Silsbee, TX Criminal Defense Law Firms & Lawyers

Your neighbor can accuse you, but if you have any witnesses of your own that would verify you were drinking at home and not driving, you can use that to your advantage. Regardless, you probably have a defense of post driving consumption.

Once a charge is filed it is out of the person's hands. The accuser can't 'drop the charges'. The police or prosecutor often will not listen to the accuser who is now denying the charges. The accuser is now faced with a dilemna: (1) ignore the subpoena to appear that they will receive or (2) admit that the accuser filed a false police report and open themselves up to criminal penalties. If the accuser does the former, then they can be held in contempt of court. Luckily, they can't be sentenced to jail. But they can be fined. If the accuser is asked to come to court and does most often to explain how it was all a misunderstanding the court will continue to order the accuser back to court and the accuser opens themself up to contempt and a bench warrant. If the accuser does the latter and admits on the stand that the charges are made up, then they can face misdemeanor filing a false police report or felony perjury charges (if the DA thinks they are lying in denying the charges, then it could be charged as perjury). In this situation not only does the defendant need an experienced criminal defense lawyer, but so does the accuser.

An early discharge is possible. There is no way to get the case to be expunged unless there is the case can be reopened through a Writ of Habeas Corpus, retried and she is found not guilty. If she received a deferred probation she may be eligible for a Non-Disclosure Order after the passage of five years from the end of the probation.