New Judicial Resource Liaison NamedThe Texas Center for the Judiciary is pleased to announce that Judge Mark D. Atkinson has been selected as the new Judicial Resource Liaison for the Texas Center for the Judiciary TxDOT Grant. Judge Atkinson takes over for Judge David Hodges, who has been serving as the Texas Judicial Resource Liaison since the inception of the TxDOT grant in 2005. Judge Hodges has accepted a position with the Texas Association of Counties beginning October 1 and will become the Judicial Project Manager for TAC responsible for designing and implementing of all the judicial education for constitutional county judges and their staff members. “Although Judge Hodges did an outstanding job, I do not think we will be missing a beat with Judge Atkinson at the helm. I cannot imagine a more distinguished member of the judiciary to advance the cause of DWI education in our State….Excellent, excellent, excellent choice,” said Texas Center Chair Judge David D. Garcia. Judge Atkinson served 24 years on the bench presiding over more than 100,000 criminal cases, 20,000 of those being DWIs. Since 1988, Judge Atkinson has implemented creative DWI sentencing practices, particularly with repeat offenders. Many of those sentencing practices are similar to those currently used in DWI Courts. During his years on the bench, Judge Atkinson received the Mexican-American Bar Association of Houston Amicus Award, the Houston Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Judicial Award, the League of United Latin-American Citizens Certificate of Recognition, and the Houston Police Officers’ Association County Court Judge of the Year. He is past chair of the Judicial Section State Bar of Texas and the Texas Center for the Judiciary. He chairs the American Probation and Parole Association's Judicial Committee. Prior to taking the bench, his law practice focused on criminal, family, and civil trial law. Judge Atkinson earned his BA from the University of Texas at Austin and his law degree from South Texas College of Law. |
DWI Grant Home Page
This site was developed by the Texas Center for the Judiciary pursuant to a grant received from the Texas Department of Transportation to provide additional resources to judges who preside over DWI cases. The Texas Center for the Judiciary wishes to express its gratitude to Mr. Terry Pence, Traffic Safety Director, Traffic Operations Division and Mr. Frank Saenz, Alcohol and Other Drugs Programs Manager, Texas Department of Transportation, for their valuable assistance in procuring funding and helping to implement this web site. We recognize that a DWI case can be one of the most complex and challenging criminal cases for the trial judge to preside over and for the sentencing judge to supervise. Jury selection is difficult, and the trial raises complex issues involving a mixture of scientific, expert, and lay testimony. The purpose of this site is to help Texas judges who handle these cases by providing legal resources, educational articles on pertinent subjects, a forms depository, and a convenient forum for Texas judges to exchange their ideas directly with each other. To suggest additional resources, web links, or other content for inclusion in this web site, click here . |
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April 20, 2010 – Beam Global Spirits & Wine, Inc. [Fortune Brands, Inc. (NYSE:FO)], the industry leader in the battle against hardcore drunk driving, and the National Center for DWI Courts (NCDC) today awarded Rep. Jerry Madden and Sen. Kel Seliger the National Center for DWI Courts Community Safety Award for their work to pass legislation that has tripled the number of DWI Courts established in Texas since 2007. Texas currently has 25 DWI Courts, including “hybrid” courts that oversee both DWI and drug cases. The Texas Center for the Judiciary was proud to help in gathering together judges, DWI Court Teams and DWI Court participants for the event. Judge Al Alonso, Judge Jan Breland, Judge Jo-Ann De Hoyos, Judge Elisabeth Earle, Judge Cynthia Wheless, Judge Ray Wheless, Judge Tim Wright, and Magistrate Ernie L. Glenn all attended in support of DWI Courts in Texas along with prosecutors, defense attorneys, probation officers, treatment providers, and DWI Court graduates and current participants. House Bill 530 requires a DWI Court in all counties with a population of 200,000 people or more. The bill passed unanimously in both the Texas House of Representatives and Senate and was signed into law in June 2007. “We are pleased to honor Rep. Madden and Sen. Seliger,” stated David Wallace, director, National Center for DWI Courts. “DWI Courts save lives, and through Rep. Madden and Sen. Seliger’s work, Texas has tripled the number of DWI Courts in the state and is a leader in the battle against hardcore drunk driving.” “Beam Global Spirits & Wine thanks Rep. Madden and Sen. Seliger for their work to help establish more DWI Courts,” said Matt Stanton, vice president of public affairs, Fortune Brands. “Now in our fourth year supporting the National Center for DWI Courts, we are committed to battling hardcore drunk driving through DWI Courts. Texas has been a leader on this front, and we encourage all states to join us in the fight to eliminate hardcore drunk driving.” The innovative DWI Court system goes beyond traditional discipline. In addition to a conviction, DWI Courts provide hardcore drunk driving offenders with long-term, ongoing accountability and rehabilitation. As DWI Courts are launched throughout the country, NCDC provides training and research to the personnel needed to operate them. In Texas, NCDC and the Texas Center for the Judiciary offer this free training once a year. Judge Alonso, Breland, Earle and Wright all received their DWI Court training at the Texas Center for the Judiciary. Judge De Hoyos will train this summer with NCDC and the Texas Center. Hardcore drunk drivers are drivers with a blood alcohol concentration of .15 and above and/or are repeat offenders. These drunk drivers are 20 times more likely to be involved in a crash. In Texas, there were nearly 1,500 alcohol-related traffic fatalities in 2008 with 26 percent of those deaths caused by hardcore drunk drivers. “This is a great honor, and I thank the National Center for DWI Courts and Beam Global for their support,” stated Rep. Jerry Madden, District 67. “DWI Courts have proven that long-term ongoing accountability and rehabilitation is more effective than punishment alone. I am proud to support effective and cost-efficient ways to fight alcohol abuse and reduce crime.” “I appreciate both this award and the shared commitment of my Senate colleagues for making real progress in terms of the rehabilitation of individuals with substance abuse problems, and the protection of the public from those who drive while impaired, while hopefully diverting people away from expensive prison cells that increase the costs to all Texas taxpayers,” stated Sen. Kel Seliger, District 31. Here are a few links about the April 20 event: http://www.amarillo.com/stories/042210/new_news11.shtml http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid%3A1019052 |
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