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  TexasCriminalDefenseLawyers.com We are a firm of four lawyers, based in Houston, Texas, dedicated to the defense of the citizen accused of crime and protection of civil rights. Stanley G. Schneider is listed in "Best Lawyers in America" in the area of criminal law and is certainly one of the best in the State of Texas. He has been featured on Dateline, 48 Hours, and 60 Minutes. W. Troy McKinney is also a nationally recognized criminal trial and appellate lawyer. He was the lead counsel in the "Cheerleader Mom" case and is also the author of "Texas Drunk Driving Law," a two volume treatise and practice manual on DUI/DWI law and the trial of such cases. Tom Moran is a former Houston Chronicle reporter and a nationally recognized trial and appellate lawyer. In the last several years, his practice has focused on cases in the international criminal tribunal in The Hague and in Africa where he has represented individuals accused of war crimes. Kevin Fine is a fourth generation criminal trial lawyer. His trial clients have included police officers, airline pilots, business executives, and other lawyers. He is also a frequent author and speaker on various criminal law topics and has served as a commentator to various new organizations. Regarding DUI/DWI charges . . . DUI/DWI charges are an ever increasing fact of our society. Thanks to organizations like Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), our law makers continue to strap us, the citizens, with tighter and tighter penalties and regulations. The myriad of penalties include everything from mandates for longer driver's license suspensions for citizens who have not even been convicted of a crime, to mandatory jail sentences, to permanent, lifetime criminal records, to massive financial burdens, like "keep your driver's license" surcharges in excess of $1,000.00 per year for three years for anyone convicted of DWI, even a first time offender. We are also seeing a dramatic increase in the number of DUI/DWI Task Forces emerging throughout Texas and the rest of the United States. These task forces are often federally funded and the officers themselves required to make arrests in order to keep the funding available. These and many other factors make it vitally important to hire the right lawyers to defend you. We have seen countless cases where people did not put much thought into who they hired or the result they got. Most of these people simply pled guilty and received a probated sentence. Later, sometimes years later, they got stopped, the officer smelled what he believed was alcohol on their breath and, after running their license, saw they had a prior conviction for DUI/DWI. Rather than seriously considering and determining whether the person was in fact intoxicated, the officer simply arrested them. And thus started their second foray into our criminal justice system with all its attendant bond postings, driver's license suspensions, installation of ignition interlock devices, court appearances, and trials to the court or jury. The web of red tape and numerous proverbial hoops to jump through is mind-boggling even to less experienced lawyers, much less the poor citizen who has just been arrested. Having a working knowledge of both the specialized area of DUI/DWI law and the numerous methods employed by law enforcement in field sobriety testing is an absolute necessity. We have that working knowledge, often more so than the arresting officers themselves.
You need to think before you hire your lawyer. Obviously, you would not hire a general practitioner to perform brain surgery.
Why, then, would you hire anyone but a lawyer who is both experienced and knowledgeable for your criminal charge? After all, we
are only talking about your future. Schneider & McKinney, P.C.
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