Aaronson Law Firm Criminal Defense Attorney in El Paso, Texas

Navigating the Texas Legal System: From CDL Protection to Clearing Your Criminal Record with Michael Aaronson

In this episode of Local Area Business Talk, we sit down for an in-depth conversation with Michael Aaronson, the founding attorney of the Aaronson Law Firm in El Paso, Texas. With a remarkable legal career spanning nearly 50 years, Michael brings a wealth of knowledge and a deep understanding of the local and state legal landscapes.

Whether you are a professional driver whose livelihood depends on a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL), a student worried about a past mistake appearing on background checks, or a citizen interested in knowing their constitutional rights during a traffic stop, this episode is a masterclass in Texas criminal and traffic law.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

1. The High Stakes of CDL Advocacy For commercial truck drivers, a driver’s license isn’t just a permit—it’s a career. Michael explains how the Aaronson Law Firm represents CDL holders in hearings against the Department of Public Safety (DPS). Learn why you should never simply "accept" a revocation notice and how a dedicated attorney can negotiate with District Attorneys to keep you on the road.

2. Occupational and Essential Needs Licenses If your license has been suspended, how do you get to work or take your children to school? Michael breaks down the "Essential Needs" or Occupational Driver’s License (ODL). He explains how these court-ordered licenses work, where they are valid, and why judges are often willing to grant them to ensure citizens can maintain their daily responsibilities.

3. The Science and Pitfalls of DWI/DUI Stops Do you know the difference between being "under the influence" and "legally intoxicated" in Texas? We discuss the .08 BAC threshold and the "loss of normal use" standard. Michael provides a fascinating breakdown of Field Sobriety Tests (FSTs), including:

• HGN (Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus): The involuntary jerking of the eye.
• The Walk and Turn: A test of divided attention and physical balance.
• The One-Leg Stand: How officers look for specific "clues" to build a case against you.

4. Your Constitutional Rights: Search, Seizure, and Silence "Less is more." Michael offers crucial advice on interacting with law enforcement. We discuss the Fourth Amendment, the right to refuse a vehicle search, and why volunteering information about your day can often work against you in a court of law. Learn the power of the simple question: "Officer, am I being detained?"

5. Expunctions vs. Non-Disclosures: A Second Chance One of the most valuable parts of this interview covers how to clear your record.

• Expunction: The "gold standard" of record clearing. Michael explains how this process can legally destroy criminal records, allowing you to deny an occurrence ever happened—even on job applications.
• Orders of Non-Disclosure: How to seal your records from the public eye and background check agencies, even when an expunction isn’t an option.

About the Guest: Michael Aaronson has been a pillar of the El Paso legal community for 49 years. His firm specializes in criminal law, felonies, misdemeanors, driver’s license suspensions, and the sealing of criminal records. His experience in the El Paso County Courts and his history of negotiating with the DPS make him one of the region's most sought-after advocates.

• Firm Name: Aaronson Law Firm
• Attorney: Michael Aaronson
• Office Address: 7362 Remcon Circle, El Paso, Texas 79912 (West Side El Paso)
• Phone Number: (915) 533-0110
• Website: https://aaronsonlawtx.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey David Mike. Good, David. Nice to see you. Thanks. We're here to Michael Armonson of the Armonson Law Firm in El Paso, Texas. We're just here going to do a podcast, another podcast for the local area business talk. So anyway, let's just introduce you to the public. You've been a lawyer here in El Paso? For how many years? For about uh 49 years. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

Going on 50, I think.

SPEAKER_00 0:25

Well, I can't remember anymore.

SPEAKER_01 0:27

That's a long time.

SPEAKER_00 0:29

That's great, man. What kind of areas do you of law do you cover?

