General Notion of DUI Charges

If you or your loved ones were accused of driving under the influence of alcohol or illegal substance, chances are, you are now highly stressed and frustrated, especially if it is your first conviction. It is very important to know what legal consequences you should expect in court and, more importantly, what kind of legal defense strategies will help you in dealing with this issue.

First penalty should be expected at the scene of the arrest. The arresting law enforcement officer will take away your driver’s license. As a replacement, he will give you a special permit, which will allow you to drive your car for 30 more days. Afterwards, your license will be revoked or suspended. In order to keep your license, you would have to file an official request to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) so as to initiate an administrative hearing. There you will have a chance to prove that you should keep your license. However, you will need to initiate the hearing within 10 days after the arrest. Otherwise, you will no longer have a chance to defend your right to keep your driver’s license.

In addition, the court will oblige you to pay thousands of dollars in fines, court fees and restitution. You may also be sentenced to perform community service, which basically means that you will have to perform hundreds of hours of unpaid labor. Obligatory alcohol or drug awareness classes are also a very common part of the sentence and you will have to pay for it from your own pocket.

Furthermore, even if you will get to keep your driver’s license, you will still be obliged to acquire a special SR22 insurance that is designed for high-risk drivers. This insurance will cost you nearly three times as much as the usual one. An ignition interlock device may also be installed in your car in order to prevent this incident from ever occurring in the future.

All things considered, if you or your loved ones were accused of driving under the influence of alcohol or illegal substance, the very first thing that you will need to do would be to get in touch with a qualified as well as genuinely experienced Sacramento DUI lawyer at the earliest opportunity.

That is right – only a good Sacramento DUI attorney will know how to minimize the sentence or to get the case dismissed in the first place. For instance, if the police had no probable cause to pull you over in the first place, the case is going to be dismisses. The Sacramento DUI lawyer will also question test results and other evidence in order to help you deal with this particularly risky situation.