drew patrick wrote:Get a chemical dependency evaluation like stat and, seriously for fuck's sake, be completely straight with the evaluator and follow the recommendations of the evaluation to a T. I said to a T. Don't pull any, "I don't want to go to a weekend sobriety retreat and watch videos of families who lost loved ones to drunk drivers." If you pull that shit, then fuck straight off -- you're fired. You may be able to get such an evaluation privately, paid for by your insurer. If you don't have health insurance, vote for a Democrat in 2008 and look for someone in the public services realm in your home county or a private evaluator in the phonebook who will do it for like maybe $150 tops. Capiche?
You're fucked in the license suspension part of the case and the criminal part of the case, in general, unless the cop fucked up somewhere along the way. Did she or he have reasonable, articulable suspicion to stop you in the first place? Did she or he have a basis to extend the stop beyond its initial basis? Was there probable cause to arrest you eventually? Were you properly advised of your rights for purposes of both the criminal proceeding of which you are now a part and the license suspension/revocation with which you are now burdened? Was the machine that estimated your blood-alcohol concentration based probably on a breath sample properly calibrated and reliable for evidentiary purposes? Do you even know what any of this stuff means?
If you don't, then consult with an attorney. Most attorneys will bleed you and plead you, honestly -- especially in the DWI/DUI/criminal defense realm. But even some of the quasi-bad ones can spot the type of police fuck-ups that give you a case. Plus, no matter how bad your case, you can avoid some of the extra little punitive and annoying sentencing dings that befall most unrepresented defendants in DWI/DUI cases.
Please wear such as a shirt and tie to all court proceedings, and -- if you plead -- be (or at least do a good job of appearing) contrite to the sentencing judge. You will fare much better if you genuinely took this seriously all along. Judges have a way of seeing through bullshit -- note that judges spend 40 hours a week, 48 weeks a year, seeing through bullshit, so even bad judges (of which there are many) are pretty good at spotting you as a total bullshit artist if you didn't take this seriously.
That is my malpractice for the day.
I had this happen to me 4 years ago and immediately called drew patrick for advice as he is the only lawyer I know. He gave me good advice. Listen to him. He speaks the truth.
That said...
I talked to a DWI lawyer (based on drew patrick's recommendation that I do so) and the guy was really cool. After giving him a rundown of my situation (I rolled through a stop sign, I blew a .12, I was completely cooperative with the cops, etc.) and basically said, "you're wasting your money if you hire me, I can't do anything you can't do on your own if you go to court in a suit, be honest, tell them what happened let them know that you know that you fucked up etc. etc." It also helped that I was 26 and this was my first law offense of any kind. So I guess what I'm saying is, at least talk to some lawyers. Try to get a recommendation from someone who knows them so you can say, "so and so recommended you". It's not going to cost you anything to at least call them.
I got really lucky with mine** and I think the main reason is because I was so cooperative with the cops (I knew I fucked up, what was I gonna do?). The cops didn't tow my car (one of them drove it the rest of the way to my apartment and the other one--with me in the back--picked him up. They gave me a ride home from the station after the booking and all that rather than making me spend a night on the inside. In court I got my charge or whatever reduced to a reckless driving so I don't have a DWI on my record. I had to do two days of community service. Spending two days pulling weeds at a park is way cooler than jail I'm told. I lost my licence for 90 days (standard in MN for any alcohol related driving offence). Court and all that only cost me about $300. The most expensive part was getting my license back which was like $700. After court I had to do an alcohol evaluation which was basically an interview with a counselor. She just asked me a bunch of questions about how much I drink. BE HONEST during this thing. These people are trained to call bullshit on you if you're lying. She recommended that I go to one of those meetings where people who have had their lives fucked up by alcohol tell their stories.
Go to one of those meetings and listen to the guy who killed 3 teenage girls after having a couple beers at the bar "'cause his boss was being an asshole that day", and the guy who's 22 year old son was killed by a drunk the week before he would have graduated college, and the guy who's in a wheel chair because of a drunk driver. I guarantee you'll realize how **
really lucky you got and you'll never even think about driving drunk again.
drew patrick wrote:Peripatetic will win.