DUI Charges: What’s Next?

Being accused of driving under the influence of alcohol or illegal substances is very serious and may lead to an entire series of harsh legal consequences. After all, the law enforcement authorities these days can be rather unforgiving due to the huge rise in DUI accidents on the roads. According to the official statistical data thousands of people are injured or even killed in DUI accidents every year. This is one of the many reasons why the law enforcement authorities are less and less tolerant of the DUI perpetrators. Regardless of whether you have committed a felony DUI or a misdemeanor, do not think that you will be able to avoid serious punishment easily.

With that said, the very first thing that you will need to prepare yourself for is that the arresting officer is going to take your driver’s license away from you on the scene. Instead he will provide you with a temporary permit that will allow you to drive your car for 30 more days. After that, you driver’s license is going to be suspended for good. In case you disagree with this decision and wish to prove that you deserve to get your license back and there is no need to revoke it, you will need to file an official request to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and initiate an administrative hearing.

However, even if you will get to keep your license, it does not mean that you will be able to avoid expensive fines – up to $10 000, restitution not included. Furthermore, you may also be obliged to purchase a special kind of insurance that is specifically designed for high risk drivers. This SR22 type insurance will cost you three times as much as the standard did.

The court may also oblige you to attend special alcohol or drug awareness course and you will have to pay for those classes from your very own pocket. In some cases, obligatory community service is involved, so you will have to spend hundreds of hours of your time performing unpaid labor.

An ignition interlock device may be installed in your vehicle to prevent such accidents from happening in the future. Do not forget that in case a person or a group of people were injured or killed in the DUI accident, you may be sentenced to spend years in jail or state prison. DUI charges will have a lasting effect on your day to day life. The vast majority of employees will not want to have anything to do with a DUI offender. Your criminal records will be available for any company and finding a decent employment opportunity may turn into a genuine problem.

Therefore, if you or your loved ones were charges with DUI, it is very important not to lose time and to get in touch with a qualified as well as genuinely experienced Sacramento DUI attorney at the earliest opportunity. He will be able to go through all the available evidence against you in order to determine if the police had actual reasons to pull you over in the first place. Perhaps they had no right to stop you to begin with and so the case is going to be legally dismissed. In any case, your chances of getting out of this legal situation with minimal damages increase tremendously with a good Sacramento DUI lawyer. He will use his skills and expertise to help you within the very least amount of time possible.

The Sacramento DUI Specialists, www.sacramentoduilawyernow.org