DWI Arrest in Houston: What to Do in the First 24 Hours

If you have been arrested for DWI in Houston, the most important thing you can do right now — before anything else, before you make a single decision about what to say or what to do — is find a qualified criminal defense attorney you trust and call them. Not tomorrow. Not after the weekend. Now.

That is not a general suggestion. There are real deadlines, real decisions, and real consequences ahead of you, and some of them are already running. An experienced attorney can protect rights you may not even know you have, make time-sensitive filings on your behalf, and walk alongside you through decisions that, if made wrong, cannot be undone. The rest of this article explains exactly what those decisions are and why they matter — not so you can handle this alone, but so you understand what you are about to face and why getting the right person in your corner, right now, is the most consequential call you will make.

You Are Already Fighting Two Cases

Most people walk out of that holding cell believing they have one problem: the criminal charge. They actually have two — and the second one started the moment they were arrested.

The criminal case is what most people picture. The charge, the court dates, the potential for a conviction. That process takes months to unfold, and there is time — though not unlimited time — to build a meaningful defense.

The Administrative License Revocation (ALR) proceeding does not wait. Under Texas Transportation Code §524.031, you have exactly 15 days from the date of your arrest to request a hearing to contest the automatic suspension of your driver's license. That deadline does not care whether anyone told you about it. Miss it, and your license is suspended automatically — separate from the criminal case, and regardless of how the criminal case ultimately resolves.

An attorney can request that hearing immediately, appear at it on your behalf, and use it as an early opportunity to examine the evidence the government has against you. Most people who try to navigate this on their own miss it entirely. That is not a small thing.

What You Need to Know Right Now

The following is general legal information, not legal advice for your specific situation. Every case is different and depends on its own facts and circumstances.

You have the right to remain silent. Beyond providing basic identifying information, you are not required to answer questions about where you were, what you had to drink, or what you were doing before the stop. That is true at the scene, at the station, and anywhere in between. Invoking that right calmly and clearly is not an admission of guilt. It is a constitutional protection that exists for exactly this moment, and it is one of the most important things you can do for yourself before you have an attorney present.

Field sobriety tests are voluntary in Texas. The walk-and-turn, the one-leg stand, the horizontal gaze nystagmus test — none of them are mandatory. You may decline. There is no automatic legal penalty for doing so, though the officer will likely note the refusal in the report.

Chemical testing is a different matter. Under Texas Transportation Code §724.011, operating a vehicle in Texas carries an implied agreement to provide a breath or blood sample if you are lawfully arrested for DWI. Refusing after a lawful arrest triggers its own separate ALR license suspension — 180 days for a first refusal — completely independent of any criminal consequence. Whether to submit or refuse is not a straightforward call. It is one of several high-stakes, fact-specific decisions that can shape the entire trajectory of a case. It is precisely the kind of decision you should not be making alone at 2 in the morning without counsel.

Write down everything you remember, as soon as you can. The reason given for the traffic stop. What the officer said. The sequence of what happened and in what order. The instructions you were given. Details that feel minor right now can matter significantly later, and memory fades fast under stress. Keep those notes private — share them only with your attorney. Notes you share with others may not be protected the same way communications with your lawyer are.

What You Are Actually Facing

A DWI under Texas Penal Code §49.04 means operating a motor vehicle in a public place while intoxicated — defined as a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08% or above, or the loss of normal use of mental or physical faculties due to alcohol, a controlled substance, or another intoxicant.

For a first offense with no aggravating factors, that generally means a Class B misdemeanor: a minimum of 72 hours and up to 180 days in jail, a fine of up to $2,000, and a driver's license suspension of 90 days to one year. A BAC above 0.15, prior convictions, or a child passenger under 15 in the vehicle each raise the exposure significantly under Texas law.

But those are the statutory ranges — what the law allows as punishment. What the government can actually prove at trial, based on whether the stop was lawful, whether the testing was properly administered, and whether the evidence was legally obtained, is an entirely different question. It is often the most important question in a DWI case, and it is the question a good attorney starts building toward from day one.

The Next Step

If you or someone you love is facing a DWI arrest in Houston or anywhere in Harris County, reach out to a licensed criminal defense attorney as soon as you possibly can. The 15-day ALR deadline does not wait for a convenient moment. Neither does the evidence — what gets preserved, what gets requested, and what gets challenged in those early days can shape everything that follows.

This is one of those moments where what you do in the next few hours can follow you for years. You do not have to navigate it alone.