Whenever someone faces a criminal charge, they immediately realize that they need to find the right lawyer. If you have been charged with a DUI, then this should not be any different. If your DUI case is going to trial—you need an attorney. You do not want to face an experienced, conviction-hungry prosecutor without an experienced, tireless defender on your side. There is no substitute for legal experience. Whenever your freedoms are on the line, you want to put up the best defense possible. And this is where a DUI attorney can help.
Even for a DMV hearing, you can only benefit from having an experienced legal representative on your side. Depending on where you live, you will only have a certain number of days to defend your driving privileges with the DMV. When you are charged with a DUI, you will be handed a temporary driver's license, and yours will be confiscated. In order to get your license back, you will have to schedule a DMV hearing for yourself—this will not be automatic. If an officer lacked probable cause to pull you over, or to test your sobriety, then you may be able to have your driving privileges reinstated, if you can prove this. If your license was suspended because an officer said that you refused to take chemical tests, then you may be able to prove that this was never the case. Especially if you have a commercial driving license, your driving privileges are part of your career. Having your driver's license suspended can threaten any job. And this is one of the penalties that you would be avoiding if you can protect yourself from an undeserved DUI conviction.
In some cases, your test results may be borderline, and the other evidence may not be airtight. Under these circumstances, you may be able to get a plea bargain. Here, the representation of a defense attorney would be invaluable. With experienced legal help on your side, you may be able to avoid jail and a DUI conviction. A plea bargain would probably lead to a charge of reckless driving or wet reckless driving, much less severe than a DUI. This means that you probably get to keep your driver's license, and while you might have probation, you probably will not go to jail. The fines are often less as well. You may be able to try plea bargaining on your own, but a prosecutor may be more ready to go against just you in a trial. If you have a tenacious defense attorney on your side, however, a prosecutor may be more eager to offer the plea bargain.
In most states, there is also a time of sentence bargaining in the plea deal. This means that DUI charges, especially those that are repeat or serious offenses, have different sentences that can be imposed. Here, the help of an attorney can be invaluable for avoiding harsh penalties.
Of course, you will have to be honest with yourself about the evidence against you. If you need to plead guilty, there is no sense in paying for an attorney on top of everything. You would still benefit from legal advice, however, even if it is just for one consultation. A DUI attorney can look over your case and accurately assess how the strong the evidence against you is. Was the police stop lawful? Are the test results incontrovertible? You would certainly benefit from an expert's view of the matter. You may find out that you have a strong defense available to you after all.
Finally, if you are hesitant about hiring an attorney, but not sure whether you actually have to plead guilty, then you cannot go wrong by retaining a defense attorney. If you still end up with a sentence, an experienced attorney can help bring this sentence down, saving you money, jail time, your driver's license, and more. Of course, with a skilled legal advocate, you may get your case dismissed altogether and evade any conviction. Find out how you may be able to defend your charges, and thus your future, when you contact a DUI defense lawyer.