Legal Question in DUI Law in California

Without priors, they will often hold people until they sober up, then release them with a citation to appear in court within 30 or 45 days.

You have choices - you can wait until they release him (very likely) or you can post bail to get him released earlier... maybe. If you post bail, they *should* release him once bail is posted. The problem is that they may take a while to process the bail and they may not be so quick to release him, even if you rushed down to post bail right now.

My suggestion - ride it out and save your money. If for some reason, they don't release him when they say they will, they have to get him to court within 48 hours of his arrest for arraignment - but it's a little different with weekends. If he's not released, he should go to court on Tuesday. At that first court appearance, a release without bail or a bail reduction are all possible, depending on certain factors.

A couple of other things - for a DUI arrest, the police took his license and gave him a pink piece of paper. That's his temporary license and a notice about the DMV suspension hearing. He only has 10 days from the date of his arrest to contest the license suspension or his license WILL automatically be suspended. He (or his attorney) needs to request a hearing within that 10 day window or there's no undoing it. The DMV hearing is a whole different subject, but the time frame is the most important part of this.

My suggestion & bottom line? See if they don't release him within a few more hours. If they don't, he'll be headed to court on Tuesday. If that's too long to wait, I have contact with bail bonds people and can assist to secure release for my clients.

To discuss his defense and DMV hearing further, give me a call. My office is in Orange County and I practice in West Court where his case will be heard all the time.

For more about me, see www.joedane.com/about

Good luck.

Pick him up whenever he is released on OR. Post his bail or call him a bail bondsman if bail is required unless he is willing to wait until he can ask the judge tomorrow to do an OR release or bail reduction. Help him retrieve his car from impound if necessary. Call a lawyer. If he is serious about getting counsel in this, have him contact me after he gets out.