Travis County DWI Defense
Travis County DWI Attorney
Charged with DWI in Travis County? Your license deadline starts fast.
I defend people charged with driving while intoxicated in Travis County, and DWI is the only kind of case I take. I have worked on more than 6,000 of them since 1998.
A Travis County arrest starts two cases the same night. The criminal charge goes to a courtroom on West 11th Street. The other is an administrative action against your license that runs on a 15 day clock, and it does not wait for your first court date.
15-Day License Deadline
Your license after a Travis County DWI arrest
The clock starts on the date of the notice of suspension you were handed at arrest, not on your first court date. Nobody at the jail files the request, the court does not file it, and it does not happen automatically. It is a written demand to the Department of Public Safety.
Miss it and the suspension takes effect with nobody reviewing whether the stop was lawful.
Free Consultation
Call 512-469-6056
Travis County DWI Defense Attorney
Ken Gibson
I handle every case in this office myself, from the license hearing through trial.
6,000+
DWI Cases Handled
Since 1998
Practicing DWI Defense
DWI Only
Defense Focus
How The Process Works
How Ken handles a DWI case in Travis County, Texas
The order matters, because the license deadline arrives long before the criminal case does anything.
Step 1
Free Consultation
You describe what happened. Ken tells you what you are charged with, what the exposure is, and what the immediate deadlines are.
Step 2
The ALR Filing
The hearing request goes to the Department of Public Safety inside the 15 day window, which protects your license and opens an early route to the officer's testimony.
Step 3
Evidence Review
Dash camera, body camera and booking video, the offense report, breath test records or the blood lab packet, and the warrant affidavit if one was used.
Step 4
The License Hearing
The officer can be questioned under oath. Whatever comes out of that is on the record before the criminal case reaches the same issues.
Step 5
Motions and Negotiation
Contested issues get raised in writing. What the case can resolve to depends on what the evidence review actually turned up.
Step 6
Resolution or Trial
Most cases resolve before trial. The ones that do not are tried on the same record that was built from the first week.
Where a Travis County DWI case is heard
Almost everything about the first week of a case is decided by geography. A Travis County DWI arrest routes through Central Booking at 500 West 10th Street, where magistration happens and bond conditions are set. If the stay runs longer, it moves to the Travis County Correctional Complex on Bill Price Road in Del Valle, about twelve miles southeast of downtown.
The case itself is heard at the Blackwell Thurman Criminal Justice Center at 509 West 11th Street. Misdemeanor DWI, which covers a first offense and most second offenses, goes to one of seven criminal county courts at law. Felony DWI goes to one of nine district courts on a random docket draw, so which courtroom you land in is not something anyone selects.
That distinction matters more than it sounds. The two tiers run on different schedules and different settings, and a case that gets enhanced from one to the other does not simply continue where it left off.
The Travis County Attorney prosecutes misdemeanors, while the Travis County District Attorney prosecutes felonies. A change in offense level can therefore change both the courtroom and the prosecuting office.
The evidence still begins with the arresting agency. Austin Police, the Travis County Sheriff's Office, DPS, and another city agency each maintain their own offense reports, dispatch records and available dash-camera or body-camera files. Booking and jail records are maintained separately from the originating agency's file.
The Travis County Sheriff's Office is a source for jail and sheriff-created records, while breath-program or laboratory material may have another custodian. Identifying the creator of each report, video, booking entry, and test record prevents the courthouse file from being mistaken for the complete evidence inventory.
What Austin No Refusal means
Austin Police describes No Refusal as a recurring DWI-enforcement initiative. APD's March 2026 enforcement announcement describes year-round operation from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., Monday through Sunday. If a requested breath or blood specimen is refused, APD says an officer may seek a blood-search warrant. This is an APD initiative, not a law or a countywide rule.
For current custody and scheduling information, use the guides to the official process for Travis County inmate search and jail release, DWI-related warrant search, and court-date lookup. For the specimen-request branch of a Travis County DWI case, see refusing a breath or blood test in Texas.
Travis County at a glance
Courthouse
Blackwell Thurman Criminal Justice Center
509 West 11th Street, Austin 78701
Booking
Central Booking
500 West 10th Street, Austin
Longer holds
Travis County Correctional Complex
Del Valle
Programs
Travis County operates a DWI court and a pretrial diversion program.
Personal bonds and release conditions in Travis County
A personal bond, often called a PR bond, is a release on a written promise under conditions set by a magistrate or court. Travis County Pretrial Services interviews a person in custody and makes a release recommendation. A magistrate or court makes the decision whether to authorize the personal bond and sets any conditions. It is not automatic.
