If you or a loved one has been accused of a drunk driving accident that lead to the death or serious injury of someone, it is extremely important to seek the advice of an experienced San Antonio criminal defense attorney. I have been representing people facing serious criminal charges like intoxication manslaughter for more than 35 years.  When the D.A. or prosecutor discovers you have retained my services they know that you are ready & prepared to fight these charges using scientist, investigators, accident reconstructionist and many other experts from various fields that will break down and find holes in the State's allegations against you..

While the odds might seem like they are stacked against you in a case involving intoxication manslaughter the state still has the burden of proving your guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Examples of defenses to intoxication intoxication manslaughter include raising the possibility that the other driver was at fault for the accident, that the accident was not caused by your intoxication or the accident was unavoidable. Further possible defenses include showing the proof of your intoxication was tainted by mistakes made by the police, lab technicians or prosecutors.

In any charge that may jeopardize your freedom or your reputation, you should hire an experienced San Antonio criminal defense attorney to represent you. From my office in San Antonio & as a criminal defense attorney, I have tried cases throughout South Central Texas for over 35 years. I will use my substantial legal skill and persuasiveness to defend your rights against these serious charges.

Remember: Early intervention in your case is often the key to success. I therefore represent clients at the pre-indictment as well as post-indictment stages.

Recent Article by The Dallas Morning News

By DIANE JENNINGS, SELWYN CRAWFORD and DARLEAN SPANGENBERGER

We strongly advise our clients not to discuss their case with anyone, especially the Police or Child Protective Services. These agencies do not want to help you!

Many Bexar County drivers get probation, not prison, in intoxication manslaughter cases, records show

You drink. You drive. You go to jail.

That's what the billboards say.

But in Bexar County, a leader in alcohol-fueled traffic deaths, you may spend little or no time behind bars – even if you kill someone.

More than 40 percent of those arrested for intoxication manslaughter over the last 10 years never saw a prison cell. Instead, they got probation.

And even those convicted received a more lenient sentence than the state average, according to an examination of court records.

That outrages some relatives of victims. Marilyn Boyd's sister was killed in 2001 by a drunken driver who got probation after pleading to manslaughter.

"I feel like my sister's life didn't mean nothing to them folks in San Antonio," Boyd said. "You can get drunk, go to Bexar County, run over, kill somebody ... and get a good San Antonio lawyer and get off."

But for offenders, probation offers substance abuse treatment – and redemption.

Clay Coons used to brag, "I drive better drunk than sober." Then he killed a college buddy. His friend's parents agreed to probation. He no longer drinks. He's in school. He has a steady job. "How foolish I was, I realize now," he said.

Bexar County has the fourth highest rate of drunken driving fatalities in the nation, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In the state's most recent tally, 72 died in San Antonio in 2008 as a result of actions by drivers under the influence – the third straight annual increase.

For many of those drivers who are prosecuted and get probation, the only time they will spend behind bars is between 120 and 180 days in county jail.

Backers of tougher sentencing often are frustrated by the emphasis on treatment. Rehabilitation is laudable, they say, but offenders also should lose their liberty. Doing so might deter other drunken drivers.

Prosecutors, defense attorneys and judges say probation makes sense because intoxication manslaughter cases are incredibly difficult to prosecute.

Also, probationers are forced to get treatment they probably wouldn't receive in prison, and rehabilitation is less costly to taxpayers than punishment.

Most important, they say, a combination of treatment and probation-ordered rehabilitation makes the public safer.

"The reason it doesn't work to lock them up is, eventually they get out, and most times sooner rather than later," state District Judge Tracy Holmes said. "And when they get out, their addiction has progressed, and so they are more dangerous."

Prosecutors would like to send more intoxication manslaughter defendants to prison, but say the lack of substance abuse programs in Texas prisons forces them to pick between punishment and probation with rehabilitation.

Clay Abbott, DWI resource prosecutor for the Texas County and District Attorneys Association, said prosecutors are frustrated by the "all or nothing" choice.

