DUI Offenses
If you are arrested for a DUI (Drunk Driving), driving under the influence of alcohol or driving under the influence of drugs you are probably experiencing many different emotions: the feeling of embarrassment after you were pulled over by the police and made to do field sobriety tests on the side of the road, often with other people driving by; the disbelief after being handcuffed and put into the patrol car; the shock of being put in a jail cell with others who have been arrested. After being released from jail, you may be afraid of the consequences and the effect on your job and your family. You don’t know whether your license has already been suspended and whether you can even drive to work the next day. You may have trouble sleeping or concentrating at work. Many people feel deep shame and humiliation after their arrest. These are all normal emotions and reactions to the traumatic experience of being arrested for a DUI.
I am here to help you. You can leave your stress and anxiety at my doorstep. When you leave my office, you can go back to work and your family and relax. I have handled hundreds of DUI cases for over 19 years have won dismissals and reductions on many occasions. I will personally handle your case; it will not be handed off to an associate. When you call my office, you will talk to me, not an associate.
LEGAL PROCESS
THE STEP BY STEP PROCESS
The DMV Hearing - The first thing I need to do is to call the DMV to set your DMV hearing to contest the suspension of your license. I need to call to set the hearing within 10 days of your arrest so it is important that you call me immediately. The DMV hearing date will normally be within four to six weeks. I will request a temporary license be sent to you that will be valid until after the hearing.
You need an experienced San Diego County DUI attorney to start working on your case as soon after you are arrested. An aggressive attorney needs to begin evaluating your case immediately.
THE FIRST MEETING WITH YOUR ATTORNEY
Your first meeting with me will last forty five minutes to an hour. I will take notes on all the events that led up to the officer stopping you and the arrest itself. I will analyze that information for possible defenses. Even small details can provide a defense.
You may call me as many times as needed to ask questions or provide me with more information. We will continue to set appointments to discuss your case as the process goes forward. There is no extra charge for phone calls or appointments after I am retained by you.
THE FIRST COURT APPEARANCE
The first Court Appearance is called an arraignment. If your case is charged as a misdemeanor, you do not have to go to Court. Under the law, I can waive your presence at all the Court appearances. If you live out of state or out of San Diego County, you do not have to fly or drive back to San Diego for any of your court appearances.
At your DUI arraignment, I will plead you not guilty and request the police report and lab report for the next Court appearance. The Judge will set the next court appearance, called a Readiness Conference which is my first negotiation on your case. The Court appearance for the first negotiation with the district attorney is set about three weeks after the arraignment. During this time I will receive the police report and lab reports from the district attorney’s office. When I receive them I will call you to set an office appointment or a phone conference to read you the reports and ask you what is accurate and inaccurate in the reports.
We will again discuss the facts as you remember them and I will evaluate the discrepancies in the report. I will evaluate all your defenses such as the police officer’s lack of a probable cause to stop you, the absence of probable cause for your arrest at the scene, and inaccuracies of the breath machine. You can ask me any questions that you have about the police report and your defenses at that time. You are also welcome to call me any time after that with any questions you may have.
THE FIRST NEGOTIATION OR READINESS CONFERENCE
The readiness conference is the first opportunity that I have to discuss your case with the district attorney. At that time, I will argue all your defenses such as the police officer’s lack of a probable cause to stop you, the lack of probable cause to search, the absence of probable cause for your arrest, the inaccuracy of the breath machine results, the rising blood alcohol defense and many other defenses. I will also present any inaccuracies in the police report.
I will aggressively seek a dismissal or a reduction in the charge or the sentence. The district attorney will make an initial offer based on my arguments in your case. At that time I will ask the Judge for another readiness conference to discuss the results of the initial negotiation with you. That court appearance will be set approximately three weeks later.
THE SECOND NEGOTIATION OR READINESS CONFERENCE
After the first negotiation, I will call you to set up an appointment to discuss with you what happened at the Court negotiation and initial offer. We will discuss the positive and negative aspects of the offer and whether the district attorney needed additional information in order to extend a better offer.
The second negotiation will entail all the arguments at the first negotiation and additional arguments and information that the district attorney needed to extend a better offer. A third court appearance is set within three weeks to give me a chance to discuss the offer with you. If you choose not to take the offer at that time, a jury trial will be set. The jury trial will be calendared for approximately a month after the third negotiation.