Case Results: Harris County's SWEWP and DWI Case
A Look into SWEWP, Harris County’s New Program and a DWI Case that Touches on Plea Bargains
SWEWP is the new program in Harris County program, short for Sheriffs Weekend Work Program. In this program you are sentenced to jail time and a TDL suspension, but instead of actually going to jail you are allowed to do a weekend community service work program instead. In this program you get 3 for 1 credit. For example, if you get sentenced to 30 days in jail, you will need to work 10 days.
For this SWEWP program, the judge must first approve, you fill out a contract which has all of your work details. You are instructed that you have to work every Saturday and Sunday (from 7am – 3pm) until your sentence is complete. You go in front of the judge, plead guilty, the judge sentences you, and then you go to the SWEWP window at 49 San Jacinto for further instructions. This is a great option for individuals who do not want to do probation or go to jail. It is not automatic however; every judge is different as to what types of cases they will accept SWEWP plea bargains on.
DWI Case and Plea Bargains
Today I went to court with an individual who was being charged with Driving While Intoxicated (DWI). We have been working on this DWI case for many months, gathering all of the documents, evidence, etc. Many times it is in a person’s best interest to fight the case and go to trial. Many times, if you go to trial and lose you will get probation on a 1st time DWI. If you plead guilty to the DWI, the typical plea bargain is probation as well. So why would you plea guilty and guarantee yourself a conviction when you can at least have a chance at trial?
Why do People Take Plea Bargains
Most people decide to take plea bargains for a multitude of reasons –
- They don’t want to go to trial because they feel like they are going to lose
- They don’t want to risk getting a worse punishment
- They don’t want to pay for trial
- Their lawyer convinces them not to go to trial, etc, etc
In my client’s DWI case he was afraid of going to trial because he was not a citizen, and he was scared of possible consequences if he went to jail, and he also wanted to accept responsibility. In Harris County, a typical plea bargain is either 1 year probation (with no driver’s license suspension), or 30 days in jail (which is 2 for 1 credit, so 15 days, with a 1 year TDL suspension). That’s typical, but not always the case, a couple of judges allow fines only, its court specific.
Case Results
- DWI – Client Entered SWEWP Program
- PCS – Reset
Update 3/1/2018: See my new article regarding Houston’s SWEWP on ericbenavides.com
- Truth Between You and Your Lawyer - julio 28, 2016
- When to Turn Down a Dismissal - julio 27, 2016
- Pretrial Intervention Program for Retail Theft - julio 26, 2016
Does court 14 offer this? Judge Mike fields?
Do they drug test in the program, do you know anyone actually completed the program.
I am currently on probation for intoxicated assualt with a vehicle. this was my second dwi. I ran into someone and hurt them real bad, I was then charged with a felony and placed on probation and ordered to pay the victim restitution due to not having car insurance. I recently got a 3rd dwi and i violated my probation. I am now in court and the judge has offfered 2 years tdc for both offenses.can you please help