Lots of people think DWI (Driving While Intoxicated) and DUI (Driving Under the Influence) are the same thing but they’re not. DUI is a crime that can only be comitted by someone under the age of 21. The law in Texas says that if you’re under 21 you can’t drive with any alcohol in your system. So, if an officer pulls over a minor and sees (or smells) any evidence of alcohol, that’s a DUI. Of course, someone under 21 can also get a DWI.DWI requires that a person is driving be “intoxicated”. So, the billboards with the phrase “Drink, Drive, Go to Jail” aren’t quite true. It’s not illegal for a person to have a drink or two and then drive a car so long as they are not intoxicated. Obvioiusly, this brings up the question “What is ‘intoxicated’?”The law says that “intoxicated” is the loss of a person’s normal use of their mental or physical faculties or if their blood alcohol concentration (BAC) is .08 or higher. This definition means that what’s “intoxicated” for one person isn’t necessarily the same for another person. When I was a prosecutor we used to use what we called the “Billy & Bubba” story about this when talking to a jury. It goes like this: Billy never drinks alcohol but goes to a wedding reception and has 2 glasses of wine. He’s falling down on the dance floor, has his tie off and tied around his head and he’s making passes at other people’s dates. Clearly, the 2 glasses of wine have made Billy lose the normal use of his mental and/or physical faculties even though he’s probably well under a .08 BAC. Bubba drinks all the time. He has been watching football games since he cracked his first beer at 8AM. It’s now 10pm and he’s closed out a case of beer and is rocking the party. His BAC is at least double the legal limit but Bubba is in the kitchen juggling oranges standing on one leg like a circus performer. He may still appear to have normal use of his mental and/or physical faculties but by law he’s intoxicated due to his BAC.When someone gets pulled over and officers begin a DWI investigation, these are the things they’re looking for: signs of loss of normal use. They try to get the person talking to detect slurred speech or confused answers and they conduct the field sobriety tests. It’s all just an attempt to gather evidence against the person.