Legal Question in DUI Law in California
So I'm a 20 year old female from Anaheim, California, and the other day I was smoking pot, and my friend asked me to drop her off at her boyfriends house, so I did. On the way back to my house, it was getting late, around 10:50 or so, I was ten minutes away in Buena Park, and I had a couple hits left in my pipe. I was thinking how it'd be great to just get high and go home and go to sleep. So I was taking hits while driving. Well I was too stoned to realize that there was a cop two cars down from me to the right, and I think he saw me holding the pipe? He might have saw me light it, I'm not sure, but he pulled me over either way and asked me where the weed was. He told me if I didn't tell him things would get a lot worse, so I told him it was under the seat. I let them search my car because, isn't it true if I say no they can charge me or something? At any rate, they had me do some field sobriety tests, and I suppose I failed because they arrested me for DUI, and brought me in to the police station. I was in a holding cell for a few hours!
Luckily I had finished all the pot, I was pretty much smoking ash by the time they turned their lights on for me to pull over, so I guess they can't really get me on possession? The UNFORTUNATE thing however was that, two hours earlier, around 8:00, I had had a beer that felt like it had a very low alcohol content. They took a blood test, but it was two hours after they had pulled me over, so it was four hours between that one beer and the test. I don't remember if I told them about that beer I had, because I was pretty stoned.
After they had had me in the holding cell for about two hours, they had to release me, and told me if I couldn't get a hold of someone they would have to just release me on the streets, which they did. So I don't know if that was legal of them or not.
My record was completely clean until this. What do you think is going to happen to me? Is there any way that I can get these charges off? The sick thing is, I could so easily get a medical marijuana license because I have chronic back and neck pain really bad, which is actually why I wanted to smoke it to get some good sleep, but I want to be an Elementary school teacher, and if I apply for a medical marijuana license it'll be on my record and it'll be difficult for me to get a job as one. I would have just done it at home, but unfortunately me and mom are renting a room out of this Peruvian families house. Like they literally live down the hall, so I figured it wasn't a good idea to smoke there or we might get evicted. So that left me with the option of smoking and driving. Ugggh.
So what do you think is going to happen to me? Is there any possible way that I could keep my license? Maybe even get this off my record? Nobody is going to hire me now =( I feel so bad about this.
Like I honestly care more about the fact it'll be hard for me to get a job, in the present AND in the future, than about driving. Do you think if I could GET a job before my court date it might make me look better? Because right now all I'm doing with my life is living with mom, going to school...and I realize that makes me look like an immature punk.
Anyway so to summarize, my question is: What's gonna happen to me? How likely is it the charges are going to just be dropped?
Oh and another, not very major question is how important is it that I stay clean? Will they be testing me again from time to time like they do with drunk drivers?
2 Answers from Attorneys
If you have no criminal record, and this is your first offense, my advice is to fight the charges like hell. You don't want to not be able to get work again for the rest of your life! It doesn't sound like you were over the limit alcohol-wise, and there is no quantitative measure of marijuana intoxication.
Can you identify the mistakes you made? You spoke to the officer when you had a right to remain silent. You consented to a search when you should have refused. Don't ever make either of these mistakes again.
I would be interested in speaking with you if you are seeking legal representation, or you just have questions about the process. You might qualify for a public defender, but in my opinion that route very often leads to passive representation and ill-advised guilty pleas. If you retain a private lawyer, as you should, it's important to do so right away so the lawyer can be there with you on your first court date. Having a private lawyer means you don't have to personally attend most court hearings or take days off from work or school.
In the meantime, yes, you should be repentant and contrite and attend as many AA / NA meetings, etc. as you can and give your lawyer the proof.
What's going to happen? You're going to have to defend criminal charges with potential jail time, fines and other serious penalties, including loss of license. You have only ten days from arrest to file with DMV an appeal of the automatic license suspension. Even with a clean record, this is going to be tough to deal with. If you could win at trial, then you'd keep your record clean. That depends on have a valid defense to all the charges and evidence against you, which is probably not the case. It is too late to get a medical card, and it is of no value against a DUI charge anyway, only a possession charge. If serious about getting legal counsel to help you, feel free to contact me.
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