If you've been arrested for public intoxication in Galveston, there's a good chance it happened near the Seawall. It's lined with bars and restaurants, it's busy almost every night, and it draws locals and visitors from all over the country for conferences, festivals and Mardi Gras. A lot of good nights there end with somebody in handcuffs.
Most people I talk to after one of these arrests say the same thing: "It's just a ticket, right?" Not exactly. Public intoxication is fine-only, but it is still a criminal offense, and if it isn't handled correctly it becomes a permanent conviction on your criminal history. Police, businesses, apartments, friends and family can find out about it. For most of my clients, the real goal isn't the fine. It's keeping this off their record.
What public intoxication actually is
Texas Penal Code Section 49.02 says a person commits an offense if they appear in a public place while intoxicated to the degree that they may endanger themselves or another person.
That last part matters. The police don't just have to prove you were intoxicated and in public. You have to become a danger to yourself or others. Typically police don't get involved unless there's some kind of altercation, somebody reports that you crossed the road between the beach and the restaurants in a dangerous way, or an officer sees it happen. People get stopped walking or riding bikes, too.
And yes, the beach is a public place. Anywhere the public has access to can be a public place for public intoxication. So can the area right outside a bar. If you get into an argument inside a place that sells alcohol and they kick you out, you're now in public, and you can be arrested there.
Why it usually ends in an arrest, not a citation
Public intoxication typically results in an arrest, because if the officer just lets you go, you're still in that same unsafe situation. Sometimes an officer will try to let you get a ride. If you can't get one quickly, you get arrested.
It also happens to passengers. Your driver gets pulled over and arrested for DWI. You were in a private vehicle a minute ago; now you're standing on the side of the road in public, and the officer has nothing else to do with you. So you get arrested too.
The punishment: a fine, but a conviction
Public intoxication is a Class C misdemeanor in Texas, punishable by a fine of up to $500. A Class C offense can't be punished with jail time, only a fine. The exception is the arrest itself: you can be held in custody until you're sober.
That's why people underestimate it. A fine sounds like a traffic ticket. But if you just pay it, you've been convicted of a criminal offense, and that conviction doesn't go away on its own.
Where a Seawall case gets filed
Class C cases like public intoxication arrests in the city are filed in the Galveston Municipal Court. Court records there can be searched online by anyone with an internet connection.
Don't try to contact the court on your own to "explain." Anything you say can and will be used against you in a criminal proceeding. It's always better to let a lawyer contact the court for you. Your attorney can file a letter of representation and get discovery, the documents and videos in the case, which can help prove your innocence or get your case dismissed.
Early in my career as a prosecutor, I handled Class C cases, and I wrote my office's JP prosecutor manual. I know how these cases get built, and I know where they fall apart.
You don't have to keep driving back to Galveston
Galveston is a destination. A lot of the people arrested on the Seawall live somewhere else, or they own a beach home and don't want to be traveling back and forth for court dates. If you hire an attorney on a public intoxication case, we can appear for you. We go to court, negotiate with the prosecutor, present an argument to the judge if we need to, and try to work the case out so you don't have to come back to court at all.
Dismissal first, then expunction
The best way to get a case "off your record" is to get it dismissed and then expunged.
An expunction is a separate civil proceeding in Texas. It's a legal device that allows you to remove the case from your record completely. Every government agency involved has to delete its records: the court, the prosecutor, the jail, everybody who knew you got arrested or wrote a report has to destroy those documents.
For a Class C misdemeanor, expunction is available if you were acquitted, if the charge was dismissed, or if you were granted a deferred disposition. If you were convicted of the Class C, you are not eligible for an expunction. That's the whole reason I don't want my clients just paying the fine.
If we can get it dismissed, that means we'll be able to get it expunged later, and that is the best thing that can happen in a criminal case.
The short version
A public intoxication arrest on the Galveston Seawall is fine-only, but a conviction is permanent. The State has to show more than drinking in public; it has to show you were a danger to yourself or others. And the path to a clean record runs through a dismissal or deferred disposition, followed by an expunction, not through paying the ticket.
This post is for educational purposes only and is not legal advice.