Your DUI can be Successfully Managed
Although it’s normal to be anxious when you’re facing a Michigan DUI charge, don't panic. With proper legal help, though, your Operating While Intoxicated (OWI) case can be successfully managed - and nobody can do that better than our firm.
If you do have a pending drunk driving case, you want to get out of it as completely, painlessly and quickly as possible.
The good news is that my team and I can that for you. We aggressively defend drunk driving cases. The best outcome possible doesn't require any kind of luck or miracles. Instead, what's needed is the combination of experience, good work, and skill that we can bring to your case.
• My team and I aggressively represent our clients against drunk driving charges.
• We will protect you and your interests.
• We'll get you through your DUI, rather than let it define you.
To be sure, the potential penalties increase depending on whether you're facing a 1st offense, 2nd offense, or 3rd offense DUI charge. Every step up the ladder is significant, but not fatal. No matter what your situation, we will either get you out of the case completely, or get you through it with the fewest legal penalties.
WHAT'S LIKELY TO HAPPEN?Here is a summary of how DUI cases usually play out here, in the Greater-Detroit area, meaning in the courts of Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, and the surrounding counties:
• In a 1st offense DUI, a person is very unlikely to go to jail.
There is no point paying some lawyer to “avoid” a jail sentence that’s almost certain to not be imposed in the first place. We won't let you stress out about that. Instead, my team and I will make sure we avoid as many of the other likely consequences as possible.
Our DUI attorneys will always do what’s necessary to protect your ability to drive. We will make sure you can get the conviction expunged and off your record at the first legal opportunity. None of this will happen by accident, however; it must part of how a case is handled from the very outset.
• In a 2nd offense DUI, a person is looking at a POSSIBILITY of a few days incarceration, depending on the Judge.
Some Judges generally don’t impose any jail in 2nd offense DUI cases. Others think most 2nd offenders should get a few days. Many (probably most) Judges fall in the middle, and decide what to do on a case-by-case basis, more than anything else.
My team and I will explore every option, including things like sobriety court. We'll do everything legally possible to avoid jail and minimize other potential consequences, like the loss of your driver’s license.
• In a 3rd offense (felony) DUI case, the law requires that a person to serve at least 30 days in jail - with 1 exception.
If a person convicted of a 3rd offense is admitted into a specialty or treatment court (like a sobriety court program), where the Judge does have the authority to waive all or part of that required sentence.
The courts really have 2 competing goals in 3rd offense cases:
1. To disincentivize (punish) a person so he or she won’t drive drunk again.
2. To provide the necessary help and support to help make that a reality.
Someone with only 2 prior DUI’s who doesn’t get into any kind of treatment court is likely to get a minimal sentence. Typically, these sentences can be measured in days. We'll make sure any sentence is kept to an absolute minimum.
MAKING THINGS BETTER FOR YOU
Every case is unique. As Michigan DUI lawyers, my team and I know how to handle things so that we can make them better. In real terms, this means -
1. Not going to jail
2. Protecting your driver’s license and the ability to drive
3. Having to report a DUI conviction to a professional licensing body
4. Getting hammered with long and demanding probation, counseling, testing, and/or treatment