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The 5 Most Important Things to Know About a DUI in Michigan

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Published on Nov 22, 2023

Every DUI in Michigan is unique. Your DUI case is different from everyone else’s, just as a DUI in one place is different from another simply because of its location. In this article, we’re going to look at 5 things you should know about a DUI charge. As Michigan DUI lawyers, my team and I know the law of this state inside and out.

Although we concentrate our DUI practice in the Greater-Detroit area of Wayne, Oakland, Macomb and surrounding counties, what we cover here generally applies everywhere in Michigan.

The primary focus of our firm’s work is in DUI and driver’s license restoration appeals – all of come about as the result of multiple DUI convictions. Thus, we deal with DUI-related matters all day, every day. Unlike the DUI part of our practice, the portion that involves license appeals is done statewide. In fact, many of our license clients actually live outside of Michigan.

Accordingly, our work in license appeals means that we see how DUI cases play out everywhere across the state.

Michigan’s DUI law (the proper name for a DUI in Michigan is “Operating While Intoxicated,” or “OWI,” for short), requires that, in every case, certain things must happen, and other cannot. As a consequence, every DUI in Michigan shares certain similarities.

That said, the importance of location cannot be overstated. Some courts and Judges are just plain tougher than others. We can even see this sometimes happen in the same courthouse, if a DUI case is assigned to one Judge versus another.

In this piece, however, we’re going to focus on the more common state-wide similarities, rather than more specific, local differences.

With that in mind, let’s turn to 5 things everyone facing a Michigan DUI charge should know:

1. Getting completely out of a DUI in Michigan is far more the exception, rather than the rule. This is a simple, undeniable truth. Unfortunately, though, a lot of lawyers try to make it seem like hiring them is the only thing a person has to do to have his or her DUI charge dismissed.

It doesn’t work that way. DUI cases are built upon evidence. The law is works based on the idea that as long as evidence is obtained legally, and is otherwise reliable, then it can be admitted in court.

The way a lawyer gets evidence excluded is to prove either that the evidence was obtained illegally, or that it is NOT reliable. If that can be done, then your entire case may collapse.

The key question in every DUI in Michigan is whether or not the person charged actually was operating a motor vehicle while impaired, intoxicated, or with a BAC (Blood Alcohol Content) of .08 or more.

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There aren’t many DUI cases where the central question is whether the person was operating the vehicle. Most of the time, the only question is whether or not he or she consumed enough alcohol to be impaired or over the limit.

In the real world, this means that most people facing a DUI in Michigan are hoping for that slim chance that the police screwed things up so badly that the evidence against them will be kept out of court. To be sure, that does happen. As Michigan DUI attorneys, my team and I begin every case by ASSUMING there is some way to beat the case, and that our first priority is to keep digging to find it.

That mindset is absolutely necessary to discover anything that may get someone out of a DUI charge. More important, is the fact that it is precisely that kind determination often allows us to find other, smaller things we can use to achieve a better, more lenient result, even where there is no fatal flaw in the evidence

2. No matter how strong the evidence, if a DUI case is properly managed, we can avoid many of the potential legal penalties and negative consequences. The statistical reality is that most DUI cases in Michigan don’t get dismissed outright. Instead, they wind up going all the way through the court system.

This is why it’s so important to put every last shred of the evidence under the legal microscope so that we can use any and everything we find to leverage and negotiate a better deal.

When the evidence is strong enough to survive a legal challenge, getting the best plea deal, as in plea bargain, is important. However, it’s not everything, because we must also insulate your from as many of the legal penalties and negative consequences as possible. This means keeping legal fallout to the absolute minimum.

Specifically, we have to protect your record, your freedom, and your ability to drive.

In the terms that matter most – what actually happens to you – it’s a simple fact that, in DUI cases, less is always more.

3. Unless your DUI charge does get dismissed outright, there are going to be some kind of restrictions on your driving. In 1st offense DUI cases, these can range from a short time with a restricted license to a longer period of restrictions, if the final charge is more serious. Whatever happens is the result of that final charge that ultimately goes on your record.

This is another reason why it’s important for my team and I to carefully examine the evidence in order to strike the best deal possible.

In the majority of 1st offense DUI cases, we are able to negotiate the original charge (usually OWI, or, in other cases “High BAC,” or “OWI with a BAC of .17 or Greater) down to a lesser offense. By doing that, we not only soften the blow to your record, we also minimize and shorten any restrictions placed on your driving.