"We need the ability to get them off the streets, but have them come out of prison fixed," he said.

Case hurdles

Prosecutors in intoxication manslaughter cases face big hurdles if they go to a jury. They must prove that intoxication caused the death, and prevent the jury from sympathizing with the defendant.

That makes plea bargains, including probation, appealing.

"There are strong cases, and there are weak cases, and we need the discretion to get people into treatment programs," said Richard Alpert, longtime chief of Tarrant County's misdemeanor division and a leading expert on DWI prosecutions.

Dallas County First Assistant District Attorney Terri Moore understands the desire for punishment. A drunken driver in California killed Moore's cousin. The driver went to prison but for "not as long as I thought he should go," she said.

Though Moore believes, "If you kill somebody you should go to prison," she knows how hard it is to make that happen in intoxication manslaughter cases. She doesn't like to offer probation, but "I might have to do it if my case is weak."

Probation may bring a lighter sentence, but at least it's not an acquittal. Prosecutors are often leery of jurors in drunken driving cases, leading them to offer probation rather than take a chance at trial.

Though the public initially is infuriated when a drunken driver kills, jurors who hear the case and see the defendant don't always feel that way.

Some sympathize with defendants because everybody drinks, said Dallas defense attorney Peter A. Schulte, a former police officer and prosecutor.

"There's a juror sitting there saying, 'Oh my God, that could be me,' " Schulte said.

Unlike in most crimes, jurors often can identify with drunken drivers.

"They're not thugs," Abbott said. "They're not tattooed gangbanger low-lifes ... By and large they have jobs, they have families."

Intoxication manslaughter defendants also lack malice or intent to kill.

"Nobody is sitting here going, 'I'm going to get drunk then I'm going to get behind the wheel of my car, then I'm going to drive this several thousand pound deadly weapon, then run it over somebody and kill 'em'," Moore said.

Rocky Anderson, 22, was drunk and reaching for a phone in 2003 when he ran a red light. His car T-boned another, killing a backseat passenger, 10-year-old Braden Hopkins.

Despite graphic testimony about the child's injuries, the jury found Anderson sympathetic. Why? He stopped at the scene, accepted responsibility and later pleaded guilty, asking jurors to sentence him. They saw he was young and were told he had no prior record. They gave him probation.

Vickers Cunningham, the judge in that case who is now retired, said he long ago "gave up trying to predict what juries will do."

Prosecutors have other reasons to offer a plea bargain, especially if they can't prove the driver's intoxication caused the crash. And the victims may have been drinking as well.

Early one morning in October 2004, an SUV driven by Erin Andrews, 32, barreled into a car that had stopped on the Dallas North Tollway.

Moments earlier, the car, driven by Noemi Villarreal, 21, had run into a concrete barrier and stopped in a southbound lane, with its headlights and taillights off.

Villarreal and her passenger, Virginia Soto, 22, died. Andrews, who had been drinking earlier that evening, was arrested for intoxication manslaughter.

But evidence showed Villarreal and Soto also had been drinking.

Realizing a defense attorney could argue that Villarreal's drinking may have caused the crash and Andrews might not have been able to stop even if she hadn't been drinking, prosecutors agreed to reduce the charge to aggravated assault with serious bodily injury.

Andrews got five years' deferred adjudication, in which defendants can avoid a conviction on their record if probation is completed successfully.

Abbott has seen many cases in which the passengers or victims who died had a higher blood alcohol content than the driver. That shouldn't matter, he said, but "I can tell you it makes all the difference."

'They want justice'

Bexar County prosecutors generally don't offer probation unless the victim's family approves.

The Law Office of Robert I. Kahn is located at 111 Soledad St, Suite 1700, San Antonio, TX 78205 (210) 225-6600 & my website can be found on Google | Yahoo | Bing | Manta | Superpages | Merchant Circle | Citysearch | Lawyerdirections | Findlaw | Yelp | YP.com | Website | Directions