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Well, mostly it's the items that are listed on my website. It's criminal law, you know, both felonies and misdemeanors. I do uh expunctions and the sealing of records, which is where you seal it from uh the public's eyes. I do expunctions, which is the same thing, but it actually uh clears criminal histories that people have when background checks are done totally off of their record. I do uh things having to do with uh the Department of Public Safety, like driver's license issues, uh driver's license suspensions, uh the appealing of driver's license suspensions. Uh I do occupational driver's licenses, those are also called essential needs driver's licenses, and that is a way for people whose driver's licenses have been affected, impaired, you know, uh canceled, recalled, revoked, blah, blah, blah, especially CDL drivers to be able to get uh their driver's license. Uh it's basically an order from the court and uh from a judge that directs and orders the DPS to issue a license and it makes makes it so that they can legally drive in spite that the DPS has uh impaired their driver's license in some way, shape, or form. I do uh pretty much uh that sort of thing. I clear uh impediments to be able so that people aren't hindered getting their driver's licenses and registration uh thing things of that nature.

SPEAKER_00 2:15

Yeah, I see that here. I'm gonna get on your website so I can just ask you questions about the kind of things you do. So we'll just kind of go down the list and just kind of just give me a brief description of like what that entails. Um, you know, maybe talk about some of the cases you've handled in the past.

SPEAKER_01 2:30

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 2:30

But okay, so we're gonna start with the CDL. Those are commercial driver's license. I'm assuming those are like truck drivers, right?

SPEAKER_01 2:36

That's right. Uh the vast majority of CDL holders are truck drivers because a commercial driver's license is defined under the law, but basically it's something that resembles an 18-wheeler. There's a lot of small facts that aren't important to go into here. But uh CDL holders, uh, you know, many of them rely up rely on their driver's license because without the ability to drive a commercial commercial uh vehicle, then they're not able to, you know, make wages, provide for their family, you know, on and on and on. So it's a valuable privilege uh for people to have, and people, those CDL holders normally guard that privilege with a great deal of caution uh because obviously they know the the detriments of having uh not losing their license. Yeah, losing losing their license or whatnot.

SPEAKER_00 3:32

So when somebody has a CDL, I I guess you help them with their traffic tickets as well, but what happens if like a CDL holder, a commercial driver's license holder um gets their license revoked? You're able to help them get that reinstated?

SPEAKER_01 3:48

Well, now when they have certain type of suspensions, you cannot sometimes get it reinstated, but you can always get them a regular driver's license so that they can have the driving privileges that you and I would have not being CDL or commercial driver's license holders. So, yeah, and there are times when uh uh the commercial driver's license holders uh get revocation notices from the DPS, either that the DPS is seeking to cancel their license, revoke their license, suspend it, or cancel it. Um, I represent those people in hearings, and uh we can usually be successful, but if not, we always have the avenue of being able to appeal that and having a brand new hearing or a brand new trial in the court that it goes to, which is the El Paso County Courts. And what's good about that is that uh juries are sympathetic to CDL holders and we're entitled to actually have a jury trial if it becomes necessary. Usually it's not necessary. You'll usually make a deal with the district attorney to Yeah, make some deal with the DPS attorney, and if not, we we go to trial and we try the case. Okay. Yeah, it's uh it's pretty uh pretty straightforward.

SPEAKER_00 5:12

That's a great option to have. I never realized, like, you know, because somebody gets a license suspended, they usually just have to wait years and years. But it's good to know that they can hire an attorney and try to get that um fixed.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

Yeah, that's right. And a lot of people um they just aren't aware that when they get a letter from the DPS that they do have options, they have great options. Because probably uh I would say maybe 90% of those cases brought by the DPS may not even be valid legally, or if they are valid, we can always work a negotiated uh resolution where the people do not get their licenses revoked or suspended. You know, they may go on probation for a couple days, but that's not a big deal because the condition is simply that they can't be convicted of any moving violations. They can get a moving violation, they can have had a moving violation, but they just can't be found guilty during that probationary time limit set by the court. Usually it's not more than a couple months. No, it's not too bad. It's easy. It's easy, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

That's great. So that you can appeal to these types of suspensions. Is there a time limit, like for example, when their license gets suspended, where they can go seek an attorney's advice?

