Is it advisable to retain legal counsel for DUI offense, or is a public defender adequate?
Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 at
1:37 am
kittenmitten asked:
I have a friend that has recently been charged with a DUI and she does not know if she should get an attorney or merely appear in front of the judge with an explanation. Clean record, no prior offenses
She is nervous
I have a friend that has recently been charged with a DUI and she does not know if she should get an attorney or merely appear in front of the judge with an explanation. Clean record, no prior offenses
She is nervous
Tagged with: Dui • Legal Counsel • Public Defender
Filed under: dui attorney
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5 comments
If it is her first offense then she will undoubtedly get off with a stern reprimand from the judge. She must appear to be clean-cut, a normal person who drank too much and t will not happen again. If she can obtain a public defender it would help her case.
When I had my DUI i know that i paid 2000 dollars for my lawyer and i got screwed. I got the minium in offences but because he didn’t fight for me my suspension took place from my court date (which came 6 months after i got my DUI) instead of the time i got my DUI. Bottom line, the county gets paid off DUI’s, i can’t say which is better becuz I’ve only had the one, just make sure they know that because you pay someone, doesnt mean they’ll be better off, i paid my guy, and he didnt care at all, they get paid either way.
As a first offense DUI, with an otherwise clean record, the most she will get hit with is a large fine. She can enter a guilty plea, the judge will ask if she has anything to say. This is where she has a chance to mitigate the fine. She needs to grovel a bit. She apologizes for her lapse in good judgment, point out that she has never done anything this bone head stupid before, that this experience has been embarrassing, frightening, expensive, and will NEVER be repeated again.
Public Defenders are not automatically appointed. You have to request one. You only get one if you are too poor to hire your own attorney. If she has a job, owns a car, etc., then she can hire her own lawyer. If it means going into debt, the court does not care. Only the destitute get Public Defenders.
You get a better defense by someone you are paying to defend you, the courts pay the Public defender, and most public defenders work the same courts, so they are less likely too **** off the judge, who appoints these people cases. In Texas, Harris county to be more specific, the court appointed attorney is given 750.00 per case, and as many as 5 of those a day 5 days a week, so the incentive to stay on the good side of the judge is in the numbers. DUI/DWI is an expensive case to fight and a even harder one to win, so tell her to be smart. There is no explanation that does not sound like an excuse that the judge has never heard before, being cute and having big ***** is not going to matter, if that is what she is hoping for!!!!!
ok as i sit here typing this i just went throught my first DUI and am currently without my license for 30 days…no prior driving or criminal record and i was barely over the legal limit…now lets just say i paid $1000 for my lawyer and all he did other than fill out all the paper work and get me out of attending my second hearing was instead of 25 hrs community service i got 15…i was denied a public deffender and was told i had to get a lawyer…lets just say if i knew now what i knew then i would have said i could not afford a lawyer and did it myself…when i went to court 1 month ago i was infront of the judge for 1-2 minutes he didn’t say a single word to me and all i said was thank you your honor…also i’m in PA of thats any help…tell her to just take it as a lesson learned and not to do it again…the frist time she should receive ARD (Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition) which consistes usually of 6 months to 1 year probation, 25 hrs community service, fines, 30 days lose of license and alcoholic classes