4. Financially, a DUI in Michigan is going to hit you in the pocketbook. About 20 years ago, the State of Michigan ran an ad campaign that a DUI would cost about $10,000 overall. That may have been a little bit of a high estimate back then, but now, it’s fairly accurate. The hope was that this message would prevent people from driving drunk, and perhaps inspire them to plan ahead for a ride.

The simple truth, though, is that most of the time, people don’t think ahead like that, and a DUI just “happens.”

The bad news is that even $5,000 is a lot of money, and you aren’t going happy having to spend it for what is usually a single, stupid mistake in judgment.

Legal fees aren’t cheap. While it’s true that top-shelf legal representation can’t be had for bargain basement prices, it’s also a fact that WAY too many lawyers charge very high fees for nothing more than average services. You’ll never get quality you don’t pay for, but anyone looking for a lawyer for a DUI in Michigan has to be aware that it’s very easy to wind up paying too much for legal fees.

For what it’s worth, ours is the ONLY law firm that is transparent enough to publish its prices. You can find them linked here, in the Fees section of our website and blog.

Add in an increase in your car insurance, and various other costs, and it’s clear that a DUI is costly. This is by design, but we can also see it as a silver lining to the legal cloud…

With very few exceptions, we can usually avoid jail for anyone facing a 1st offense DUI in Michigan, and especially here, in the Greater-Detroit area of Wayne, Oakland, Macomb and the surrounding counties. The underlying idea is that if you are NOT going to be punished by incarceration, then hitting you hard in the pocketbook may be enough to prevent a repeat performance.

At least that’s the court’s hope.

5. Success in a Michigan DUI case is best measured by what does NOT happen to you. My team and I believe I in this so strongly that it’s actually one of our mottos. Think about everything we’ve just covered.

For that matter, the reader should consider everything else he or she has encountered while looking online: The first priority is to try to avoid a DUI conviction entirely. If that can’t happen, then the mission is to avoid as many of those legal penalties and negative consequences as possible.

Success, in that sense, means minimizing the impact to your record, keeping you from getting locked up, and protecting your ability to drive. Of course, cost is always important. In that sense, the less fallout you get from a DUI means it will cost you less overall.

No matter how you measure it, having less happen to you (as opposed to more) in a Michigan DUI case is better. There is simply no other way to express this. Either you get out of the case entirely, or with the fewest penalties possible – or not.

Nobody should ever be in the “or not” camp.

Although every DUI case in Michigan is complex, the formula for that kind of success is simple: Attention to detail and good old fashioned hard work, concentrated in the fundamentals. There is no “secret sauce” that any one lawyer knows to the exclusion of everyone else. The best results are had through a combination of experience, skill and hard work – period.

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As noted, experience matters: After more than 30 years, and having handled thousands upon thousands of DUI cases, our firm knows how to produce the best result possible.

Our firm concentrates in DUI cases. We’re not in court handling divorces, or drafting wills, or settling lawsuits. Virtually everything we do, day after day, and year after year, arises from drinking and driving.

We will always fight for our clients and do what’s necessary to produce the very best outcome.

Another one of our mottos sums this up best: No lawyer can do more, and we will never do less.

If you’re facing a DUI charge and looking for a lawyer, pay attention to how different lawyers explain the DUI process, and how they describe their various approaches to it.

If your DUI case is pending anywhere in the Greater-Detroit area of Wayne, Oakland, Macomb or one of the surrounding counties, make sure you give our office a ring. You can learn a lot by talking to a live person, and that’s exactly what you’ll get when you call us.

All of our consultations are free, confidential, and done over the phone – right when you call. My team and I are very friendly people who will be glad to answer your questions and explain things.

We can be reached by phone Monday through Friday, from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM, at either 586-465-1980 or any of the other numbers on this blog, or our website.

Of course, you can email us using the contact form at any time.

Jeffrey-Randa

Written By Jeffrey Randa

Founder

Jeff has been a practicing Michigan criminal lawyer, DUI attorney and driver’s license restoration lawyer for more than 30 years. He is passionate about winning and doing everything required to accomplish that. He understands that a pending criminal or DUI charge is stressful and that being unable to legally drive is a huge problem. He firmly believes that a lawyer’s job is to fix and make things better for the client.

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