Should You Plead Guilty or No Contest For a DUI Case?

If you or your loved ones were accused of driving under the influence of alcohol or illegal substances, you must be prepared to face some genuinely harsh legal consequences. With the ever growing number of DUI accidents, the law enforcement authorities do not take these offenses lightly.

When it comes to the legal punishment, you can expect a number of things. First of all, the arresting officer, will take your driving license and will instead provide you with a temporary permit that will allow you to operate your vehicle for 30 more days. Afterwards, your license will be revoked. If you want to protest against this decision, you can file an official request to the DMV in order to initiate an administrative hearing within 10 days after the accident.

Depending on the circumstances of the accident, you may also be obliged to pay restitution and expensive fines – tens of thousands of dollars. Besides, even if you will get to keep your license, you may still be obliged to purchase a special SR22 insurance that was specifically designed for high risk drivers. This insurance will cost almost three times as much as the standard one, so you will have to pay a small fortune for it.

You also may be obliged to perform a community service. If a person was injured or even killed during the accident, you may be incarcerated and sentenced to jail or state prison, which is a pretty terrifying option indeed.

Prior to the actual trial, the so-called arraignment is going to take place. This is when your rights will be read to you. Among those rights, there is a very important one – the right for an attorney. You have a legal right to be represented by a qualified experienced DUI defense attorney from The Law Offices of Criminal Specialists. In case you cannot hire one, a public lawyer will be provided to you. However, it is also important to know that the vast majority of public lawyers have their hands full with other cases and will be unable to provide you with a genuinely effective defense strategy. That is why it is best to hire professional legal representative.

At the arraignment, you will also be granted with an opportunity to enter in a plea bargain. You can plead as not guilty, guilty or no contest. However, do not be too hasty. It is crucial to consult an attorney beforehand. After all, even if you are going to plead as guilty or no contest, it does not necessarily mean that your sentence will be less harsh. Only a good lawyer will know what kind of consequences to expect from such a bargain, so it is wise to consult him or her prior to making any significant decisions.

If that is the case and you do not want to have your life ruined because of the decisions that you made in court, do not hesitate to find a seasoned drunk driving criminal defense specialist, who will always be more than happy to represent your interests and will defend your rights in court. This is the only effective strategy in case you wish to argue with the court or wish to have the case dismissed whatsoever. Public attorneys may not be good enough for you and it is best that you do everything in your power to hire an industry’s expert as soon as possible.  

Will Involuntary Intoxication Work For DUI Defense In California?

Being accused of driving under the influence of alcohol or illegal substances in California is very serious and could lead to some genuinely severe legal penalties. You will risk losing your driving license, will have to pay expensive fines, will need to attend special alcohol or drug awareness classes, will be obliged to perform community service and, worst of all, may be incarcerated for a very long time.

A reasonable number of people, who were charged with driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs in Los Angeles, claim that they were given date rape drugs and they actually did not have that much to drink. These people are certain that they are innocent and want to use involuntary intoxication as the main defense strategy. While such incidents do happen, using involuntary intoxication defense in court is not that easy or straightforward. After all, it is very difficult to prove that you were drugged or intoxicated involuntarily.

To be more accurate, let’s review the following situation: Rachel meets a nice guy online and decides to go on a date with him. The guy says that he will meet her at a local bar. One night, Rachel goes to the bar and meets the guy from Facebook. They have a nice chat, but she does not really want to drink, so she makes a small sip from her glass. Everything around her goes black and the next thing she remembers is that she was driving her car in a very intoxicated condition, so the law enforcement officers were forced to stop her. She is arrested and charged with driving under the influence. Sure enough, Rachel is shocked and tries to tell them that she was drugged, but the officers arrest her anyway.

Of course, this situation is highly unpleasant, but you will be surprised with how often those things happen to people. The problem here is that it is very difficult to prove anything, In order to provide the court with ample evidence that would demonstrate that Rachel was in fact involuntarily drugged; Rachel will need to go through a series of tests that will determine if the date rape drug is still in her system. At times, people are hesitant to take the test and at times, it is too late to take the tests in the first place. Besides, very often, people, who drank too much at a party, have a tendency to forget how much they were actually drinking. They remember the first sips and their memory simply blacks out all the rest. Hence, it is only natural that the judge and the prosecution hesitate when the offender claims that he or she was drugged and does not remember drinking at all.

In the end, if you were arrested in line with the DUI charges and you have reasons to believe that you were given a date rape or similar drug, it is important not to lose time and to get in touch with a qualified Los Angeles criminal defense law office at the earliest opportunity. They will be able to go through all the evidence, including police reports and test results so as to determine if what you are saying is true. Furthermore, if you are correct and you were intoxicated by someone else, the attorney will do his best to prove your innocence to the court and to make the police go after the offender, who drugged you. Therefore, if you want to prove your innocence, do not hesitate to hire a qualified legal representative and you will never regret it.