Driving Under the Influence

It’s the end of the night; you check your phone for an Uber… 20-minute wait and 3x surge pricing. Your last drink was over an hour ago, so you’re pretty sure you ok. This is the start of a DUI.



You were pulled over for failing to signal a lane change, or swerving within the lane, you are given a series of field sobriety tests, a preliminary breath test and taken “downtown” to blow the intoxilyzer Before you leave the station you are given a Temporary Restricted License, a court date in about a month and you are told that if you don’t take action your license will be suspended.

Now is the time to call an attorney

There are two parts to any DUI, the administrative case and the criminal case.

In the Administrative case the State will automatically suspend your privilege to drive unless you take some action to stop it; you can either: request an administrative hearing; or have a breathalyzer or interlock installed in your car. In the majority of cases we will recommend that you have the interlock installed in your car. We refer our clients to Drager (link Drager to https://www.draeger.com/en-us_us/Ignition-Interlock ), and provide instructions on how to get the interlock installed when you hire us. By having the interlock installed in your car, you will be able to keep driving.

Your criminal charge will depend on how many prior convictions you have for driving under the influence in the past fifteen years. With each prior conviction the jail time, fines, and period of license revocation increase. (range of sentences – link range of sentence sheet). Having someone who knows what defenses are effective and when to negotiate a plea agreement can make the difference between a dismissal, probation or jail.

As a part of any DUI case we recommend that you get a drug and alcohol evaluation. If you are convicted you are required to have an evaluation as a part of sentencing. If you are not convicted, it is still important to find out if you have an addiction, so you are not here again. We recommend either Christine Baccari ( https://www.baccari.com/ ) or Dwite Peterson. The initial consultation is free and we can often answer many of your questions over the phone before we meet.