The Law Office of Matthew Shrum
Thank you for looking at the website for The Law Office of Matthew Shrum. Matthew Shrum is an attorney in Austin, Texas. Mr. Shrum attended the University of Texas at Austin where he recieved a degree in Biology. After working in the high-tech, dot-com industry 2 years and then in the House of Representatives for the 78th Session of the Texas Legislature, Mr. Shrum attended the University of Texas School of Law. Throughout law school, Mr. Shrum worked for several Austin law firms gaining experience in probate and estate law, business law, and various areas of civil litigation including contract disputes, civil rights actions, mass torts, medical malpractice, nursing home negligence, product liability, and personal injury litigation, including dealing with insurance companies. He also returned to the House of Representatives to work in the 79th Session of the Texas Legislature. Additionally, while still in school, Mr. Shrum became certified as a mediator and mediated several lawsuits.
After graduating in the spring of 2006 and passing the Texas Bar, Mr. Shrum went to work for the Travis County Attorney's office as a prosecutor. During his time as a prosecutor, Mr. Shrum prosecuted and negotiated literally thousands of criminal offenses ranging from simple traffic offenses in the JP courts to Class A misdemeanors such as second offense DWIs and Domestic Violence Assaults. He has been assigned to several of the Travis County Courts at Law, prosecuting a broad range of Class B and Class A misdemeanors including: DWI, marijuana and drug offenses, theft, burglary of vehicles, driving with suspended license, deadly conduct, unauthorized carrying of a weapon, criminal mischief, criminal trespass, public intoxication, lewd condut/public indecency, prostitution, and failure to ID, among others. Eventually, Mr. Shrum moved to County Court at Law #4, Travis County's unique felony and misdemeanor Domestic Violence court, where he prosecuted and negotiated pleas in criminal offenses such as assualt with bodily injury, violation of protective orders, harrassment, terroristic threat, and interference with emergency calls, among others. In addition to his experience in the Travis County criminal courts, while with the Travis County Attorney's office Mr. Shrum also served as the State's attorney in mental health/psyciatric commitment hearings at the Austin State Hospital and Shoal Creek Hospital.
During his time as a prosecutor, Mr. Shrum became experienced in the courtroom and took many cases to jury trial including DWIs, Assualts, and Violations of Protective Orders. In addition to his courtroom and trial experience, he learned the justice system and created lasting relationships with all the players in the system from Judges to probation officers to court coordinators to pre-trial services and sheriff deputies.
Now he is taking all that experience in criminal and civil litigation, legislative process, and dispute resolution and is offering it to clients in Austin and Central Texas. If you have a legal matter, whether it be a criminal charge, a contract dispute, a will, a car wreck, a work injury, a legislative matter, or any other type of legal counsel, contact the Law Office of Matthew Shrum to set up a free consultation.
The difference between DWI and DUI
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.
To schedule a free consultation call us today at (512) 447-2323