Legal Question in DUI Law in California

Re: not convicted of DUI, but is there a diference?

You should never plead guilty to a DUI offense without at least talking to an attorney about your rights and possible defenses. It is possible that your public defender did not tell you your BAC level because he has not yet been given the reports. Have you been arrained yet? or was it postponed. If you had your arrignment and the PD is still not telling you anything you would likely benefit from finding private counsel to handle your offense. If indeed your blood alcohol level was low, below the .08% per se level, you should be aware that you can still be charged and convicted of DUI. The allows for DUI charges to be filed based on other factors such as driving pattern and results of the field sobriety tests (23152(a) VC). Our firm specializes in DUI. Contact us at 1-800-327-4652. There is a lot that can be done to help you. www.lawyers.com/criminallaw

Re: not convicted of DUI, but is there a diference?

First, don't be too quick to plead guilty without first consulting with a lawyer, whether private counsel or public defender. The judge was right: there are many possible defenses, not to mention plea bargaining possibilities.

Second, get a new public defender if he will not answer your questions. If this is not possible, try to hire an attorney with a good reputation (try asking the court clerk or bailiff -- they've seen them all), but make sure he's either a DUI specialist or does a substantial practice in this very technical area of lawe.

Third, assuming that the arraignment was completed (rather than simply continued to another date), we must assume that either (1) your BAC (blood-alcohol concentration) was over the limit (.08% or .10%, depending upon the state), (2) the prosecution is charging driving under the influence of drugs or drugs combined with alcohol (this would require a blood test, not breath), or (3) they are proceeding on only the DUI charge (driving under the influence) rather than the so-called "per se" charge (driving with .08/.10% BAC).

Fourth, your public defender should have received a copy of the police report and of the blood or breath test results -- and he should have shown them to me. That this did not happen leads me to suspect that your arraignment was not completed and has been continued to the new date -- possibly because of delays in getting the reports from the police in time for the prosecutor to file charges.

I know the criminal courts system can be confusing (not to mentiond downright unfair!), but I hope this has been of some help....

Lawrence Taylor

Long Beach, CA

http://www.DUIcenter.com