Legal Question in DUI Law in North Carolina
I need help
WENT THROUGH A HARD PERIOD IN MY LIFE ABOUT 7 YEARS AGO. I HAD RECIVED 2DUI''S IN A 6 MONTH PERIOD, before my court dates came up i transfered with my company 4 states away, i know i have failure to appears, i have not been in an ounce of troublein the past 7 yrs since i left, i want desperatley now to take care of this but am hughly afraid of going to jail now that i have my head on right. there was also another court case on top of these that happend about a year before these for dui as well when i went to court for that i stood before the judge and the da threw her hands up and said state takes a voluntary dissmisal on my case, she was upset that the judge threw out all the cases before mine and they were much worse. i now after doing research found that i have a failure to appear for that now as well, i thought since it was dismissed it was over with, the day the da did voluntary dissmisal the judge told me today is my lucky day and i was free to go. any suggestions on where tostart so i can get this off my back?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: I need help
Hello: I read your explanation of your situation. It would take a while to explain everything that will happen or might happen with the procedures, the possible punishments under the DUI laws and the actual probable outcomes based on experience with these cases. Anyway, I'll give an overview. Things vary between counties, but we're all under Florida Statutes. In North Fla., I would ask a judge to withdraw the capias (warrants) and put the case on the calendar. We then appear, plead not guilty and ask for a pass date to come back. In the meantime, we ask the State for all their paperwork (being older cases, they may have destroyed their file). You may have a situation where their witnesses are gone. Anyway, you either fight the cases and/or seek to negotiate package deal with the State pleading to one charge (possibly reduced from DUI to Reckless) and get the rest dropped. It matters whether one of your cases in in a separate county.
You could try to do this yourself, ask for a Public Defender (this may not be possible unless ordered by the court, not sure, you could call a P.D.'s office and check), or hire private counsel. 'Hope this helped. Good luck. Tom Rosenblum
Re: I need help
Although it is never good to leave town before closing your case, it isn't necessarily the end of the world either. I have several clients right now that have similar situations that are several years old. Often times with old cases the bench warrant can be taken care of by posting a bond or by just closing out the case. The bench warant issues would need to be rectified before anything else. Then you can either close the case out by taking a plea or going to trial. if your cases are in south florida give me a call and discuss further. All my best, Joe Vredevelt
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