The release order controls
The magistrate or court's written order controls any payment obligation and the conditions that apply after release. Read that order rather than relying on a generalized fee schedule, because the applicable terms depend on the bond and the current county process.
If an interlock is ordered
If the court orders an ignition interlock as a release condition, the person must follow the installation and monitoring requirements in the order. For a person charged with a subsequent offense under Penal Code sections 49.04 through 49.06, Code of Criminal Procedure article 17.441 generally requires an interlock condition unless the magistrate finds that requiring the device would not be in the best interest of justice and enters that finding in the record.
Conditions start immediately
Bond conditions attach at release, months before any finding of guilt. That is the part most people do not expect: the earliest restrictions in a DWI case are not a sentence, they are the terms of getting out.
15 days
to request your ALR hearing
The 15 day ALR deadline on a Texas DWI
The criminal case and the license case are not the same proceeding and do not move together. Administrative License Revocation is civil, it is run by the Department of Public Safety, and the request to contest it has to be filed within 15 days of the notice you were given at arrest. In a blood test case there is often no notice at arrest at all, because DPS mails it when results return, and the deadline is 20 days from the date of mailing.
I file that request, and I do it first. The hearing is the earliest point in a DWI case where the arresting officer can be questioned under oath, and that happens months before the criminal case reaches the same ground. Whatever comes out of it is on the record either way.
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.
Travis County DWI Defense
Call Ken today for Travis County, TX DWI advice.
Tell Ken what happened and he will tell you what you are actually facing, where your case is likely headed, and what needs to happen before the 15-day license deadline passes.
Call 512-469-6056
Free Consultation
Texas DWI charge levels and which court hears them
Charge level is what sends a case to a county court at law or to a district court, so it is worth knowing precisely where yours sits. 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.
| Charge | Classification | Jail exposure | Criminal fine |
|---|---|---|---|
| First DWI, Penal Code 49.04 | Class B misdemeanor | 72 hours minimum, up to 180 days | Up to $2,000 |
| First DWI with an open container | Class B misdemeanor | 6 days minimum, up to 180 days | Up to $2,000 |
| Alcohol concentration 0.15 or higher, 49.04(d) | Class A misdemeanor | Up to 1 year | Up to $4,000 |
| Second DWI, 49.09(a) | Class A misdemeanor | 30 days minimum, up to 1 year | Up to $4,000 |
| Third DWI, 49.09(b)(2) | Third degree felony | 2 to 10 years | Up to $10,000 |
| Passenger younger than 15, 49.045 | State jail felony | 180 days to 2 years | Up to $10,000 |
| DWI in an active school crossing zone, 49.04(e) | State jail felony | 180 days to 2 years | Up to $10,000 |
| Intoxication assault causing serious bodily injury, 49.07 | Ordinarily third degree felony | 2 to 10 years | Up to $10,000 |
| Intoxication manslaughter causing death, 49.08 | Ordinarily second degree felony | 2 to 20 years | Up to $10,000 |
Two lines there catch people out. 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, which means a first offense can be a felony. And the 0.15 threshold in section 49.04(d) is written as the concentration at the time the analysis was performed, not at the time of driving. Those are different moments, and the gap between them is where breath and blood testing gets contested.
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.
For the longer statewide explanation of why the row applies only in a designated school crossing zone while the reduced speed limit is in effect, see DWI in a Texas school crossing zone.
Travis County DWI pretrial diversion and expunction
Travis County's published DWI Pre-Trial Diversion page says no program or supervisory fee is assessed. Before admission, an applicant must complete a Driver's Risk Inventory assessment through Travis County Counseling and Education Services; the page says the assessment is expected to cost $55 and is nonrefundable.
The reason it matters is not the fee. It is what completion produces. Government Code section 76.011 is the statute that authorizes pretrial intervention programs, and Code of Criminal Procedure article 55A.053(a)(2)(C) makes a dismissal that follows completion of one of those programs eligible for expunction. Most dismissals do not carry that. A case dropped for an ordinary reason generally has to wait out the limitations period instead. A dismissal earned through a section 76.011 program is on the statute's list.
Expunction is the statute's own word, and it is a stronger remedy than sealing. Where it applies, the record is destroyed rather than hidden from most viewers. That is the difference between a case that follows you and one that does not.
