A friend of mine got busted last night for DUI and first-degree negligent driving after crashing his motor scooter.
Nobody was hurt, but his breathalyzer results are really bad.
Plus he was driving without a license and with expired plates. (Because this was on a motor scooter, not in a car, at least he didn’t get nailed for having no insurance as well.)
He needs an attorney ASAP.
Got any recommendations for DUI attorneys in the Seattle area? Or anybody he should avoid?
I’m a member of the National Motorists Organization (http://www.motorists.org), and I’ve already gotten some info from them.
First thing your friend needs to do is to plea “not guilty” at the arraignment. You don’t need an attorney for this, but it won’t hurt. A “not guilty” plea buys time, and can always be changed later if you decide there’s little chance of winning.
When shopping for an attorney, there’s several things to look for. First and foremost, get an attorney who regularly practices CRIMINAL LAW!!!
Far too many people choose to be represented by a their dad’s best friend’s nephew “who is a lawyer” - or something, only to find out that the lawyer has no experience in criminal law. Criminal law is a specialty, and DWI/DUI is a specialty unto its own.
DWI/DUI law is loaded with technicalities, i.e., many opportunities for the cse to be dismissed before a trial.
I gotta go right now, but I’ll post again later tonight with more info on finding the right attorney.
BTW, Mrs. Tonk is a criminal defense attorney who makes a big fat living doing DWI/DUI cases.
That confirms much of the info I was able to glean from Internet research and talks with some lawyers.
The arraignment was last night, and my friend did indeed plead not guilty. He’s got six weeks till trial. He has to attend 5 (!) AA meetings a week, plus the usual stuff about staying sober and not driving without a license.
He’s not the most rational person (as you may have guessed from the extent of the charges), and he’s going to go with the public defender. He’s not interested in anything other than staying out of jail, which means no hunting for technicalities that could get the case dismissed.
I’m not impressed with how he’s handling things, so I think any future discussion on the matter will have to go into MPSIMS or The Pit.
But again, thanks for the info.
At least now I know what to do should such a bad thing happen to me. Which I swear it won’t. I’ve already got taxi company phone numbers programmed into the cell phone!
Public Defense attorneys can provide very effective representation, especially for DWI/DUI cases. These are routine very common cases, and Public Defenders generally have a lot of experience with them.
In general though, when shopping for an attorney, look for one who has a lot of experience in similar cases. Often, criminal defense attorneys advertise that they have former experience as a District Attorney or as a Municipal Prosecutor. They have the distinct advantage of having worked to convict defendants in the past, so they can easily find the weaknesses in any case they take on.
A friend of mine was arrested a couple of weeks ago for DUI in WA. Friend usually walks, as the place is only a couple blocks from home. Apparently, Friend’s two friends were too drunk to drive, so Friend decided to drive them back to Friend’s place. Pulled over as soon as they were out of the parking lot.
Friend has never been in any legal trouble. Friend never drinks and drives (except this once). Friend was trying to help out two other friends so they wouldn’t get pulled over. (Friend is not a friend of irony.) Friend has a good job, is educated, visits his/her mother frequently in the nursing home, served in a very responsible position in Desert Storm, and is appalled and embarrassed at the late events.
Okay, there’s the background. Can anyone say what the penalties are for this? It can be hard to get across the Canadian border if you have a conviction for DUI. Friend admits he/she was wrong (but entered a plea of “not guilty”), has a good lawyer who is on good terms with the prosecutor, and the likelihood of this happenning again is remote. Any chance Friend can get off without a conviction? Some sort of plea-bargain?
Here in California, the penatly for a first offense is the firing squad. What’s it like in Washington state?
Why was he drinking and driving in the first place? To drunk to walk? Does he enjoy hot prison man love?
Pardon me if this belongs in the ‘Pit’, but we lost a 16 year-old to a drunk driver who had five prior DUI convictions. You can take away their license, but not the car.
For starters, Get a book, Beat that Ticket. Next, freeadvice.com, for a lawyer or callyour local bar assn & ask for a referal. DUI’s Usually cost about $750.00 & up.
Basically he should have NOT taken the breath test. Sure, you get a suspended license for a year, sure beats a year in the can.
I notice that people’s ‘friends’ here have pretty interesting lives.
These are the kind of things that an experienced defense attorney can accomplish. It all depends on the case though.
DAs are usually reluctant to go to trial unless the case is reasonably strong (but they will take a relatively weak case to trial against a weak or ineffective defense attorney). But trials are a lot of work. The DA can count on 2 or 3 days out of the office, all the while letting more work pile up on his desk. For the DA, a trial is very often a real pain, so they commonly try to avoid trials by negotiating deals.
A common situation goes something like this:
DA knows the weaknesses from the start (but keeps them to himself), hoping the defendant will plea guilty to the original charge. The competent defense attorney finds and exposes these weaknesses to the DA, and threatens to take the case to trial. Now both sides know it is a weak case. So the DA, rather than take a case to trial which he stands a good chance of losing, will typically offer a lesser charge, e.g., reckless driving, in exchange for a guilty plea by the defendant.
So the result of all this is - DA gets a sure “win” (conviction), the defnedant still gets sentenced and pays a fine, and the DA didn’t spend three days in court risking a “not guilty” verdict on a case he had slim chances of winning.
I can’t speak for Washington, but in my jurisdiction, first time offenders get mandatory 3 days in jail, mandatory 90 license revokation, big monetary fine (couple thousand bucks) and usually some form of alcohol treatment.
And yeah, a DWI is considered a felony in Canada, and they don’t care if it happened in the U.S. Makes it a real pain in the ass when you cross the border I understand.
