Round Rock DWI Attorney

Interstate 35 runs the length of Round Rock and produces stops at every hour, not just after closing time. State Highway 45 and the toll interchanges add merging traffic and lane changes, which is often what an officer describes as the reason for a stop. That matters, because whether the stop was lawful is a separate question from whether you were intoxicated.

Away from the interstate, Palm Valley Boulevard and East Whitestone Boulevard carry the local traffic, and North Mopac Expressway picks up drivers heading back toward Austin. A stop on a surface street usually means the officer watched you for longer than a highway stop does, so there is more on the video either way.

Texas DWI charge levels and what they carry

The charge level decides the exposure and which court hears the case. It turns on the alcohol concentration reported, whether anyone under 15 was in the vehicle, whether an open container was within reach, and what is already on your record.

Texas recognizes two independent ways to allege intoxication under Penal Code section 49.01(2): not having the normal use of mental or physical faculties because of alcohol, drugs, a combination of substances, or another substance; or having an alcohol concentration of 0.08 or more. A DWI allegation can therefore be filed below 0.08 under the loss-of-faculties theory.

Since September 1, 2025 a DWI in an active school crossing zone is a state jail felony under section 49.04(e), with no injury and no child passenger required. Details of a first charge are on my first offense DWI page.

For the school-zone row, section 49.04(e) applies only when the alleged operation occurred in a school crossing zone during the time the reduced speed limit applied. That provision took effect September 1, 2025.

Texas does not use a general ten-year washout that makes a qualifying prior intoxication conviction disappear for enhancement under Penal Code section 49.09. Administrative license rules can use their own lookback periods, so the criminal and license histories must be examined separately.

The criminal fine shown in the table is only one part of the financial consequences. On a final DWI conviction, Transportation Code section 709.001 imposes a separate, single state fine: $3,000 for a first conviction within the applicable 36-month period, $4,500 for a second or later conviction within that period, or $6,000 when a specimen analysis showed an alcohol concentration of 0.15 or more at the time the analysis was performed. Court costs and DPS/license requirements are separate. If the court makes the statute's indigency finding, it must waive the state fine in full.

What happens to the record

A DWI conviction does not automatically disappear after seven or ten years, and a dismissal does not automatically erase every criminal, DPS, or private record. Whether expunction or nondisclosure may apply depends on the actual disposition. An ALR record is separate from the criminal disposition.

The 15 day ALR deadline

Your license is a separate civil case run by the Department of Public Safety, and it does not wait for the criminal case. The request to contest it is due within 15 days of the notice given at arrest. Where a blood draw was taken there is often no notice at arrest, because DPS mails it when results return, and the deadline becomes 20 days from mailing.

I file it first in every case. Beyond protecting the license it puts the arresting officer under oath months before the criminal case reaches the same questions. More on my 15 day ALR deadline page.

Depending on the suspension and reinstatement path, DPS may require an insurer to file a Financial Responsibility Insurance Certificate (SR-22). An insurance card, policy, or receipt is not the certificate, and filing it does not by itself restore driving privileges; DPS eligibility controls. The license reinstatement guide explains that handoff.

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