Charge 01 / DUI
Defending a DUI
A DUI arrest starts two cases at once: the criminal charge, and a separate one over your driver's license. Miss the license deadline and you can lose it before the criminal case is ever heard.
We start with the stop. An officer needs a reason to pull you over, and another reason to ask you out of the car. We get the dashcam and bodycam video, the dispatch log and the breath machine's maintenance records, and we read them against what the report says happened.
Then the test. Breath and blood results can be challenged: how long after driving the sample was taken, whether the machine was calibrated, who handled the blood and where it sat. A number on a printout is the start of the question, not the end of it.
Most DUI cases end without a trial, in a dismissal, a reduced charge or a plea you understood before you took it. When the evidence is thin and the offer is bad, we try the case.
The first weeks
What happens after you call about a DUI
- 01
Step 1: Request the license hearing
Many states give you only days to ask for one. We file the request so your license isn't suspended by default.
- 02
Step 2: Hold the video
Dashcam, bodycam and booking-room video can be recorded over. We send preservation letters right away.
- 03
Step 3: Read the test records
Calibration logs, the operator's training records, the blood sample's chain of custody.
- 04
Step 4: Put the options in writing
The realistic outcomes, what each would cost you, and what we would do in your place.
Questions
After a DUI arrest
Should I have refused the breath test?
It's done now, either way. Refusing carries its own penalties in most places, and taking the test gives the state a number. Both can be defended; tell us which happened.
Can I still drive?
Often, for now. Whether you keep driving through the case depends on the license hearing, which is why we ask for it first.
I had a DUI years ago. Is this a second offense?
It depends on how long ago and where. Bring whatever paperwork you have from the old case and we'll find out before you're asked to plead.
A DUI arrest, this week
Call before the license deadline passes. Have the citation and any paperwork from the jail in front of you.