IF YOU HAVE BEEN ARRESTED FOR DUI OR ANY OTHER CRIMINAL OFFENSE YOU MUST ACT NOW!
In the case of a DUI arrest, a DMV hearing must be requested with 10 days after the arrest. Failure to request a DMV hearing within 10 days after the arrest will result in an automatic suspension of your Driver's License 30 days after the arrest regardless of what happens in court.
[Although you can request a hearing yourself without an attorney, that is generally not a good idea for several reasons. You need to call the correct DMV Driver Safety Office, which handles the area where you were arrested. Sometimes, drivers will call or go in person to a local DMV office that is not the proper Driver Safety Office. More often than not, they will be given incorrect information and their hearing request will not be recorded with devastating consequences. If a person does call directly to the correct DMV Hearing Office, they will attempt to schedule a "telephone" hearing at the earliest possible date, often with the worst possible hearing officer. If the person calls and tells the DMV that they intend to hire an attorney, they will be told to have their attorney call with 5 days. The best policy by far is to contact a qualified DUI lawyer as soon as possible after the arrest so that a written request can be made on your behalf, along with a demand for discovery. Thereafter an in-person hearing can be scheduled at a convenient date and time and one that is most beneficial to the strategy, which will be employed in handing your case both at the DMV AND in court.]
If you are charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, (California Vehicle Code section 23152(a)) and driving with a blood alcohol level of .08% or greater, (California Vehicle Code section 23152(b)), you will be facing both a criminal proceeding in court and a civil proceeding at the DMV- a possible Admin Per Se suspension. If you lose either in court or at the DMV, your driving privilege will be suspended. In most DUI cases, the client is primarily concerned with not losing their driver's license and not spending time in jail. We have been very successful in eliminating or reducing the period of suspension of the driving privilege in a great percentage of cases, regardless of the alleged blood alcohol level. Jail time is mandatory for all second, third or fourth time DUI offenses, and even for first offenses in some cases, depending on the court, and depending on whether there was an accident, excessively high speed or an extremely high blood alcohol level. The Law Offices of Paul J. Kossitch has been extremely successful in avoiding jail for our clients in most DUI cases in a variety of ways - sometimes plea bargains to lesser charges or striking sentencing enhancements, sometimes alternative sentencing options, and sometimes by taking the case to trial and winning.
You should not make the mistake of assuming (as many D.A.'s do) that if the blood or breath alcohol test results are well above the legal limit, you are doomed to a DUI conviction. That is but one of many factors to be considered in a DUI case. The fact is, most of our clients who have been acquitted of DUI at trial had chemical test results well above the legal limit of 08%. The time of the alcohol consumption, time of driving, time of chemical testing, the reliability of the chemical test results are but a few of the many legal and evidentiary issues involved in a DUI trial. Until and unless a jury of 12 honest citizens returns with a unanimous verdict of guilty, you are presumed innocent and the case is not over until WE say its over- not the D.A. Do not make it easy for the prosecution by just pleading guilty until and unless there is a very good reason to plead guilty to something.
Criminal Defense and DUI Defense in particular is a complex and specialized area of law. A proctologist is a medical doctor, but you would not ask him to do brain surgery. Do not make the mistake of having a friend or a family lawyer handle your case if they do not do a great deal of criminal and DUI defense. The attorney must know the nuances of this area of law, which are critical to successful representation.
