Tag Archives: pleading on dui charges

5 Questions to Ask a DUI or DWI Lawyer

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Do you specialize in DUI law?
As often noted on this blog, not all lawyers are equal. If you want to file a injury lawsuit, you get an injury lawyer. If you want to beat DUI charges, you hire an experienced DUI lawyer. You want  someone who specializes in DUI law. If you find a lawyer who does not specialize, find a new one. Every state has different DUI laws, which can be quite complex. One state may punish you based on how intoxicated you were. Another state may punish you more for multiple offenses. Different states may have different laws on refusing a breathalyzer. If you hire a lawyer with no DUI experience, it’s like asking a therapist to work on your knee.

How much do you charge?
Price should be an early question. Obviously you should be able to afford your DUI or DWI lawyer. You should be able to hire the best one at the price you can afford. Few of us can afford to spend tens of thousands. But you can hire one who specializes in DUI law; You can hire someone with availability. You can hire one who you can communicate well with. And you can do all this for a fair price.

Can I win a not guilty plea?
In the majority if DUI cases, you should plead not guilty. It’s a matter of course: you never want to plead guilty. If you don’t fight, you are accepting the charges. If you avoid hiring a lawyer, plead guilty, and think this may save you some time and money, it won’t. You will simply be charged to the full extent of the law. If you plead not guilty, you can do things like question the charges, question the validity of the breath or blood tests, even question the honest of the arresting officer. Many, many things occur in DUI cases which can be brought up in court. So ask your lawyer if you think you truly have a chance of winning a not guilty plea. You almost always can find something to fight.

Should I plead guilty?
It deserves to be said again: plead not guilty. Again, you can either save time and money by pleading guilty, then getting fairly damaging charges, or give yourself a chance to win in court.

How can you help me?
Finally, you want to be clear that this DUI lawyer can truly help you. It can save you some valuable time and money if you simply ask your lawyer upfront what he or she can do to help you avoid charges. Ask for a DUI defense strategy. Ask if any experts can be called in to question the charges. Ask how this whole process will end.

What is a DUI Plea Bargain and How Can It Help?

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Plea bargains are rare in DUI cases, but remember that successful DUI defenses themselves can be difficult. For one, if the officer, the breathalyzer, and the blood test say you were over the legal limit, you will likely have trouble defending the charges. There are many defenses for DUI, however, and this is not to say you have no chance. In fact, DUI defenses can limit charges based on the actions of the officer, the validity of the tests, and the exact circumstances of the arrest.

As our first point, if an officer pulls you over for no reason, you have rights. You can’t just be pulled over for no reason; well, legally you can’t. If an officer profiled you because of the make of your car, your skin color, your sex, or any other reason, and makes no clear case for why he or she pulled you over, you often have a strong DUI case. Officer profiling is an unfortunate fact of life, but it does not make it right. This defense can be difficult to prove without a good lawyer.

Or the officer could have made other mistakes. He or she might have caught you sitting in a car but not driving. This actually does happen, where you weren’t driving and sometimes had no intention of driving. In this case, a defense can be made that you were not driving at all, therefore breaking no laws.

An officer can also fail to use the breathalyzer correctly. It’s common for drivers to believe the breathalyzer is 100% accurate. It’s not. It depends on how the officer uses it. If you fail the blood test, that is much more damning in court, as it’s the most accurate test for alcohol.

The last mistake an officer may make we’ll go over is the Miranda. By law, upon arrest you need to be told your rights – you have the right to remain silent, to an attorney, etc. – and if not, the officer has made a big mistake. This too doesn’t happen to often, but sometimes the arresting officer can forget and this leads to a strong defense.

Defenses are based on many other points beyond how the officer acted. The main goals of a DUI defense are to cast doubt on the officer, on the evidence against you (like the BAC tests), and to prove you were no danger to other drivers.

While rare, plea bargains can be struck in cases where the defense has proven a key point. If the officer’s arrest can be doubted, it can lead to a successful innocence plea. Where there is more evidence, and it’s clear you were drinking or using drugs, plea bargains can be made to save time. While it may sound odd, in criminal law courts plea bargains are quite common, mainly because of the backlog in the system and full prisons. This does not happen too often in DUI, as you rarely spend major prison time and DUI arrests are quite often punished.

The basis of a plea bargain depends on the nature of the crime, the strength of evidence in the case, and the chances you’ll get a guilty charge in the final sentence.

Who can help with this? You will have no DUI defense without a DUI lawyer. A DUI lawyer is your best means of getting charges dropped or a plea bargain. Of course, charges dropped is much better, but usually you will get some penalties. The main goal of a DUI defense is to limit charges, by showing evidence and influencing the opinion of judge or jury.

Just remember, without a proper lawyer in any criminal law case, your chances of charges being dropped or getting a plea bargain are much less.

Why Plead Guilty to DUI?

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You admit to the officer you’ve been drinking, and she asks how much you drank. You answer, and she says you’ll have to take a breathalyzer and a sobriety test. Then, you fail the breathalyzer, or you pass it and completely fail the sobriety test.

Many mistakes are being made in these examples. It’s not wrong to admit you’ve been drinking, but there is a fine line when it comes to answering questions you may have to fight in court. Yes, you can admit to drinking, but 1) just because you fail a breathalyzer does not mean your guilty, 2) the officer has to follow the  law too, and 3) you do not have to take sobriety tests.

An effective defense against DUI  is often  bargaining with the prosecution for a lesser charge. In other ways, you can show the judge or jury enough doubt about the case to make it tougher for the prosecution to win with full charges.

Why can the breathalyzer be wrong?
Breathalyzers can be wrong. The most effective test  for BAC (blood alcohol content) is in fact not the breathalyzer which any officer can give, but the blood test. Alcohol goes into your blood and that’s the best way to test for it.

Breathalyzers can vary in accuracy from person to person. It is clearly not an exact science. The breathalyzer tests blood alcohol from exhaled air, which is then multiplied greatly to get an estimate. If it sounds flawed, that’s because it’s simply the most convenient test for officers on the road. Yes, it is accurate much of the time, but it often does not stand in court without further evidence. Breathalyzer tests have been proven to be wrong in many cases. Just because you fail one does not mean you should plead guilty.

Why not take a sobriety test?
Also, if you plead guilty based on a sobriety test, it’s a mistake. If you fail both the breathalyzer and sobriety test, you still need not necessarily plead guilty. Why? Quite simply, sobriety tests are optional, and some officers perform them incorrectly. So we now know breathalyzers and sobriety tests can be inaccurate.

What mistakes can the officer make?
The officer can pull you over without probable cause. He or she might pull you over based on how your car looks or more often how you look. This is against the law, “profiling” suspects before they’ve done anything wrong. Also, if you choose to take a sobriety test just to prove your not drunk, the officer may  not perform it accurately. Another way officers make mistakes is never reading your rights, the Miranda.

When should you plead guilty?
There are cases where pleading guilty to lesser charges is definitely smart. However, never make this decision without the counsel of a DUI lawyer. You need someone who has years experience in handling cases just like yours. Never, ever plead guilty without consulting a lawyer.