Mimi Coffey | Attorney at Law

Last week my best friend turned 50 (we were born and raised here in Tarrant County, Texas). We both graduated from C.F. Brewer High School on the west side of Fort Worth. It was great to actually catch up and spend some time with classmates at her party that I generally never get to see. One of them leaned over and asked me, "Mimi, do the judges of Tarrant County try to help people?"  I looked at her, everyone at the table in eager anticipation, and had an answer they did not expect to hear. Here is the truth, if you can't fall asleep in a parked car in a parking lot in order to avoid a DWI, the county has big issues. I would not say that those judges are trying to help people. I would say the exact opposite. They are sending a message that it is better to risk trying to make it home because if you do the responsible thing and not drive you will be convicted.  I have had juries say Not Guilty in these circumstances. This is because the law does not define "operate...

Marijuana alone never killed anyone, unlike alcohol or an excess of sugar consumption over a lifetime (diabetes, etc.). Most people reading this blog could care less about legalizing marijuana because they can't understand how it affects them. Oh, but it does. It is rather simple. 1. Taxes. It costs approximately $45k a year to house an inmate in Texas (juvenile costs are far higher).  The amount of money Texas taxpayers pay for prisons and jails is staggering.  People can't seem to understand this is real.  I have a client who has a pending marijuana case in Johnson County. It is a felony because it is not in leaf format- the marijuana concentration is in a few gummy bears. The assistant district attorney has offered a ten year probation sentence which includes a prison rehab (called SAFP) for 6 months to a year.  Ludicrous.  Why send my food delivery guy into a school for hardened criminals where he will come out far worse than when he went in?  News...

My 2nd year of law school at Texas Tech (I had 2 children during law school, this is Kiki my first) I think about my third son Spencer all the time as he just started his first year at Cornell Law School. This week, I came up with this list for him. These are the things I would go back and tell my young, full of wonder self  27 years ago. Maybe this can help other young law students or aspiring lawyers. 10 Things I would go back & tell my law school self: Focus on writing. It’s how the top lawyers in their field help other lawyers and share their knowledge en masse with the world. Publishing is essential. Give back. Look around and remember how your fellow students are struggling and need financial aid. Make it a goal to give back. It’s a worthy endeavor that I wish more lawyers would do. Show gratitude. Appreciate your professors. They have sacrificed an exciting life in the ring to teach. This is huge. Be kind. As you look around and feel the surging blood...

U.S. Representative and Senate Candidate Beto O'Rourke talked about his 1998 DWI arrest in the debate between him and Senator Ted Cruz. Captured above is his eloquent response.  Beto takes full responsibliity for his DWI, not minimizing it all or the seriousness of it (he was fortunate in that in exchange for some classes, his DWI was dismissed in a plea bargain which is almost nonexistent today). What is the important lesson in this is that he was able to move on from his DWI and have a second chance at life's opportunities. He was able to open a business, get elected to the El Paso City Council, get married, have 3 children and become a U.S. House of Representatives for his district.  It is so important that people get second chances. District attorneys should consider (just like Beto references in the above clip) that many people won't be able to successfully move on in the directions they had planned if they have to disclose to employers that they were convicted of a...

Getting a driver's license is a major life milestone, many see it as a right of passage. There are many hours involved in signing off as a parent "instructor" for a person's driver's license. One of the most embarrassing things that can happen is to have your child about ready to take their driver's license test and to be told at a Texas DPS counter that they don't qualify due to your DWI. Not to mention, having a driver's license application rejected because of this wastes many precious hours that will have to be redone by someone who qualifies. Many teenagers are turning to their parents in modern times to satisfy the driver's education requirement for a driver's license. A DWI conviction or ALR suspension can prevent a person from qualifying as an "instructor" for parent taught driver's education. Parent taught driver's education, formerly run by the Texas Department of Public Safety is now regulated by the Texas De...

Many DWIs involve risky behavior and accidents.  Alcohol may not be the only reason for such 'out of character' or abnormal behavior.  A new field of research is developing (as of the last 11+ years) into parasites that affect the brain. It has become increasingly clear that what was once deemed a harmless parasite, toxoplasma gondii (found in cat feces), is in fact dangerous to the brain. Jaroslav Flegr published his research in the May 2007 Schizophrenia Bulletin (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2526142/ ) some of his findings regarding this cat parasite that attaches to human hosts. First off, 80% of the population may be infected. In Prague, Czechoslovakia it was determined that Toxoplasma - infected subjects were 2.65x higher to be involved in a traffic accident either as a pedestrian or driver. The effects on neuropathological and neuroimmunological pathways are a cause and effect from how the body protects itself from this pathogen, and how the parasite ...

I remember when a bond for a first time DWI was $500. Now, in Tarrant County a person accused of a first time DWI, with no other criminal history, stays in jail for up to 3 days as the system "processes" their income level to set an appropriate bond (where many will do a government pretrial bond) . People are being shipped from small municipalities to the central Tarrant County jail before this is done.  The law allows magistrates up to 72 hours to set a bond and unfortunately, this is about how long it is taking.  Moreover, once a person bonds out many are required to report to pretrial services. Here, they are paying fees and taking drug tests before they are even convicted. I have a current Parker County client who has not had a DWI in 21 years and the magistrate ordered that he have a $500 a month SCRAM bracelet (measures your sweat for alcohol),plus an interlock on any vehicle he drives. He must also report to pretrial services in Parker County once a week. His case is...