El Paso Dwi Lawyer Explains: The Arrest, Booking And Bail

This article will give you some information on three steps that happen extremely early in the process of your DWI case immediately following the police officer establishing probable cause. We will look at the arrest, your booking and bail.

ARREST

If you look at the letter of the law and interpret the legal terms an arrest happens when you are in police custody and feel that you have lost your freedom to leave the area. In simple terms, when you are placed under the authority of a police officer an arrest has happened. So, if you've been handcuffed or put in the back of the police officer's car, you have been arrested. If the police officer has seen you in the act of committing a crime or has established there is a probable cause to believe that you have committed a crime, he can place you under arrest. You may also be arrested if there has been a warrant issued for your arrest and the officer is taking action on that warrant.

Many times an officer will pull somebody over for other traffic violations such as a broken headlight or tail light, speeding, or having expired registration tags. Once the officer has conducted the traffic stop and there maybe signals that alert him to establish probable cause for a DWI arrest. Other scenarios that could lead to someone being arrested for DWI are when there's been a traffic accident or the police have established a sobriety checkpoint.

After you have been pulled over for DWI and the officer checked your driver's license and registration they will typically have you submit to a field sobriety test or portable breathalyzer test to help give them a preliminary indication of your blood alcohol content. You are well within your rights to request contacting an expert El Paso DWI lawyer at this time. They will also administer some field sobriety test that will help them determine your coordination and how the alcohol may have impacted your ability to drive. If the results of your field sobriety test, specifically the breathalyzer test come back at 0.08% or higher, most states consider this as enough probable cause to place you under arrest. However, if the results of the portable breath test come back below 0.08% the officer may still arrest you if they believe that you are under the influence to the extent that your ability to drive has been impaired.

If you think that your arrest or the procedure behind administering the field sobriety test was done unlawfully or incorrectly you should explain all of the details to your El Paso DWI lawyer immediately.

BOOKING

After the officer has arrested you for DWI they will take you to police headquarters or another central location where you will be booked. The process of getting booked is administrative, where the police officer requires detailed information regarding you and the arrest and performs other administrative tasks.

These tasks include recording your personal information, the facts and circumstances regarding your DWI arrest. They will also search for any records regarding your past criminal activities. You will be finger printed and photographed. You will be searched and the police officer will confiscate your personal property and create an inventory of it so when those are returned to you after your release there is record of what personal property you had. Lastly, you will be put in a holding cell either at the police station or at the local jail where you will be held unless you get released on bail.

BAIL

Bail is usually available to people who want to pay money in order to get released from custody. As a condition of this release, you promise to appear at all of your scheduled court proceedings including arraignment, preliminary hearings, pre-trial motions, the trial and sentencing. Bail usually is available immediately after you get booked, however if there is a delay, the judge will determine whether or not to allow you to be released on bail. The bail amount will either be a set amount or the judge could base it on your past criminal history including previous DWI offenses, how serious these DWI are, whether or not there were any injuries or accidents. And lastly in a positive note, the judge will look at your ties to the community, in your family, any community groups your involved in or your employment. It could help reduce the amount of the bail.

For people who cannot afford the bail payment you can hire a bail bond company which will post a bond on your behalf with a promise that the entire amount will be paid if you do not show up at your court appearances as you promised. Bail bond companies typically charges 10% of the bail amount as the fee for the service. Occasionally judges will release you on your own recognizance, not requiring bail. They usually have some restrictions with this including the judge ordering you to stay in the area while your case is active. Same factors are looked at such as ties to the community, your family and your employment when the judge makes determinations to whether or not to release you on your own recognizance.

If you do not appear as promised to your court appearances, the judge can order for you to be arrested immediately. It is critically important for you and your El Paso DWI lawyer to attend all of your court dates.