DUI Videos: Why hire a DUI attorney?

A common question that people ask me when they've been arrested for a DUI for the first time is: "Do I really need a lawyer? Can't I just go to court myself and deal with this myself?".

Well, a DUI is a serious criminal offense. You must understand that politically, Mothers Against Drunk Driving have been very powerful in California. Penalties increase every single year. It's becoming more and more common for people arrested for a first offense to be ordered to do some county jail time. The maximum penalty, for first offense DUI, is six months in county jail and that can happen to you. Of course it depends upon the facts of your case, but if you've been arrested for a DUI, if you can imagine yourself trying to resolve your case in court, the DA is not your friend. The DA is not going to help you, that's not their job. They are there to prosecute you and to maximize penalties rather than to minimize them for you.

In addition, when you are unrepresented, you don't really get a chance to state your case. When you go to court, all that's going to happen is the judge is going to ask you whether you plead guilty or not guilty. If you plead guilty, you will be sentenced right there and then without any information been given to the court about you and without having had an opportunity to review the evidence in your case, to minimize the penalties and to perhaps avoid a conviction.

The judge is going to sentence you. That can include penalites you do not want to perform including: jail time, Caltrans, picking up trash on the freeway, license suspentions, long alcohol programs, higher fines, you don't want to do that. You need an attorney who is familiar with the judges, familiar with the prosecutors, understands the legal process, understands what defenses are available to you and there are defenses available to people charged with DUI and understands how to mitigate the penalties and to present your case in its most favorable light to you.

You do not want to be sentenced based upon a police report, filed by a police officer who does not have your interest at heart. Many people when they see the police report, having been through the legal process, are very frustrated about what police officers write about them and about the evidence in their case. You don't want a judge and a prosecutor making decisions about you and your liberty based upon that police report alone. That's where we come into it.  This is all i've been doing for fourteen years, defending people for DUIs in California.

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If you have been charged with a DUI in Los Angeles, please contact us today.