SPEAKER_01 6:31

Yeah, and that's really, really important. Uh, usually from the time that they get that letter, I believe it's either 15 or 20 days, and the DPS uh is very, very strict about that. Sometimes you can have what is called good cause. That's basically just you know a more fancy word than just a good reason for not having responded within the required amount of time. You know, somebody might be out of town, somebody may have just moved their home address and uh forgot to send to the post office one of those forwarding addresses or something like that. So there's a lot of options, and all of them are uh they're reasonable options, and most of the uh judges are fairly reasonable, fairly reasonable when it comes to these cases.

SPEAKER_00 7:19

Okay, great. That's that's really good information to know. Um I'm just going over here through like your website and all the types of different things that you handle. Um ODL, I'm guessing that's occupational driver's license, right? Yeah. Can you kind of go into some detail, just a little bit of detail about what that is, what that entails?

SPEAKER_01 7:36

So an occupational driver's license is just basically, well, it's also called what I mentioned before, it's called an essential needs driver's license. And basically, it's a driver's license that's given by the court, you know, ordered by the court, and it's so that people don't be deprived of their ability to go to the doctor, to pick up their kids, uh, take them to school, go to work, uh, go to whatever essential need somebody needs, the license provides uh a way to be able to go ahead and complete that particular need. Like I say, it's work, it's family items. And so, yeah, they can, you're allowed to drive for essential needs. And again, it's also called what you mentioned, an occupational driver's license. And and the way it works, if um, you know, basically the judge wants judges in these cases sometimes grant them uh without even a hearing. Uh a lot of people, a lot of the other class of people that need these are people who are arrested for DWI because any every single person in the state of Texas who's arrested for a DWI has action taken against them by the DPS attempting to suspend their license for a certain period of time. So the judges in these cases are usually very, very uh willing to give an occupational driver's license. They're supposed to when an essential need exists, like you know, picking up the kids, going to school, going to work, blah, blah, blah.

SPEAKER_00 9:18

And so is that license good throughout the whole state of Texas, or just like the area they live in, for example, just in El Paso, Texas?

SPEAKER_01 9:24

It's good in it's good everywhere where your normal license would be good. It's good in El Paso, it's good in the state of Texas, all the cities and counties, and it's good in the United States because think about it, you don't need to get a different driver's license if you're driving cross-country and you wouldn't have to get a new license at every single state that you pass through.

SPEAKER_00 9:47

Yeah, that's a good point. Yeah. So if I'm gonna say a delivery truck driver, and I got to drive from El Paso to say Van Horn every day, it's perfectly that that'll work.

SPEAKER_01 9:55

Yeah, and yeah, there's there's no restrictions. There should not be any restrictions. I don't believe if a judge imposed restrictions, that it would even be lawful. It would be contrary to existing law. Well, that's good to know.

SPEAKER_00 10:08

Um, you mentioned DWIs and DUIs. I know DWI is driving while intoxicated. DUIs are driving under the influence. You handle those types of cases too. Can you tell me the difference between those two, DWI and DUI? Is there a difference?

SPEAKER_01 10:21

I'm not sure I even know. Here's what I okay, driving under the influence just means that you're driving an automobile under the influence, but being under the influence of alcohol or medicine or drugs or whatever, uh, you can be, I guess, uh intoxicated to a point where you're not considered to be legally intoxicated because legally intoxicated has a definition in Texas. Got it. It's that you have uh.08 BAC blood alcohol content or more. Uh that's what intoxication is. There's also an there's also another definition uh because sometimes people are intoxicated, but not on alcohol, maybe on medicine, prescription or otherwise, maybe on drugs, illegal, whatever. And so um the definition of intoxication in those situations is that a person lost the normal use of their mental or and or physical faculties. So it's basically losing the normal use of your mental or physical faculties, or or or both.

SPEAKER_00 11:35

Or both, yeah. Okay, so obviously alcohol is the most most common one, but somebody smoking a lot of weed, let's say, because it you know it's legal in New Mexico and we're just down the street to get to New Mexico in like 10 minutes from here. Um I'm sure a lot of people smoke weed and drive. How does a police officer determine that um when somebody's getting pulled over under the influence and they do the alcohol test and there's no alcohol in the system, but they're still kind of a little loopy or whatever. Yeah. Maybe they drank too much NyQu or whatever, but uh how does a police officer determine that?

