Austin DWI Attorney

Austin Defense Lawyer

Success Stories: Extinguishing Fires

Being involved in the criminal justice system is a crisis, not only for the person charged with a crime, but also for the extended family. When the shock of the arrest wears off, the trauma, uncertainty, and heat of the legal fires remain.

With over 37 years of experience, including 30 years as a certified specialist in criminal law, John Yeager takes pride in finding successful solutions and extinguishing the fires.

As each person is different, each case is different. John Yeager devotes himself to each client personally and explores all possible defenses.

Mr. Yeager tells his clients at the initial interview that he approaches each case as if a trial would be necessary. This ensures that all factual and legal defenses are explored prior to trial or disposition. Mr. Yeager, who has represented clients in courts throughout Austin and Central Texas, has had extensive trial experience in federal and state court ranging from capital murder, murder, fraud, white collar, crimes, DWI causing death, DWI and drug possession, and conspiracy cases. Nevertheless, with all these trial experiences, Mr. Yeager's record of avoiding the heat, public exposure, and scrutiny of trial is exemplary. Often, the happiest clients never see the inside of the courtroom.

Non-trial disposition of criminal cases can range from outright dismissals, to reduction of charges, and pre-trial diversionary programs, which sometimes include drug or alcohol rehabilitation.

Following are legal challenges for which Mr. Yeager delivered winning solutions.

• A young woman, who had received four DWIs by age 25, was arrested for another while on probation for a felony DWI. John Yeager negotiated with the prosecution to obtain mandatory alcohol counseling for his client, who attended the program and continued her probation rather than being sent to the penitentiary.
• Working with an individual arrested for DWI, John Yeager demonstrated his client's satisfactory performance on police videotape and was able to reduce charges against his client to "obstruction of roadway" rather than a DWI conviction.
• A client turned to John Yeager after being charged in a five-count federal indictment for conspiracy mail fraud and wire fraud involving fraudulent mortgage loan transactions. The case involved the FBI, multiple defendants, and a large amount of money. John was able to convince the prosecution that his client's involvement was minimal, and she was allowed to plead to misdemeanor charges and receive a probated sentence rather than serving time in the federal penitentiary.
• An individual was arrested for possession of a controlled substance and possession of marijuana. John Yeager worked to get the client accepted into a court-mandated drug abuse and rehabilitation program. As the result of successful compliance with the program, all charges were dismissed against the client.
• The corporate owner of a carnival ride was charged with murder after a woman fell to her death from a carnival ride. John Yeager led a careful and thorough investigation of facts, and the case was dismissed. Ultimately the owner pled to deferred adjudication for criminally negligent homicide, a significant distinction from the initial murder charge.
• The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security detained an honor student after a sting operation in which the student tried to purchase sophisticated equipment via the Internet using a false ID and credit card. John Yeager successfully demonstrated that the client had an exemplary academic and psychological background and helped facilitate an agreement that charges be reduced to attempted credit card misuse. The client received deferred adjudication for a misdemeanor.