Orange County Drunk Driving

Should I just show up and plead guilty?
You certainly could. However, because the judge is not the one prosecuting you, he or she cannot change, reduce lower, or dismiss the DUI charges only offer you, at best, the minimum punishment. You may have defenses that could make a big difference in your drunk driving case - but you would never know if you pled guilty. (And you may kick yourself later while attending classes, paying fees, and reviewing your insurance bill, for not fighting your DUI when you could have).

Also consider this — If you plead guilty:

• You will have a criminal record for the rest of your life if you do nothing.
  
• Your driving record will contain a DUI record and increased points for the rest of your life (which cannot be expunged), and will affect you.
• Under Federal and California laws, becoming a teacher, a police officer, an attorney, or a government employee may be next to impossible if you get a conviction for drunk driving.
• You will automatically lose your full driving privileges for at least four months from the DMV and the court. If you're like most Southern California, that will have a devastating impact on your job and on your family. If you get caught driving while suspended you will go to jail and your car will be impounded.
• Your car insurance rates will increase many times over, and you may be cancelled if your rates don't rise out of sight.
• You may suffer immigration consequences if you are not a United States citizen.

DUI Defenses
Defenses in any given drunk driving case are almost too much to mention due to the complexities of the offense. Roughly speaking, however, the majority can be broken down into the following areas:

Driving
Intoxication is not enough: the prosecution must also prove that the defendant was driving. This may be difficult if, as in the case of some accidents, there are no witnesses to his being the driver of the vehicle.

Probable Cause
Evidence will be suppressed if the officer did not have legal cause to (a) stop, (b) detain, and (c) arrest. Sobriety roadblocks present particularly complex issues.

Miranda
Incriminating statements may be suppressed if warnings were not given at the appropriate time.

Implied Consent Warnings
If the officer did not advise you of the consequences of refusing to take a chemical test, or gave it incorrectly, in some states (including California) this may affect admissibility of the test results, as well as the license suspension imposed by the motor vehicle department.

"Under the Influence"
The officer's observations and opinions as to intoxication can be questioned, the circumstances under which the field sobriety tests were given, for example, or the subjective (and predisposed) nature of what the officer considers as "failing". Too, witnesses can testify that you appeared to be sober.

Blood-Alcohol Concentration
There exists a wide range of potential problems with blood, breath or urine testing. "Non-specific" analysis, for example: most breath machines will register many chemical compounds found on the human breath as alcohol. And breath machines assume a 2100- to-1 ratio in converting alcohol in the breath into alcohol in the blood; in fact, this ratio varies widely from person to person (and within a person from one moment to another). Radio frequency interference can result in inaccurate readings. These and other defects in analysis can be brought out in cross-examination of the state's expert witness, and/or the defense can hire its own forensic chemist.

Testing During the Absorptive Phase
The blood, breath or urine test will be unreliable if done while you are still actively absorbing alcohol (it takes 30 minutes to three hours to complete absorption; this can be delayed if food is present in the stomach). Thus, drinking "one for the road" can cause inaccurate test results.

Retrograde Extrapolation
This refers to the requirement that the BAC be "related back" in time from the test to the driving. Again, a number of complex physiological problems are involved here.

Regulation of Blood-Alcohol Testing
The prosecution must prove that the blood, breath or urine test complied with state requirements as to calibration, maintenance, etc.