Chicago DUI Attorney Comments on Being Between a Rock and a Hard Place

This Chicago DUI attorney has posted here, here, and here about Driving While License Suspended/Revoked when the basis of that Suspension or Revocation is a DUI.

Things can go from bad to worse whenever one is charged with a DUI.  It is especially important, even if your DUI charges are dismissed to make sure you pay any reinstatement fees or else you could find yourself facing jail time, or even worse prison time with a felony charge.  No.  I don’t mean jail time or a felony charge for the DUI; I mean jail time or a felony charge, as my clients frequently say, “just for driving.”

This week I’ve already represented three people facing time in prison, not for the offense of driving drunk, or for causing an accident where someone died or was seriously injured, but “just for driving.” The best way to avoid this charge is to stay away from cars, even as a passenger, without a valid driver behind the wheel.

This particular offense is especially difficult, considerably more difficult than many DUI’s, drug charges, battery charges, or gun charges to try and win.  All that is required to be charged with the offense is driving or being in actual physical control of a vehicle.  That means you could be sitting in the car listening to music or even sleeping in the car can get you charged with the offense.  That legal definition put an awful lot of folks between a rock and a hard place.

                                                          

Still this week, none of the folks I represented are going to jail or prison.  Now they all know just how serious this offense is.  It is far better to avoid being charged than it is to have to defend a charge of Driving While License Suspended/Revoked when the penalty could be years in prison.

Chicago DUI Attorney Still Thinks It Isn't A Good Idea to Take the Field Sobriety Tests

This Chicago DUI attorney has posted here and here about Field Sobriety Tests and why it’s probably not a good idea to take them.

Still, she sees grounds for a strong defense where the accused apparently danced and sang, going above and beyond what she needed to do to prove her sobriety, the ABC test.***

From the TandD.com:

Bamberg police stopped a 21-year-old Main Highway woman who was driving erratically on U.S. 78 and Middle Street on Oct. 1.

 The driver had allegedly made several radical driving corrections, causing an officer on foot in the area to have to run to the curb to avoid her oncoming vehicle.

 When officers approached the vehicle, they could smell alcohol, and the driver's eyes were red, watery and glossy, the report said. When asked if she had been drinking, the woman said she had had two beers.

 Several field sobriety tests were conducted on her, including the alphabet test. According to the report, she told officers she sang the "ABC song" to her baby every day, and she then proceeded to recite the alphabet while singing and dancing.

 She was arrested for driving under the influence. 

In all of the DUI cases I’ve had, I’ve seen exactly one, where my client was charged with a DUI and the officer said in the arrest reports that my client passed the Field Sobriety Tests.  I know you are scratching your head wondering how he got charged with a DUI if he passed the Field Sobriety Tests.  That’s why I don’t see how they help you, only hurt you because face it, most of us, right now, stone cold sober couldn’t stand on one leg  and count to thirty out loud without putting our leg down.

*** In Illinois, the ABC test is not a standardized Field Sobriety Test

Chicago DUI Attorney Comments on a State Representative's DUI Plea

This DUI attorney has posted here and here about VIP treatment/professional courtesies.  Today, State Representative Randy Ramey pled guilty to a DUI.

September 26, Chicago, IL:

State Rep. Randy Ramey, the DuPage County Republican Party chairman, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor driving under the influence charge Monday court and was fined $1,750 and ordered to perform 100 hours of community service.

Ramey, who became county party chairman this summer, also was placed on one year of supervision and was ordered to attend a victim impact panel.

“I pled guilty, and I’ll go forward,” he said following his appearance in a DuPage County courtroom. He declined to comment further.

Ramey has served in the General Assembly since 2005, and had previously served on the House Drivers Education and Safety Committee and Transportation and Motor vehicles committee.

Here’s more irony, he used to work for the Illinois Secretary of State, the department that suspends driving privileges for people charged with a DUI.

Chicago DUI Attorney Comments on What Happens When They Get It Wrong?

This Chicago DUI attorney has posted here, here, and here about  errors.  Still it’s hard for many citizens to accept that the police can be wrong.  It doesn’t make them evil, but the aftermath is devastating for the accused.

From the Picayune Item:

 

The Mississippi Highway Patrol has kicked off its annual campaign against drinking and driving with the motto, “Stay Sober or Get Pulled Over.”

In 2010, there were 231 Mississippi alcohol related fatalities, a disturbing number. We don’tknow if alcohol caused these accidents or not, but we do know one of the drivers was drinking. For the one-third of Americans who don’t drink, the legality of drinking and driving must seem like an abomination. Indeed, alcohol consumption even without a two-ton vehicle causes untold wreckage of lives and human misery.

Two-thirds of Americans find moderate alcohol consumption a pleasant aspect of life. It enhances conviviality, allows one to relax after a hard week’s work and is good for your health. Moderate alcohol consumption can reduce the risk of heart disease and senility. It was no less than Benjamin Franklin who wrote: “Behold the rain which descends from heaven upon our vineyards, there it enters the roots of the vines, to be changed into wine, a constant proof that God loves us, and loves to see us happy.” And of course, Jesus turned the water into wine.

