I'm trying to enhance a DWI to a felony. One of the prior convictions from 1990 contains an order discharging defendant from probation. The order states "IT... Ordered and adjudged by the court that the finding of guilty heretofore entered in this cause is hereby set aside, the complaint and information in this case be, and the same are hereby dismissed and the defendant be, and he is hereby discharged from probation". It appears that there is no conviction and I'm stuck with a misdemeanor dwi. Am I wrong?

This crops up every now and then. It is still available for enhancement.

For the previous thread on the same issue, click here.

Bet that is a Dallas County case . . .

The basis for the advise to "ignore it" can be found in the following cases:

Anderson v. State, 110 SW3d 98 (Tex. App. - Dallas 2003, no pet)
Jordy v. State, 969 SW2d 528 (Tex. App. - Fort Worth 1998, no pet)
Mahaffey v. State, 937 SW2d 51 (Tex. App. - Houston 1996, no pet)

Well, geez, Richard, now you sound all scholarly and everything for suggesting there has to be a legal reason to ignore a defense argument. I find that some of the best legal arguments are simply made with a straight face and the line, "Now, judge, don't you know if that was the law then we couldn't prosecute anyone for a repeat DWI?"

There is the correct answer and the correct answer with case cites. No one can say this forum is unhelpful.

Given how some judges feel about the number of DWI cases pending on their dockets I am afraid the response to John's query might be "and what's wrong with that?"

Am I the only prosecutor on this website that likes the judges in his/her county?

JB not everyone is as lucky as we are !

I like all the judges where I work. (Oh, wait! They pay me to say that, don't they? )