If you or a loved one faces a charge for possessing drugs or drunk driving, you should know how a stay in rehab could affect such a charge.
First, be advised that going to a rehabilitation facility will not necessarily help you gain a reduced charge or, if convicted, a reduced sentence. Texas law doesn’t provide for automatic reduction of a charge or penalty for persons who commit to rehab.
Even so, such a commitment can help.
This commitment to attend rehab is especially important in Texas, a state whose penalties for driving while intoxicated (DWI) and possession of controlled substances (illegal drugs such as heroin, meth and cocaine) are among the most severe in the nation.
With that in mind, going to rehab could be a key difference between spending years in prison or facing a significantly lighter sentence. The many different levels of drug possession penalties provide room for such adjustments.
Your defense lawyer can advise you on what’s the best course of action to take. If you face an intoxication or drug charge and your case is pending, rehab may be an answer.
By voluntarily committing to rehab immediately after you’re charged, you can show the judge in your case your willingness to overcome the addiction which led to your arrest. Such commitment can be helpful in gaining a reduced charge or a minimized penalty.
At the Neal Davis Law Firm, we will also do everything possible to win your case in the legal arena. We often manage to gain a reduced charge or even a dropped charge for our clients, regardless of rehab. But going to rehab can be a positive step in the right direction for your defense.
Texas’ Sandra Bland Act of 2017
Rehab may also be an answer for those already being jailed for a drug or intoxication offense.
Thanks to the Sandra Bland Act of 2017, Texas jailers must immediately evaluate the mental health status of an inmate. They then must divert persons diagnosed with a mental illness or substance abuse problem to a treatment facility, rather keeping them in jail where there are no drug or alcohol abuse rehab programs.
This law was written and named for a woman who committed suicide in jail after she was arrested. That incident led to a public furor and questions about the inadequacy of the criminal justice system when it comes to providing care for persons who need rehab but instead are simply jailed.
Drug rehab, of course, doesn’t guarantee that a person who completes the program can remain drug-free. But a commitment to rehab does demonstrate to a court (and judge) your desire to overcome your problem and avoid subsequent offenses.
Contact a Houston Defense Attorney
If you or a loved one faces a drug or intoxication charge in Houston, Harris County, Fort Bend County or Montgomery County, contact our drug defense attorney at the Neal Davis Law Firm for a legal review of your case. We may advise that you take a drug rehab program as a positive step toward reducing your charge.