SPEAKER_01 12:05

Well, that's a really good question. Um, so the way the way that right now things are is that um they only have the ability to request what is called a field seriety test. Yes, I heard of that. It's basically uh, and what the law enforcement officers do is they they ask you if you'll be willing to do this, uh, which is usually an attempt by law enforcement to gather more evidence to support the case in court that you were driving under the influence or driving while you were intoxicated. And uh the field sobriety test basically has three different parts. The first part, the first part is called the horizontal gaze nystagmus, they call it the HGN test. So when you drink alcohol and maybe some other drugs, um uh it has an effect which is an involuntary effect on the on your eyeballs. And what happens is that the officer asks you to follow his finger and he takes it out one way and at a certain at a certain speed and the other way and up and down and on and on and on. And if he sees that your eyeball is jerking, that's known as a condition called nystagmus. That is an indication that you have consumed alcohol. It's not an indication of whether you're intoxicated, it just simply it's it's it basically detects the simple fact that you have alcohol in your body. Again, it doesn't it doesn't quantify how much you've had to drink. You might have the same nystagmus at.05 as you have at 0.5. So there's no way to uh for an officer to use that to measure alcohol. The other two tests are what we call the walk and turn test, where the officer tests, and this one is mental in addition to being physical. He tests your ability to uh follow his instructions where he says walk heel to toe, nine steps out, then turn around, walk nine steps back heel to toe. So what happens is that after he uh gives you instructions, he points are subtracted for points are substruct subtracted for every what they call a clue. A clue might be that you're you're you're you're you step off the line, or that you lose your balance, or that you don't under that you don't remember the instructions. Maybe you'll take three steps and turn around, on and on and on. And for every clue, points are subtracted, which gives them a way to score the test, which supposedly uh has some indication about whether you are not legally intoxicated. And the last test is something that is called the uh the OLG, one-legged stand, OLS. I'm sorry. Anyway, that's just when uh the officer gives you some instructions. You lift one of your feet off the ground straight in front of you, and uh he asks that you count, uh just begin counting, uh one 1000, two, one thousand, on and on and on to see uh how well your balance is and so on and so forth, which might be uh indications of of alcohol consumptions and uh consumption and intoxication. And so they use those tests to uh bring into the courtroom and uh try to help persuade a jury that according to the tests and the way that they were scored, that it is an indication that you were in fact, you know, dru uh uh intoxicated at the time.

SPEAKER_00 15:54

So I know this might be let me segue into this. It's pretty much similar though. Like, do you handle drug possession charges as well? Oh yes. Okay, yeah. So um kind of just talk about that real quick, maybe in a few paragraphs. Yeah, I mean, so um somebody gets arrested for some drug possession.

SPEAKER_01 16:14

Yeah. The c the classic uh, you know what's the most common, yeah. Yeah, the most common drug case uh is usually someone's driving their vehicle, and for whatever reason, a police officer finds uh what is called reasonable suspicion to pull them over, and they get pulled over, and maybe somebody just smoked a joint in the car. Cops gonna say, Well, I you know, I smell pot in here, you know, I'm gonna search your car, and that gives me the right, which it does, law enforcement has a right. They don't, you know, searching a car, searching a car or any private place is really a sacred uh right that we have under the Constitution because we have the right to be free from unreasonable search and seizures. And a car is considered a place where you have and you enjoy all these privacy rights. But when a when a police officer smells pot, you know, marijuana or any other drug, they do have a right to search your car. So again probable cause is not that well, it's reasonable suspicion at first. And then to actually arrest somebody, they do need what is called probable cause. And it means basically what it sounds like. It needs uh an important uh element of probable cause is that the police officer must be able to articulate specific facts to a judge in order that you be arrested appropriately or lawfully. And uh when it comes to just, well, you know, the cops saying, well, I had a hunch, that's not good enough, and it hasn't been good enough uh for many, many years since the Supreme Court of the United States uh decided that on a case, they have to be able to have, again, articulable facts that they can present to a judge that will assure a judge that their reason for having searched or found whatever is a valid reason under the current existing laws.