Eligibility depends on the program's published criteria, the Driver's Risk Inventory assessment, the facts of the case, and criminal history; the page identifies some categories as ineligible. More detail on the remedy itself is on my clearing a DWI from your record page.
Austin area cities that route to Travis County
Travis County covers most of Austin along with the Travis County portions of Pflugerville, Round Rock, Cedar Park and Leander, plus Manor, Del Valle, Lakeway, Bee Cave and West Lake Hills. If you were stopped inside the city on Interstate 35, Mopac, the Capital of Texas Highway, South Lamar or East Riverside, your case almost certainly routes here.
The boundary is where people get surprised. North Austin addresses that sit inside Williamson County do not come to West 11th Street at all. They go to the Williamson County Justice Center in Georgetown, a different courthouse with a different set of courts and a different bond posture. An Austin mailing address is not the same thing as a Travis County case, and the two counties do not run alike.
Pflugerville, Round Rock, Cedar Park and Leander each cross the Travis-Williamson line. The county location of the alleged offense determines whether the DWI proceeds in Austin or Georgetown. If you live along that corridor, confirming the precise stop location is more useful than relying on the city name or mailing address.
Cities I serve in Travis County
Pflugerville DWI attorney · Round Rock DWI attorney · Cedar Park DWI attorney · Leander DWI attorney · Manor DWI attorney · Lakeway DWI attorney · Bee Cave DWI attorney
Also Austin, Del Valle and West Lake Hills. For Pflugerville, Round Rock, Cedar Park and Leander, only allegations arising in the Travis County portion route to Austin.
Routes to Georgetown instead
The Williamson County portions of Round Rock · Cedar Park · Leander · Pflugerville · Georgetown · Hutto · Taylor · Liberty Hill, plus north Austin addresses inside Williamson County
Routes to San Marcos instead
Hays County allegations from Kyle · Buda · Dripping Springs · Wimberley, plus far south Austin addresses inside Hays County
Choosing a DWI attorney for a Travis County case
DWI is the whole practice. A general criminal defense office may handle a handful of these a year between everything else on its docket. I have worked on more than 6,000 since 1998, and I do not take other kinds of cases, which is the reason I can tell you on a first call what a particular set of facts usually does in this county.
You deal with me. I file the license request, I review the video, I argue the motions and I stand next to you at 509 West 11th Street. You are not passed to an associate after the first meeting, and you are not calling a front desk to find out what happened at a setting.
The early work is where a DWI case is decided. Dash camera, body camera and booking video are the only record made at the time, and they either support the offense report or they do not. Everything that happens later, including whether diversion is realistic, follows from what that review turns up.
Related pages
Travis County DWI questions
Where will my Travis County DWI case be heard?
At the Blackwell Thurman Criminal Justice Center, 509 West 11th Street in Austin. Misdemeanor DWI goes to one of seven criminal county courts at law. Felony DWI goes to one of nine district courts, assigned by random docket draw.
I was arrested in Austin. Is that automatically Travis County?
Not always. North Austin addresses inside Williamson County route to the Williamson County Justice Center in Georgetown, and far south Austin addresses inside Hays County route to San Marcos. An Austin mailing address does not decide it. The county line does.
Will I get a personal bond?
A personal bond, often called a PR bond, is a release on a written promise under conditions set by a magistrate or court. Travis County Pretrial Services interviews a person in custody and makes a release recommendation. A magistrate or court makes the decision whether to authorize the personal bond and sets any conditions. It is not automatic.
Does Travis County have DWI diversion, and what does it cost?
The current program does not charge a program or supervisory fee. Before admission, an applicant must complete a Driver's Risk Inventory assessment; the official page says the assessment is expected to cost $55 and is nonrefundable. Eligibility depends on the published criteria, the assessment, the facts of the case, and criminal history. No particular outcome or later record remedy is guaranteed.
How long do I have to protect my license?
15 days from the notice of suspension you were handed at arrest. In a blood test case there is often no notice at arrest, because DPS mails it when results come back, and the deadline is 20 days from mailing. The request goes to DPS and is separate from the criminal case. Details are on my 15 day ALR deadline page.
Is a first DWI in Travis County always a misdemeanor?
No. A first offense is normally a Class B misdemeanor, but since September 1, 2025 a DWI in a school crossing zone while the reduced speed limit applies is a state jail felony under section 49.04(e) with no injury required, and a first offense with a passenger under 15 is a state jail felony under section 49.045. Both would be heard in a district court rather than a county court at law. See first offense DWI in Texas.