DUI Information

When the police make an arrest for DUI they will normally take your license.

We can help you get your license back. We can also help you fight your case in court.

Here's how:

Within ten days we need to file a request with the Department of Motor Vehicles. The request will generate two things:

1. A thirty-day license to drive for work purposes only;
2. A hearing at the DMV within thirty days.

It is important to remember that what happens in court and what happens at the DMV are independent of each other. That means you can win your DMV hearing and get your license back, but you can still lose it in court with the DUI prosecution.

At the DMV hearing we will do the following things: check the DMV file about ten days before the hearing. The police are required to transmit certain paperwork to the DMV. If they do not do this, then we will be able to win your DMV hearing. If the paperwork is in the file, then we will probably subpoena the police officers to the DMV for the hearing and make legal arguments on your behalf before the hearing officer.

License suspension from the DMV

There are different types of license suspensions for DUI's depending on certain facts, including whether the driver gave a breath sample. However, here are the basic rules: at the DMV a person who loses the hearing and does not give a breath sample will lose their license to drive for one year for a first refusal to provide a breath sample. A person who does provide a breath sample over the legal limit of .08 will lose their license to drive for six months. If a driver loses their license at the DMV hearing we can still help the driver get a work permit. This involves taking and completing an approved DUI course.

Once we get you a 30-day work permit, we will begin work on your court case.

The Court Case

A DUI is a serious criminal offense and a conviction can result in jail time, fines or fees and employment or school consequences. Do not take a DUI arrest lightly.

In court, we can challenge the evidence against you. In some cases, the officer may not have used the proper procedures or followed the law.

If you took a breath test, we may be able to get the results thrown out. In such cases, the prosecutor will often offer to settle the case with what’s called a “breakdown,” allowing our client to plead guilty to a lesser charge of reckless driving. This can avoid jail time for the client.

Even if the evidence in a case is strong, we may be able to negotiate a plea deal that will avoid jail time. The circumstances of every case are different, but some things we might be able to negotiate include a suspended sentence or community service instead of jail. For some clients, being able to serve a sentence on weekends in order to continue working may be a good resolution.