 

The American Medical Association, at the request of the Department of Transportation, originally deemed impaired driving to occur at a 0.15 blood alcohol level. Today, half that level — 0.08 — is considered impaired and illegal. The human body hasn’t changed during that time, but Mothers Against Drunk Driving has become a political force that no politician dares question. Driving While Intoxicated has become Driving Under the Influence. The range of acceptable drinking and driving is much more narrow.

There were 33,153 Mississippi DUI arrests last year, an astounding number. If DUIs were randomly distributed, every driver in the state would get at least one during his lifetime. A Colorado study showed that 20 percent of those arrested for DUIs had legal blood alcohol levels. The problem is that residual alcohol in your mouth can distort the results of the unreliable portable breathalyzers police often use to make an arrest.

Applying the Colorado study to Mississippi, 6,500 innocent Mississippians are arrested for DUI each year. Many lack the knowledge or money to fight the charge and just plead guilty. For the innocent, the personal cost of an undeserved DUI is immense: Lost reputations, job opportunities and the 90-day license suspensions. Car insurance rates skyrocket. A DUI often ends up costing $15,000. If police followed the rules, they would never give a breath test without waiting for at least 20 minutes. But Mississippi police are not that patient, especially when quotas need to be met and $30 million in fines is on the line.

Studies show perfectly sober people fail this test half the time. In its eagerness to battle drunk driving, the U.S. Supreme Court has carved out a special place for DUI enforcement, suspending many of the typical civil rights protections afforded by the Constitution.

Who says mistakes aren’t made?

Chicago DUI Attorney Comments on Social Media Warnings of Road Side Safety Checks

This Chicago DUI attorney continues to see the usefulness of Social Media. She’s posted about road side safety checks here and here.  Still she admits to being a tad surprised by this Facebook Status Update:

Good afternoon fb be careful on the streets this weekend road side safety checks throughout Chicago!!!! If u live on the west side they're having a check on the 4500 block of Madison tonite so where your seat belts and be careful!!!!!

 Here’s the funny thing about the update, it’s not from law enforcement or a defense attorney, and it’s a concerned citizen.    Oh, and yes here’s a link to confirm what this individual wrote.

Let’s be safe out there!

Chicago DUI Attorney Comments on the Courts Protecting the Driving Privileges of the DUI Accused

This Chicago DUI attorney has posted here, here, and here about Statutory Summary Suspensions.  That’s the suspension that is triggered simply for being charged with a DUI.  It doesn’t matter if you are guilty of a DUI or not.

Now the 2^nd District has clarified when the accused has a right to file the Petition to Rescind Summary Suspension

From People v. Moreland, 2011 IL App (2d) 100669 (August 8, 2011):

 

At issue in this appeal is whether the 30 days in which a defendant is entitled to a hearing on a petition to rescind the statutory summary suspension of his driving privileges begins to run before the Secretary of State has confirmed the suspension.  The trial court found that it does.  For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

 

Section 2—118.1(b) of the Code is unambiguous.  Id. at 388.  It provides that a defendant

“shall” be given a hearing on his petition to rescind within 30 days after the petition is received.  The word “shall” conveys that the legislature intended to impose a mandatory obligation.  Id. at 382.  That obligation is fulfilled when the defendant has a hearing on his petition to rescind within 30 days after it is filed in the circuit court, with service on the State.  See Bywater, 223 Ill. 2d at 486.  Here, defendant was not given a hearing by June 3, 2010, which was 30 days after he filed his petition.  Thus, the statutory summary suspension of defendant’s driving privileges must be rescinded.  See People v. Schaefer, 154 Ill. 2d 250, 262 (1993).

If you’ve been charged with a DUI you need to get to a knowledgeable lawyer immediately, so that all of your rights can be protected.

Chicago DUI Attorney Answers the Question: Can you help me get this off my record?

 Yes.  But only if you win at trial or the Government is willing to dismiss the charges against you.  I frequently get a bewildered look from folks charged with a DUI or Driving with Suspended/Revoked License when I answer their question.

Yes.  I understand that you knew a guy who got caught with ______________  (Fill in the Blank)                                                                    

and the charges were thrown out or dismissed but in Illinois, a DUI charge or Driving with a Suspended/Revoked License is different.

These offenses, even if you have never been charged with anything before in your entire life, are not expugnable or sealable.  They remain a part of your criminal background.  They don’t fall off after you have successfully completed treatment, paid your court fees and fines, or done your volunteer work or SWAP.

Given that reality, the most important thing you can do is avoid being charged with these offenses in the first place.  I know, you don’t live your life thinking about avoiding criminal charges for driving but perhaps you should.  If you’ve already been charged then you need to quickly get to a knowledgeable defense attorney who can provide you with the information you need to make the best decision.