Re: Can anyone suggest a DUI attorney in Loudoun County ??
Posted by:
NotToDay
()
Date: February 21, 2015 05:47PM
This is not legal advice. I am not a lawyer and I've never been convicted of DUI because I don't drink but I work within legal system to know this. Your facts may vary. Sounds like you're going to find out regardless.
If you took the Field Sobriety test (FST) and field breathalyzer, forget getting a lawyer but by no means should you not talk to one. You're screwed even first offense and a lawyer won't help much if at all.
You do not have to submit to those tests in the field but you do not have the right to refuse testing whether it's a breathyzer in the station or a blood alchohol content test. Expect that you'll have to blow the machine at least 3 times to show a consistent trend.
Know this, even if you pass the FST, the ONLY thing the courts care about is if you are over, at or under the limit. Blow a .08, you're done. Hope you're not allergic to handcuffs. Even if you blow under the legal limit, if you appear to be impaired, you're under arrest. The law is the law and it requires mandatory sentencing and fines.
The judge does have some discretion over some of the sentencing like fines. So be on your best behavior, wear a nice suit, shave, act like your a pillar of society and you just made a mistake. A free consultation with a human lawyer will pretty much give you the same information. The lawyer can only do so much.
The Commonwealth's attorney will threaten you with max sentence including loss of license, max fine and jail time and the issuance of a provisional license. Again a lawyer will only help you so much here and a good one will tell you just that.
And unless you have friends and a girfriend who's willing to drag your ass all over the place, you can kiss your social life good bye. You leave home, you drive to work and only work, you drive home again and the car sits until you have to do it all over again, go to DMV (which is going to cost you even more money), your ASAP and victim interview classes and court. That's about all you get. Some judges will take child visitation under consideration. So will say screw you buddy. The average first year cost for a DUI conviction is about $10-15,000 all tolled.
In Virginia, the law is simple. First offense: interlock device for 1 year @ $200 per install. Calibration of said device every 22 days at $90 a pop. Miss an appointment and your car will shut off, permanently and you will have to have it towed back to the dealer who will have to reset the device AND report it to ASAP. That will cost you about $300.
So, 11 ASAP classes @ $400, non refundable. Miss more than a class, back to court you go for violating probation and kiss your provisional license good bye. 2 DUI victim sessions. Special DUI insurance for three years. Will bump your premium about 280% over the term if your insurance company doesn't outright drop you.
Another note for all you people out carrying security clearances - which seems like most of the DMV. You can keep your clearance with a DUI and you are required by federal law to notify your FSO within 24 hours depending on what you're cleared for.
A note of caution, DO NOT...repeat DO NOT, try to keep anything from your FSO. Re-read the forms you signed upon your clearance. You will never get cleared again and you will lose your job and your company could very well lose it's contracting status with the government. To which, your company will probably sue and screw you...as you did them.
In many other states, DUI is part of the traffic code but in Virginia, it is part of the criminal code just like reckless and virtually all traffice offenses. You have been tried and convicted of a crime under the criminal code of Virginia. While DUI first offense is a misdemanor you have to report it as directed by your FSO.
DUI's are the gift that just keeps on giving. You are absolutely going to repeat FML over and over and over again for at least the next year.
Why anyone drinks and drives in today's world is beyond me. Let me see? I go to a bar, the bar lets out and shocker, there are cops waiting for us to leave the bar. Like shooting fish in the barrel. Unbelieveable to me.