A DWI arrest while you're on probation creates a genuinely dangerous two-front situation: the new criminal case, and a motion by the state to revoke the probation you're already serving. Each case makes the other worse, and they move on separate tracks.
The revocation track
Virtually every probation order prohibits new criminal offenses. A DWI arrest — even before any conviction — can support a motion to revoke. The hearing has a lower burden of proof (preponderance, not beyond a reasonable doubt), no jury, and if revoked, you serve the jail or prison time that was originally suspended. On felony probation, that can mean years.
The new-charge track
The new DWI is prosecuted on its own merits — and if your prior was a DWI, the new charge is at least a second-offense Class A misdemeanor with a 30-day minimum jail term and mandatory interlock, or a felony if it's a third. Bond conditions on the new case will also be stricter precisely because of the probation.
Strategy when both are live
Defense counsel typically coordinates the two matters deliberately: winning or reducing the new case undercuts the revocation, and a negotiated resolution sometimes packages both. Timing decisions — which case to move first, whether to stipulate to a violation — are case-specific and genuinely consequential. This is not a situation for general-practice advice; it needs a DWI attorney practicing in the county where both files sit.
If your probation was for something else
Probation for a non-DWI offense still usually prohibits new crimes and alcohol-related violations — and DWI probation in particular almost always includes total alcohol abstinence, meaning the arrest may violate multiple conditions simultaneously. Read your probation order and bring it to the consultation.
Content last reviewed: