12 days into DWI DIVERT Program - Still no official forms for DWI lawyers to review
The Harris County District Attorney's office has been talking about the new DWI pretrial diversion program since May of this year. We have heard the official date of the start of the program is August 1, 2009. It is now August 12, 2009 and we as Houston DWI lawyers have yet to see any of the official documents related to the new DWI DIVERT program. I was in court this morning and asked a chief prosecutor for the paperwork that they would require my client to sign to be a part of the DWI program. The response - "We don't have the final forms yet."
How am I as a Houston DWI attorney suppose to advise my clients to accept or reject this program if we don't even have the forms that would be required to enter into the agreement? I know, it is a rhetorical question, but the program and the design of the program have been ill-conceived from the outset.
The assistant Harris County DA's are just as frustrated, in fairness, by the lack of information as the defense bar is. Why? Because they too are dependent on the higher-ups in the office to learn about the program. It seems nobody really knows enough about this program - remember, the DWI diversion plan that District Attorney Pat Lykos discussed months ago.
The new DWI DIVERT program - ill-conceived, hastily planned and a waste of time so far.
