Arizona DUI InformationIs Your Arizona DUI Charge About To Ruin Your Life?

Going through a DUI prosecution is a nerve racking experience.  It is even worse when you do not understand what is going on with your case and what will be happening to you.  There is no need to go through the process of a DUI prosecution confused and misinformed.  Gaining a simple general understanding of the process will help alleviate anxiety and empower you to make and or feel better about decisions in your case.

Most people reading this blog have likely already been arrested for DUI and released.  They have a ticket and know they have an upcoming court date.  That is about all they know.  Some understand they may be receiving a 90 day driver’s license suspension which could start prior to their next court date.

You will gain a better understanding of the process by learning what has already happened in your case and then where it is headed.  Therefore, the explanation of the DUI process will briefly cover the DUI stop, arrest and processing before going forward to what happens at court.

Going through a DUI prosecution is a nerve racking experience.  It is even worse when you do not understand what is going on with your case and what will be happening to you.  There is no need to go through the process of a DUI prosecution confused and misinformed.  Gaining a simple general understanding of the process will help alleviate anxiety and empower you to make and or feel better about decisions in your case.

Inform yourself by reading or getting a cosultation from a lawyer.  Many DUI lawyers give free initial consultations.  It is time well spent.

DUIs have very unique issues not present in other criminal cases.  That is why it is unlikely a regular criminal lawyer can represent you as well as a lawyer very familiar with DUI cases.  Clearly, this is not an area other lawyers can dable in and do a proper job unless they can spend an inordinate of time getting up to speed.  I have received calls from lawyers asking for help because they represented a client, in a DUI case, they were trying to help and realized they got in over their head.  This is a key mistake you cannot make and should not make as you do not have to.

Typically, you can hire a lawyer with ten years DUI experience for the price of one with five DUI years.  You should try and get somebody with as much DUI experience as possible.  A good way to measure DUI experience is that the lawyer’s case load should consist of 51% or more DUI cases during each year of their experience.  The higher the percentage, the better.

DUI cases involve very unique aspects not commonly found in other criminal cases.  One significantly different area is your driver’s license consequences.  Most criminal cases do not involve driver’s license issues.  However,  DUI cases are loaded with driver’s license issues. In fact, this is one area where attorneys can save their client’s significant money.  Unfortunately, this is also an area where many lawyers make mistakes or neglect.  A lawyer can be a stellar criminal lawyer, however their unfamiliarity with driver’s license consequences will be one of the biggest barriers they face in providing good DUI representation.

In fact, many DUI prosecutors who switch their careers over to defending DUI cases have weaknesses in understanding driver’s license consequences and the process of dealing with the Motor Vehicle Department. (“MVD”)  This is because as prosecutors, they are not involved with MVD hearings, appeals, notices etc.  So when they switch sides, they are unfamiliar MVD and its processes.

Proper defense of DUI cases also requires a thorough understanding of “Field Sobriety Tests.” (“FSTs”)  All other non DUI criminal cases do not use FSTs.  These are unique to DUI cases and qualified lawyers need to be thoroughly familiar with them.  This is why I personally have paid for and attended training in administering FSTs and have the current FST training manuals in my office.

Most criminal cases do not involve breath testing machines.  Arizona, typically uses the Intoxilyzer 5000 or 8000 breath testing machines.  In order to properly defend a DUI case, the attorney must be thoroughly familiar with the Intoxilyzer in order to detect and identify all its problems.  That’s why I personally paid for and attended special training in Florida to participate in a breath testing course given to police.  It is also why I own my very own Intoxilyzer.  Regular criminal lawyers simply are not familiar with the breath testing machines, let alone thoroughly familiar with them.

Nothing can be farther from the truth.  In fact, the court prefers you be represented by a lawyer.  This helps things run smoothly for the court.  This is because lawyers are familiar with the system and will move you through the court system more efficiently.  Thus, saving the court  time.  Which is a precious resource to the court and you.  Typically, the court will also view you as more responsible and as a person who takes the matter seriously.  These things cause you to be viewed in a more positive light by the court.

You likely got a taste of just how quickly the “system” is willing to turn on you and treat
you as a criminal when you were stopped for DUI.  Many people are often surprised how rude and indignant police treat them when they are arrested for DUI.  The police act this way because the system allows them to act this way.  From the police’s perspective, the court is their friend, not yours.

