Lots of variables. How’s her driving record? What was her BAC? Did she cooperate w/ the cops?
I think I spend a couple of grand for a good lawyer, but she probably needs to interview a few, in person, before she decides on one. She needs someone w/ a good track record on defending DUI cases. Ask them about stategy and what they think they can do for her.
She might get lucky by just pleading guilty, but I wouldn’t put any money on it.
MacTech will hate me, but about 15 years ago I got popped. Poor judgement and skipping dinner put me right at the legal limit. I learned from my mistakes, and learned a couple other things. She’ll want a lawyer from the jurisdiction where she got popped. And the lawyer with the biggest ad doesn’t hurt either. It helps to have a lawyer that knows what works with what judges, and the ins and outs of various departments.
I didn’t do any of that, and pretty much had the book thrown at me. A guy I know did at about the same time frame, and did everything I mentioned, and got it knocked down to nearly nothing, and had no increase in insurance.
The increase in insurance is what kills you. I’m sure it cost me thousands over the 7 years it was on my record. The more expensive lawyer would have been worth it, not the hack I had.
Agreed, though are feelings aren’t THAT far apart.
Anne, when I finally got to see her, we talked about how things could have been MUCH worse. Her sister was involved in an accident in high school that resulted in the other driver dying (though it wasn’t alcohol related). It messed her up for a long time and my GF was reminded of how terrible it was for her sister.
Of course, I’m going to be supportive of her. I told her we need to lay low, stick to a budget to help us with fees, and plan a lot more instead of being reckless.
I’m omitting that info because I don’t want people chiming in with legal advice. I agree with you about shopping for lawyers though, and in fact, that’s what she’s been doing on her off time all week.
Not good advice, IMHO. I once presented (in a speeding case, not DUI) reams of evidence that hospital machines interferred with radar guns (the stop was in front of a hospital), that radar guns are inaccurate unless properly calibrated, that the cop didn’t know how the gun worked, and that he might have been reflecting off a stop sign, and the judge said:
“I don’t care if the cop was reading a stationary stop sign. If the radar gun said the stop sign was speeding, it’s gonna get a ticket and I’ll convict it.”
:rolleyes:
I hope “plan a lot more instead of being reckless” isn’t just financial. It should include making sure that, if she’ll be driving, she won’t be drinking beforehand, or if she’s drinking, that she won’t be driving later. It might mean not going out for drinks to somewhere that she has to drive. It might even mean giving up drinking altogether.
I don’t want to turn this into a debate, so I’ll just comment on this and then bow out.
None of us (except Flander) know how dangerous she actually was that night behind the wheel. All any of us can say right now, based on the information we have, is that she did something wrong. If she had a BAC twice the legal limit, then Anne Neville’s comment is correct. If she was “impaired to the slightest degree,” as can get you convicted in some states, then no, what she was doing was really no more likely to kill someone than just regular driving.
I personally feel, based on the experiences of friends in the justice system, that people convicted of DUIs are really convenient to hate, but many of them aren’t (weren’t) actually dangerous. Some of them are–including my friend convicted twice of extreme DUI. Now HE was a murder waiting to happen. My friend who was also convicted after having a beer with lunch–not so much.
/end hijack
To add to NurseCarmen’s comment: it really is the insurance increases that kill you. And sometimes (often?) the insurance penalties go on years after the state considers you an upright citizen again.
I understand, no need to post the details, I’m just point out some of the more obvious things that might affect her case.
Again, I’d advise her to visit the lawyers in person, not on the phone. Most will give you 20-30 minutes for free, or maybe a token fee, like $20 to $50.
Indeed, it does.
Thanks everyone for your answers so far and not turning this into a debate on morality.
Please, continue the conversation.
I can only give you anechdotal evidence from Northern Ohio, and this happened all in the last year.
I have a friend who got stopped for DUI about a year ago. Male, 30’s. He definitely drinks too much. He hired the best DUI lawyer in the county, paid a lot, and it got reduced to a minor event. Now before anyone gets upset about this, I wasn’t there, I don’t know all the circumstances, etc.
He got caught again a few months ago, and this time he’s SOL. Spent 2 weeks in the slammer, and no car for months. But, my point was he paid for a good lawyer and got what appears to us on the outside, a better break the first time. He would tell your GF to hire the best.
I’m getting the sneaking suspicion that it would behoove her to hire a good lawyer. If the law is cut n dry, how do lawyers fight things like this?
A good lawyer will find out that the arresting officer didn’t click his heels three times, shout “TROUSERS!” whilst standing on one leg, or any of a number of other things.
Slightly OT: the latest anti drink-driving TV campaign here has footage of a guy breaking out in a sweat when the red and blues start flashing in his mirror, and the soundtrack is “Better Get a Lawyer, Son…”
Sorry no. I have seen it done in a controlled setting. I have gone through the training. The proverbial “two beers” will barely show up on a breathalyzer. No way anyone will be over the legal limit with just one beer. Unless it was someone who was under 21 then any alcohol would be enough for a conviction. You were not told the whole story.