SPEAKER_00 18:18

Does that happen a lot where you get cases dismissed because the police officer didn't do the procedures correctly?

SPEAKER_01 18:24

Yeah, and police officers they try to do everything right, but a lot of times, many times they just don't get it, and they don't get it right. Uh a different way it occurs is when a police officer pulls someone who's has drugs on them over and says, Well, look, I'd like to search your car, is that okay? And people don't realize that, yeah, well, they have a right to refuse. And if they refuse, if they don't give a consent to search, then the police officer can't search unless there are other factors. There's something called exigence circumstances, and there's there's other items that may come into play, but um generally people should know that they have a right to resist and not consent to a search. Another thing that uh that uh people like you and I should know is that when you get pulled over, law enforcement many times asks these questions, well, where are you coming from and where are you going and blah, blah, blah? You know, the wise thing to do in cases like that is just politely say, Officer, I'd rather not uh I'd rather not discuss my day with you. Uh am I being detained? And if I am, what am I being detained for? You know.

SPEAKER_00 19:40

So less is more in this situation.

SPEAKER_01 19:42

Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 19:43

Yeah, it's that's good to know, not that I'm kind of driving under the influence or anything like that.

SPEAKER_01 19:46

But I had a friend who was coming back from the airport one night, and he's kind of a wise guy, and he got pulled over by a cop, and the cop starts asking, Well, where do you live? Where are you going? And he said, I want to know why you I want to know why you want. To know where I live. Why do you want to know where I live? Are you going to come visit me? You should have got arrested maybe for being rude, but you can't do that.

SPEAKER_00 20:08

Yeah. So would you advise somebody that pulled over is don't volunteer information, but still try to be as polite and courteous as possible.

SPEAKER_01 20:15

Absolutely. Try the best route. Always be as polite as you can, as short and concise as you can, and don't volunteer information. And your primary question is, Am I being detained? And if so, why?

SPEAKER_00 20:32

And so I guess this also pertains to just regular uh traffic stops. Because you do traffic tickets as well, right?

SPEAKER_01 20:39

Absolutely. Absolutely, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:40

Um, classy misdemeanors.

SPEAKER_01 20:42

Yeah, and and you know what's funny is that when a lot of c a lot of law enforcement officers pull people over, the first thing they say, for example, in a speeding deal, you know, a speeding citation, they do you know how fast you were going? Because they want the person to admit that they were going faster than the speed limit. And uh people just you know, you know, people are people are a little bit unnerved when they get pulled over. I know that I used to be. Yeah, and so uh people are kind of caught off guard and they don't seem to maintain their cool. You know. So uh yeah, if you can keep your cool in situations like that, you'll do a lot better. People a lot of times volunteer unnecessary information that may actually end up, you know, working against them. Because whatever you say to a cop before you're under arrest uh is able to be repeated by the law enforcement officer in a court of law. It's not considered hearsay, and it's not subject to the Miranda right, the Miranda rights warnings that they're required to give upon arrest.

SPEAKER_00 21:53

Well, this has been very informative. Uh it looks like you cover a lot of areas. People make mistakes, they get in trouble all the time, you know, just happens. Um, let's say you get them off on a probation, or maybe even find them guilty with a reduced fine or some kind of probationary period. That's still on the record, right? So do you have like a mechanism where you can get things I you do expungements as well, right?

SPEAKER_01 22:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:15

Criminal expun, or kind of go into that, like where you can just kind of get something off somebody's record?

