If you were pulled over in Farmington, Park Hills, Desloge, or anywhere in St. Francois County and arrested for driving while intoxicated, you're probably reading this on your phone, worried about your license, your job, and what happens next.
Here is the short version. A Missouri DWI is a criminal charge with a separate license case attached to it. The license case has its own deadline, 15 days from the notice you were handed at the arrest, and if you miss it the suspension takes effect on its own. The criminal case moves slower but carries the bigger consequences. Wulfers Law Firm handles both, in the same courthouse where these cases are actually heard.
What a DWI charge means in Missouri
Missouri calls it DWI, driving while intoxicated. It covers alcohol, drugs, or a combination, and it does not require a crash or bad driving. A traffic stop for a broken tail light can end in a DWI arrest.
A first offense is a class B misdemeanor. The range is up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $500. That still means a criminal record, a license suspension, an alcohol program, and higher insurance for years. Prior offenses raise the charge, and enough of them make it a felony.
- First offense: class B misdemeanor, up to six months in jail and up to a $500 fine, plus a license suspension and a required substance abuse program.
- Second offense: a longer license revocation and a real chance of jail time.
- Third or later offense: charged as a felony with prison exposure.
- Any offense: an ignition interlock device may be required before you can drive again.
The license case is separate, and it moves first
When you fail or refuse a breath test in Missouri, the officer usually takes your license on the spot and hands you a notice. That notice starts an administrative case with the Department of Revenue that has nothing to do with the criminal court.
You have 15 days from the date of that notice to request an administrative hearing with the Department of Revenue. Miss it and the suspension or revocation becomes final on the fifteenth day. This is the deadline people miss most, because they are waiting for a court date that has nothing to do with it.
We file the license challenge first, before we do anything else. It preserves your ability to drive while the case is pending and gives us an early look at the officer's evidence under oath.
How we defend a DWI case
Every DWI case starts with the stop. The officer needed a lawful reason to pull you over, a lawful reason to extend the stop, and a lawful basis to arrest. We get the dash camera, the body camera, the breath machine records, and the officer's report, and we go through them in order.
Field sobriety tests are graded by a person on the side of a road at night. Breath machines have maintenance logs and calibration records. Blood draws have chain-of-custody paperwork. Each of these is a place where the state's case can come apart.
- Was the traffic stop legal, and was it extended without cause?
- Were the field sobriety tests given and scored the way the training manual says?
- Was the breath machine maintained and calibrated, and was the observation period followed?
- Were you told your rights, including the right to talk to a lawyer before the test?
- Is there a driving record or treatment history that changes the best outcome?
What a good outcome looks like
Not every DWI case is won at trial, and not every case should go to trial. The goal is the best result for your situation: a dismissal or acquittal where the evidence supports it, a reduced charge where it doesn't, and a sentence that protects your license and your job where the evidence is strong.
When a Farmington DWI cannot be dismissed, the offer is typically a suspended imposition of sentence. That means no conviction is entered on your record, and Missouri law requires at least two years of probation for a DWI handled that way, along with the driver improvement program and a SATOP class. Every case is different and nothing here is a promise, but that is the shape of the usual resolution.
We will tell you which of those your case looks like after we see the evidence, not before. Anyone who promises a result on the first phone call is guessing.