This goes under the category of games that courts play.  If you have a misdemeanor case in Comal County, here’s the lowdown on the infamous $250.00 mentioned in those pink pieces of paper mailed out by the court:

In every first  court date notice sent out by the Comal County Court-at-Law, there is a sentence that mentions that court costs are due at the time of sentencing and that court costs usually run $250.00.  No other explanation is given.  This notice creates a huge amount of confusion.  How do I know this?  I know because I get asked about it by potential clients at least once a week.

Many people going to court for the first time mistakenly read this notice to mean that they are being ordered to bring 250 bucks with them or else they will be in immediate trouble with the court.   What the notice does not explain is that a person cannot be “sentenced” in a case unless and until the person has been found convicted or placed on probation.  Even if a person eventually accepts a plea bargain offer in his case, this may not happen for months down the line.  Second, the notice fails to say that the court routinely grants payment plans for fines and court costs, if requested.

In addition, many people also mistakenly believe after reading these notices that $250.00 is the only penalty for their cases, only to go to court armed with $250.00 and to discover that there are additional fines, probation, jail, driver’s license suspension, etc.

I know of no other court in the area that sends out such a notice.  Why would a court send out a notice letter that is so confusing and misleading?  As much as being cynical goes against my nature as a criminal defense lawyer, maybe, just maybe, the court wants to get ahold of your $250.00.  Just maybe it wants people running into court thinking that they can dispose of their cases quickly and easily, and with few consequences, if they just bring a few hundred bucks with them.

Moral of the story — hang onto your $250.00 until your attorney advises you what you should do with your case.  Then let your attorney request a payment plan if one is warranted.

First, let’s understand what an ALR hearing is.  In most DWI cases, when you are arrested, a cop offers you a breath test.  If you turn down the breath test, or “fail” the breath test, the cop seizes your driver’s license and give you a notice of DL suspension.  The notice tells you (in incredibly fine print) that you have to decide within 15 days whether or not you wish to request and ALR hearing — a hearing to decide if your DL will be suspended.  If you do nothing, the Department gof Public Safety gets to automatically suspend your license 40 days after the day of your arrest.  If you request an ALR hearing, then whether or not your DL is suspended gets decided at a hearing conducted by the State Office of Administrative hearings.  At the ALR hearing, DPS has to prove two things:  (1) that there was probable cause to arrest you for DWI and (2) that you either took a breath test and blew over the legal limit or that you refused to take a breath test.  If both of the questions get answered “yes”, then DPS gets to suspend your license.  If either gets answered “no”, then you get to keep your DL.

There are some really good reasons for requesting an ALR hearing.  First, there is always a chance that you will get to keep your DL.  Maybe you truly do have a probable cause issue.  Maybe the DPS will screw up its paperwork or a witness won’t show for the hearing.  Second, you get to subpoena into the hearing the arresting cop and ask him questions.  This gives you a sneak preview of what the officer’s testimony might be at a trial.  Third, since a record is made of all testimony at the hearing, you get to “freeze” the testimony of the cop so he can’t change it later.  In addition, if you have a commercial driver’s license, then an ALR hearing is practically mandatory, since you cannot get an occupational license to drive a commercial vehicle if your DL is suspended.  Finally, if nothing else, requesting an ALR hearing delays any DL suspension, since the DPS cannot suspend your DL while the ALR proceeding is pending.  This delay can be useful to people who driverfor a living, for instance, and who need to time to make arrangements at work or to look for another job.

In short, even if your license eventually gets suspended, the ALR hearing can still be an extremely handy tool for preparing for your DWI case — a tool that , unfortunately, most people with DWIs never use.

Sometimes people accused of a crime aren’t thinking quite clearly when they come to court.  Here is my personal top ten list of stupid things I have witnessed people do in court (please don’t make the next list):

1. Wearing a huge marijuana leaf belt buckle to a sentencing hearing in a possession of marijuana case (The judge busted the deal);

2.  Wearing a blue shirt, blue sweater, and blue pants to a jury trial in gang-related stabbing case where the defendant said his defense was “It couldn’t have been me — I’m a blood, not crip.” (He was convicted.);

3.  Absconding five minutes before the the punishment phase of a felony jury trial (The jury foreman told me afterwards that they would have given probation if he hadn’t run off.  Instead the jury gave him seven years prison.  The cops caught him two weeks after the trial.);

4.  Showing up to a pretrial hearing in a Resisting Arrest case and calling a male bailiff a “bitch” in open court because he asked the defendant to turn off her cellphone (She was taken into custody for contempt of court);

5.  Showing up drunk to a driver’s license suspension hearing in a DWI case;

6.  Making out in the back of the courtroom during court;

7.  Sneaking out of the courthouse during a jury trial announcement docket in order to go down the street to Sonic (“Mr. Friesenhahn, sometimes you just gotta have a strawberry shake.”);

8.  Confessing to me five minutes before I was to put him on the stand in his jury trial, “I forgot to tell you that I’m really guilty”;

9.   Accidentally dropping a condom on the courtroom floor in front of the bench while a female judge was presiding;

10.  Whispering in my ear, after turning down a deferred adjudication (against my advice) in a possession of controlled substance case where he was accused of vomiting up a balloon full of heroin onto the floor of an emergency room, “Let’s make ‘em sweat.”

OUT OF COURT HONORABLE MENTION

1.  The guy who called me on the phone and told me that he needed his case rescheduled because he and his wife had had a fight the night before, she had kicked him in the groin, and now his balls were so swollen that he was unable to walk (The court rescheduled his case.)

Don’t forget to read the fine print on pretrial diversion agreements.  “Pretrial diversion” is a special program, which is offered by a prosecutor, that allows a person to voluntarily sign an agreement to be supervised by a probation department.  The program usually involves paying fees, doing community service, reporting to a probation officer, etc.  If the pretrial diversion is completed successfully, the case is dismissed.  The true advantange of pretrial diversion, though, is that is not considered as being on “probation” under Texas law.  This makes the person who completes it successfully eligible to expunge his arrest record after his case is dismissed.  But be careful what you are signing up for when you sign the diversion agreement.  Many counties make you give up valuable rights in order to qualify for the diversion program.  In Comal County, for instance, you are required to enter a guilty plea and give up the right to ever have jury trial in order to qualify.  So, if you violate the terms of the program and are kicked out, you have given up your right to ever contest the case.  In Wilson County this morning, the DA’s Office initially wanted my client to waive her right to obtain an expunction in order to get pretrial diversion, even though an expunction is the main reason most people, including my client, apply for pretrial diversion (the DA’s Office eventually relented).  Pretrial diversion has many advantages, but make sure you know what you are giving up in order to get it.