SPEAKER_01 22:21

Sure. And and that that's a really good question because so so many, so I mean, much of the public, so so many people are not aware that um when you uh get a criminal record of any sort, even if it, even if it's a traffic ticket, uh if you get a misdemeanor, felony, uh there are ways to deal with that so that it doesn't it doesn't pop up when people do background checks on you. And I tell all my clients, especially those that are young, look, those young people are going to be going out, they're gonna be looking for jobs, they're gonna be looking for apartments, they're gonna be getting loans, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So if you have anything on your criminal record, yeah, it can it can really affect all of those things. Could hinder, yeah. Yeah, I mean, it has a lot of collateral consequences. And I encourage everybody to, when it's possible, to always make sure that they've eliminated any arrests or other items on their criminal history so that it doesn't continue to pop up, you know. And and there's it the the expunction, so there's two things basically, and uh and only two things. The the two ways to protect your record in Texas are by expunction, that's the first one, and then by what is called an order of non-disclosure. The order of non-disclosure is basically where a person is able to get their criminal history sealed, sealed from the public view. So there are um expunctions uh is the better of the two, and I do both expunctions and non-disclosures. Expunction is a process where we file a lawsuit and we request that a judge uh order all the records, all the records of any criminal event on your record that pops up or doesn't pop up, that it be expunged. Expunction just means it's a way to destroy all the criminal records that exist. And the really neat thing is that when you get an expunction, you can even deny the existence of that particular occurrence.

SPEAKER_00 24:33

So you mean like on a job application, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:35

You can legally deny that it happened. And it shouldn't pop up anywhere, ever.

SPEAKER_00 24:40

So it's like it never happened.

SPEAKER_01 24:42

Yeah, it's like exactly right. It's as if it never happened. Now, um it the expunction statute is kind of complicated, but you know, when you have a complicated situation, most of them are pretty straightforward. People call me if they're it when I ask them how the case was disposed, if they give me an accurate description, I can usually tell them right then and there whether they're gonna be eligible for an expunction. And if they're not, um, they may also, they may be eligible next for an order of non-disclosure where their records are sealed from the public. And that's just a process where a judge uh makes an order that the person's records are sealed from the public use. There's a lot of exceptions. Many agencies can still get those records. Law enforcement can always get it. Uh uh licensing agencies in the state of Texas can always get it. Like if you go to work for a hairstylist, I think they need a license. So a hairstylist may be able to get that information because she requires a license from the state of Texas to do and conduct her business. So, but they're they're really valuable.

SPEAKER_00 25:57

Even with the expunction, they can still get access to that?

SPEAKER_01 26:00

No, that's only when that's only on the order of non-disclosure. Dysfunction, again, it erases everything off your record. You can deny it ever happening.

SPEAKER_00 26:08

Even if you like apply to like the border patrol or the SCP.

SPEAKER_01 26:11

Anything. Now, the federal, the federal people, the the federal system, I think does I I'm not sure, but they do some sort of retention, but it's very, very, very limited, so far as I know. And I've never, I don't think I've ever done an expunction where my client has told me that it popped up on the federal side.

SPEAKER_00 26:29

Wow, what a what an amazing tool to have for people that you know made mistakes and stuff like that. It's great. Well, Mike, um, just real quick, this is uh Aronton Law Firm here in El Paso, Texas, at 7362 Remcon Circle, uh El Paso, Texas, located here on the west side. Um, but you handle all of El Paso County, is that correct?

SPEAKER_01 26:51

Yeah, and I handle uh I handle a lot of stuff statewide. Uh Class C misdemeanors that are in justice of the peace courts throughout the state. Okay. I do those. Uh sometimes I'll do a municipal ticket in another county. Uh I do uh criminal cases uh close by, but if it's if it's if it's further than you know the neighboring two or three counties, I always consider doing that, or I try to uh work with an attorney down in whatever area the event occurred.

SPEAKER_00 27:21

So yeah, I uh you know I try to What's a good phone number if anybody's watching this to give you a call, get a consultation.

SPEAKER_01 27:28

Should I give you my office or myself?

SPEAKER_00 27:32

Office for your secretary. It's hard to get a hold of you myself.

SPEAKER_01 27:36

So uh well, my office number is 915 533 0110.

SPEAKER_00 27:44

Yeah, so it's Aaron Loffer, Michael Aronson, thank you so much. Thank you. Appreciate it, David. I appreciate you.