Tarrant prosecutor seeks new options for drunk drivers
August 26, 2010
by JIM DOUGLAS
WFAA
FORT WORTH - If you're lucky, you'll never get hit by a drunk driver. But don't think you're not paying a price.
"Seventy to 80 percent of our trial docket is DWI," said Tarrant County Assistant District Attorney Richard Alpert.
There have been at least 118 DWI trials this year in Tarrant County. There are nearly 123,000 DWI cases pending statewide, and some are getting too old to prosecute.
"That is happening all over the place," Alpert said. "Cases are getting to be three and four years old, and that, that hurts everybody."
Alpert wants lawmakers to change state law so that first-time offenders are eligible for deferred adjudication if they agree to counseling. He said that would keep a public conviction off their records, keep them out of jail, and give them an incentive to take a plea instead of going to trial.
