Mimi Coffey | Attorney at Law

The problem with criminal justice in the current United States is one which requires a major paradigm shift.  Police academies across the country are training to shoot first, have major discussions later. Police officers are evaluated in their job evaluations on how many arrests they make. Young district attroneys learn fast that trying lots of cases reflects well on advancement, even if they are trying cases that have no business being tried. Young prosecutors, fresh from law school, are thrown out into the world with very little life experience and a lot of power to wield. They know the laws, but don't understand their power. For example, here is where power runs awry. A police officer encounters a recent high school graduate on a speeding ticket. He smells fresh marijuana emanating from the car. Although the kid has a clean record and this is her first real brush with the law, the cop arrests her. An inexperienced, young prosecutor with little life experience gets the case

The biggest misconception in a DWI is to correlate a single bad driving behavior with guilt in a DWI. Whether it be a jerk (failure to maintain a single lane), accident (losing control and hitting something like a curb, pole, or another car), or stopping too long at a stop light, this may very well be evidence of driver inattention unrelated to intoxication. I have analyzed thousands of DWI cases and have tried over 300. What I typically find is a prosecutor who argues that the driving behavior which so often happens due to driver inattention be argued as clear evidence that a person is intoxicated. This is simply not fact. The facts are that every day drivers commit these violations due to distraction, inattention, fatigue or a host of other factors. Accidents are so common that the law mandates a driver operate a motor vehicle on our public roads with liability insurance. The mere fact that a driver commits these with alcohol or a substance (medication, drugs, caffeine, etc.) in

Mimi Coffey is an attorney with 23 years experience. She is certified in DWI defense by the National College of DUI Defense (NCDD). She is a Regent with the National College of DUI Defense. She is the chairman of the NCDD Forensics Committee.  With offices in both Dallas and Tarrant Counties, she serves the entire metroplex. Mimi has appeared as a legal commentator for CNN, National Fox News, and local Dallas/Fort Worth stations on DWI-related stories. She is also a frequent speaker at both national and state-wide seminars. Mimi is an experienced attorney with a proven trial record (over 300 cases, with 80% of them being jury trials). Her successes include everything from .21 breath tests, blood tests to 3 car accident cases. Mimi’s cases have also made excellent case law for the State of Texas. She even sued the Texas Department of Public Safety in federal court on the Texas DPS surcharge program. She has won the President’s Heart of a Champion Award from the Texas Criminal De

How it feels to have a DWI is something critically important to understand for anyone dealing with a person who has been arrested for DWI, whether that be for a family member, employer, etc. The amount of people who get arrested for a DWI every year is akin to the amount of people who get diagnosed with cancer (approx. 1.4 million, although this number has been decreasing). By understanding what it feels like to be accused of a DWI with true respect and empathy, we help everyone. 1. Trauma . Although lumped in with criminal activity, people who get arrested for DWI did not set out to perpetrate a crime on society.  This is a very important distinction.  People who get DWIs feel tremendous remorse and shame at the title "DWI" because they would never intentionally hurt someone. For most, it was an occasion of social drinking which ended in an arrest.  Imagine being called a child abuser, or a sex offender.  The mere thought of being lumped in a category of causing intenti