a driver is pulled over and is suspected of drinking they will not be able to refuse a breathalyzer.

If you have been charged with a DWI in the Houston area, please contact the Houston DWI attorneys of Johnson, Johnson & Baer, P.C. by calling 713-222-0400 today.

A woman was arrested in Weatherford, Texas for driving while intoxicated. She was pulled over and submitted to a sobriety test which she ultimately failed.

The woman in question is the daughter of Sam Walton, the Wal-Mart founder, and is worth $20.9 billion. She refused to take a blood-alcohol test and was taken into custody on the night of her 62nd birthday and held overnight.

The next morning she was released on $1,000 bail.

This is the third time that Walton has been charged for driving while intoxicated.

If you have been charged with a DWI in Houston, please contact the Houston DWI attorneys of Johnson, Johnson & Baer, P.C., by calling 713-222-0400 today.

A Houston woman was arrested for DWID Sunday.

According to officials with the Houston Police Department, 22 year-old Christine L. Strong, of 608 Ozark St. in Houston, was issued citations for driving while intoxicated – drugs and a failure to drive on the right half of the roadway. She was arrested during a traffic stop on Grand Avenue shortly after 2:00 a.m.

According to the arrest report, an officer made the stop after observing a blue Chevrolet Lumina traveling northbound cross into the southbound lane and then swerve quickly back into the other lane. The officer made contact with Strong and noticed her slumping over the center console. He says she appeared incoherent. Several pill bottles containing various medications were found in the car’s floorboards. Additional pill bottles were discovered in her purse.

Strong was released to her mother.

If you have been arrested for suspicion of driving while intoxicated by drugs, please contact the Houston DWID Lawyers of Johnson, Johnson & Baer, P.C., by calling 713-222-0400.

The accuracy of Houston’s Blood Alcohol Testing vans is being called into question in a new lawsuit.

Lawyers are questioning whether possible problems with the Houston Police Department’s BAT vans could compromise several dozen DWI cases. The vans are mobile testing centers used to test individuals who are suspected of driving drunk. Houston DWI attorneys and prosecutors have been in court for the past two days asking whether each $200,000 van has been giving faulty results leading to questionable citations. Dane Johnson and other members of Johnson, Johnson & Baer, P.C. have been actively investigating these claims and are prepared to help individuals who feel that they may have been falsely accused of DWI.

Former Houston Police Department Crime Lab worker Amanda Culbertson testified that she is one of three technical supervisors who quit after complaining up the chain of command about problems with the BAT vans and breathalyzer results. Culberton told the court she was “not satisfied with the department’s response to concerns” about the vans. She said supervisors acted like the problems were “no big deal.”

Culbertson told the court she noted electrical, mechanical, and temperature issues that could have impacted the equipment testing suspected drunk drivers.

The District Attorney’s Office would not comment on the issue.

If you have been charged with DWI, you need an experienced lawyer to fight the breathalyzer test results that may be used to convict you. To speak with a Houston DWI Attorney, please contact Johnson, Johnson & Baer, P.C., by calling 713-222-0400.

A habitual DWI offender was sentenced to 55 years in prison this week.

According to court documents, Gliddon W. Davis was sentenced by a Montgomery County jury of his peers to 55 years in prison for the felony offense of Driving While Intoxicated-Third or More. Davis was arrested September 1, 2009 after a husband and wife watched his vehicle swerve across lanes and run stop signs. Davis’ driving was so reckless that the couple performed a citizen’s arrest.

Trooper William C. Smith arrived to find Davis stumbling as he walked. Due to Davis’ age and the fact that he wore a prosthetic leg, Smith could not perform all the standardized field sobriety tests, but the trooper still noted a number of signs of intoxication.  Smith found seven empty, 16-ounce Budweiser beer cans scattered near Davis’ driver’s seat. Davis told the Trooper he began drinking half an hour before driving. His blood alcohol level was 0.19 percent, which is more than twice the legal limit.

The jury deliberated for less than two hours to find Davis guilty. Due to his seven previous DWI convictions, Davis was sentenced to 55 years in prison.

If you have been charged with felony DWI, please contact the Houston felony DWI attorneys of Johnson, Johnson & Baer, P.C., by calling 713-222-0400.

An investigator with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office has been arrested on charges of drunk driving.

According to officials with the Austin Police Department, Bryan Vaclavik was arrested Sunday evening. Investigators say the incident began approximately 5:00 p.m. when Vaclavik collided with a woman’s vehicle as she backed out of her driveway on Wilson Street. Police say that Vaclavik drove away after the accident and collided with another parked car.

According to the arrest report, police found Vaclavik about an hour after the two accidents. He was a mile away and his car was parked on top of a fence. He was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated and failure to stop and give information.

Vaclavik was the chief fraud examiner for the financial crimes division of the district attorney’s office.

If you have been charged with drunk driving in Houston, please contact the Houston DWI Lawyers of Johnson, Johnson & Baer, P.C., by calling 713-222-0400.