If you are arrested for DUI, the system will suspend your driver’s license for a minimum of one year if you refuse to submit to a breath, blood or urine test.  In most cases, the system will issue a warrant for your arrest if you do not show up for your first court appearance, unless you have a lawyer in a misdemeanor case.  The police are not required to be there.  If the prosecutor forgot your file, the court will reschedule you to come back on another date.  No warrant will issue for the police or the prosecutor.

In many courts, the court will not accept your guilty plea on your first court appearance.  This is because the court wants to make sure the prosecutor has enough time to thoroughly investigate your background to see if you have a prior DUI conviction.  This helps the prosecutor, not you.  When the officer testifies you did something and you testify you did not, the court will almost always find what the officer said to be true, regardless of how ridiculous or preposterous the officer’s version of events sounds.

Although the court systems were originally created and designed by our country’s founders to protect its citizens from government, the Arizona courts seem to operate from the ideology that they are processing criminals.  Consequently, the Arizona court’s view you as one of the criminals it is processing. One man who was wrongfully convicted of murder put it this way, “The best prosecutor in the curt room was the judge.”  Not all judges and courts are this way, but in my opinion, I have found this to be the case, more often then not in Arizona.  The only people that are their to help you are your family, friends and defense lawyer.

Bars Are Not Always The Result

This is false.  DUI cases are won.  My office has had DUI cases dismissed, pled down to offenses other than DUI and obtained not guilty DUI verdicts.  Arizona has some of the toughest if not the toughest DUI laws in the country.  The State Legislature frequently passes new laws making it harder to defend DUI cases.  Despite this, cases are won.

The truth is, DUI cases are hard to win.  But they can be won.  The proliferation of this myth likely comes from the circumstance that nearly all people convicted of DUI are required to go to the same classes.  Consequently, they never see those people who were not convicted of DUI.   Beating a case can vary in results from an outright dismissal to significantly reducing the charge.

Lets begin by asking Paris Hilton or Charles Barkley if cooperating helped them.  I just finished viewing a video of my client who was a Cop getting a DUI.  Face it, cooperating your way out of a DUI is a myth.  If these people could not do it, most of us can’t.

In addition to not getting you anywhere, cooperating can make a case against you.  I have had many clients who crashed their car and were out of the vehicle when the police arrived.  They want to cooperate so, they admit they were driving.  In cases like this, the police did not have probable cause to make a DUI arrest until the suspect opened their mouth and admitted they had been driving. It is surprising how many people incriminate themselves this way.

As you can see from the paragraph above, people cooperate with police when they do not have to sometimes, going so far to admit they were driving after they crashed their car. Cooperation does not get you a break. The officer may be nicer to you, but the officer will still investigate and site you for DUI. You will only be giving evidence against yourself when you “cooperate” in a DUI investigation. You do not have to answer questions about your drinking, driving nor submit to field sobriety tests. By doing so, you only give evidence against yourself. Do not confuse cooperation with being courteous, respectful and polite. You can do all that while exercising your right not to incriminate yourself.

I see many people hoping that because they cooperated/incriminated themselves, the cop was going to help them and write a favorable police report or even not turn in a police report. This is just wishful thinking. It is the officers job to get your cooperation as it assists in gathering evidence against you.  Be smart, exercise your right to remain silent and don’t incriminate yourself but, remain pleasant.

In Arizona, you can, and people do, get charged with DUI when your reading is below .08. This is because the law is written to allow prosecutors to pursue DUIs when there is no breath or blood test or a reading above .08. In this type of case, the prosecutor only needs to show you were driving, or in actual physical control, and that your ability to operate a motor vehicle was impaired to the slightest degree. The prosecutor will seek to establish impairment by evidence of driving behavior, FSTs and general demeanor such as slurred speech and poor balance.

This myth catches many people off guard. The fact of the matter is, if your blood or breath test come back with results above .08, MVD will suspend your license for a minimum of 90 days regardless of wether you are found guilty or not guilty of DUI. MVD’s ability to suspend your driver’s license without a DUI conviction comes from Arizona Admin Per Se (A.R.S. §28-1385) and Implied Consent (A.R.S. §28-1385) Law. MVD will also suspend your license for a minimum of one year if you refuse to submit to a blood, breath or urine test.

These suspensions can be fought and won. However, you should not try and do this without an attorney as you risk obtaining a 3 year Mandatory SR 22 requirement on your driver’s license. In most cases, the SR-22 will cost you more money to obtain auto insurance. The legal issues to properly fight these suspensions are very limited and unique. They have nothing to do with how bad you need your driver’s license. The MVD Judge will not care about that. So, beware of fighting these suspensions on your own and understand they can go into affect before a DUI conviction or even if you are found not guilty of DUI..