Flander even with a lawyer there is a good chance that she would get the same deal that she would without one. (We usually will drop all other charges except the DUI as a plea bargain) However, DUI is a serious enough charge that I would always advise someone to get a lawyer. At the very least any halfway competent lawyer can ensure that all the procedures were followed, the breathalyzer was in good working order and the proper charges were filed. In the end your GF will at least know that she wasn’t pressured into anything from the prosecutor and didn’t miss anything that a lawyer would see.
I wondered the same thing myself but I have seen claims that some expert DUI lawyers can get their clients off of the more serious charges 80+% of the time. They specialize in wealthy executives and others that simply can’t tolerate such a thing on their record and are willing to pay 10 - 15K for such a defense.
The only thing I have learned is that specialized DUI lawyers will challenge anything and everything associated with the arrest and testing. This includes everything about the circumstances of the stop to the tinniest minutia of how the BAL was determined. I think that most prosecutors just give up after a certain point. It isn’t like a DUI is a capital murder and a good lawyer can just wear the prosecution down so that they just want to deal with the legal wranglings anymore.
One thing I would suggest is that you have a come to Jesus discussion with her on drinking and driving.
No, not what you think. I have driven after drinking. A lot of us have. But I don’t have a past DUI.
Look up the punishment for a second DUI convection. Here in California the punishment is approaching Draconian for a second or third offense. She should absolutely not do any drinking and driving from now on.
One other piece of advice would be if she gets sent to a alcohol diversion program is to keep her mouth shut and for OG’s sake not mouth off. Those people will tear her alive if she exhibits an attitude like this. If asked she should say, I made a mistake, in a way it is a good thing, since I didn’t hurt anyone, it was a good wake up call.
I had a student get popped for a DUI and I gave him this advice. He told me later that I was 100% correct and he thanked me for it. He said some other people popped an attitude and the program was a huge hemorrhoid for them.
Why? This is just the thing to get her back on her feet…!
…and the hell off the roads.
Get a lawyer. Best one she can afford. There can be many reasons for either outright dismissal or at least a lower penalty. A good friend of mine is a lawyer and these are some of the issues that can be raised. NOTE: THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE.
First of all, why was she stopped? The lawyer might be able to show that there was no probable cause for the stop (assuming she didn’t hit anything). If there were roadside tests administered, were they done correctly? If not, then there goes that evidence. Some towns have video in the patrol cars. If so, the lawyer can get that tape and have it looked at by an expert witness who can address the above question.
Second, were proper procedures followed in administering the breathalyzer?
Third, are there any errors in the police report? If the cop put down one inaccurate thing (car is red? No, it’s green.), then the rest of his report can be questioned. How long was the officer on patrol? Is it possible he was overtired and made errors in the arrest?
Fourth: Were there any other factors that might have caused the BAC test to be inaccurate? Besides checking the machine’s calibration, was the officer properly trained in its use? I heard of one case where the person who administered the test had NEVER been trained. He said he was, but on investigation it turned out that on the date he claimed to have been, he was actually somewhere else. Some medicines – and even certain brands of chewing gum – have been alleged to throw off BAC machines. If a person was bleeding, that could throw off the machine big time. So if the accused had, say, a mouth ulcer at the time, or bit his/her lip in distress when arrested, or had recently had dental work, blood in the mouth could make the test inaccurate. Or if she had some dental problem and was using an alcohol-based medicine to treat it.
None of this is intended to excuse driving while impaired in any way. I would not condone such behavior. The idea is to reduce the penalty as much as possible, and then absolutely, positively, never, ever drive while impaired.
[QUOTE=Sunspace If she is convicted, she’ll have to jump through more hoops to cross the Canadian border. I believe that people with convictions for impaired driving are routinely turned away unless they’ve applied for and gotten specific permission beforehand. I don’t know how other countries handle this.[/QUOTE]
Canada asks about convictions when you cross the border, but they don’t pull records. I know people who have told the truth and been turned back, I know people who have lied and gotten across.
Back in the 60’s and 70’s I used to drink and drive as a matter of course, it was quite common. Many of the bars would give ‘last call’ in a plastic ‘go-go’ cup. I was very lucky, the only thing I can recall hitting was a rural mail box. I did get busted twice in the early 70’s, cost me a fine of a couple hundred plus a couple hundred more for a lawyer (that’s about two grand in todays dollars). In the early 80’s I got my commercial license and realized that a DUI would put me out of business, in addition to the fines and possible jail time, so I quit drinking and driving. Today I won’t get behind the wheel after I drink any alcohol, not even to run a couple of blocks to the store.
I certainly don’t condone drinking and driving and if I can prevent someone from doing it, I will. OTOH I can understand someone making a bad decision (drunks don’t think logically) and I believe the the holier than thou attitude needs to be tempered w/ some understanding of real life circumstances. On a first offense, by an otherwise responsible person, I see no logic in taking action, especially jail time, that is going to cause repercussions that threaten the persons livelyhood and perhaps affect their family and cause them to end up loing everthing they’ve worked for.
See http://criminal-law.freeadvice.com/drunk_driving/florida-dui.htm
Found it by using these words in a Google search —> Florida DUI
:rolleyes:
Aaannnnyway…
Rick, I’ve looked up the penalties. They aren’t nice. I’ll keep your advice on hand about the Alcohol school behavior.
MLS, the points you brought up are all things that I’ve thought about. I’m hoping we can get a competent lawyer that will be able to determine if such things will help us.
I agree.