ALR Hearings

In Texas, we are very fortunate to have some tools that a DWI Lawyer can use to pry open the State's weaknesses in a DWI case. The ALR hearing or license suspension hearing is one of the best tools.

An ALR hearing is an Administrative License Review. It is held by an Administrative Judge but only if you request a hearing within 15 days of being arrested. Don't wait - hire your lawyer and get them the DIC-24 and DIC-25 if those documents were given to you when arrested. If not, you will need the arresting officer's name, your birth date, driver's license number (and state) and the officer's allegation - whether this was a refusal, failure, etc.

I always request an ALR hearing. I want the arresting officer to appear and testify. There is no prosecutor around to stop me from questioning and I can usually get them to admit they don't remember an important fact or detail that makes them look dishonest 6 months later for suddenly "remembering" that my client was 80 years old and not 20. It's also the best place to take the officer complete statement as to why my client was stopped. I can usually use some of his testimony to get parts of the evidence suppressed or even get the whole case dismissed when they are really unprepared.

I am always surprised by clients and lawyers that do not use this great resource for information because they think it's pointless and they cannot be won. The purpose is not to "win". That's great if it happens but the real goal is to get the officer to commit to his testimony and then at the DWI trial when he changes his story, be able to use that against him and show him out to be at least mistaken and at the most that he's an outright liar.

Juries love to see the officer caught and the only way to do it is taking his testimony in the ALR and then using that against him later.

So hurry up and request that ALR hearing because it is absolutely necessary to win a close DWI case.