Los Angeles DUI Information

The Arraignment

In case of DUI charges, the officer in charge may consider your release on the grounds of self-recognizance and consent of presence before the court to answer the charges. Alternatively, the arresting officer may put you behind bars, and you have to arrange bail for your release.

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The framing of charges or arraignment is the first step of the California DUI criminal proceedings when you are arrested for drunk driving. As part of your arraignment, the court will inform you of the charges being pressed against you during the criminal proceedings, and you have the option to plead not guilty or accept the charges by choosing the options of guilty or no contest.

Many people accept the charges and plea as guilty or no contest against the charges hoping that it would please the judges, and they would sympathize while awarding sentences. In such cases when people accept charges by pleading guilty or no contest, they surrender their right to trial and contest against the charges, and the case is simply closed by awarding sentences.  If you feel that you have been wrongly implicated or wish to contest the charges framed against you, you can plead as not guilty.

It’s highly imperative that you understand how to plead, and if you have any doubts, you must consult a qualified attorney to protect your rights. The court will provide an attorney for you without any charges if you cannot afford private attorney and qualify for the state attorney services. You can also hire a California DUI lawyer to help you and can take the services of highly professional and experienced Los Angeles drunk driving lawyers from our firm.

The Pretrial Process

Your plea for being not guilty sets the court in motion for a fair trial of your case and the trial date is scheduled. The court allows you or your DUI lawyer to assess the evidence in support of the prosecution’s charges before your trial. In most of the cases, the prosecution supports their charges by including the evidence like police reports, test reports from the lab, chemical testing instrument’s maintenance records, witness’ statements and other circumstantial materials relating to the trial. The evidence supporting the prosecution charges are very important for working out a strong defense strategy and can be obtained through the discovery process.

The discovery process and investigation can be extremely important during the Pretrial Process and our experienced California DUI attorneys are experts in detecting inaccurate test results, faulty chemical testing instruments, insufficient or problematic police investigations and illegal arrests. These investigations allow us to have a comprehensively strong DUI defense strategy supported by undeniable evidence that led to dropping of drunk-driving charges and settlements in your favor.

The DMV Hearing/ License Suspension

Besides the criminal proceedings, your arrest on drunk-driving charges also initiates administrative suspension of your driving license. When you are arrested on the charges of drunk driving, it’s almost certain that the arresting officer would seize and suspend your California driver’s license under the California’s Administrative Suspension Law. The office would issue a notice of your driving license suspension along with the 30-day temporary driving license. The suspension becomes effective once the temporary period of 30 days is expired. However, you can also challenge this administrative suspension of your driving license by requesting a DMV Hearing within 10 days of the arrest and suspension.

The technical rules of evidence of these DMV hearings make the entire process extremely complex and therefore, it becomes imperative that you engage a highly experienced attorney for your DMV hearing. We are confident that you can avoid losing your driver’s license by hiring our experienced Los Angeles DUI Attorneys who have extensive knowledge of technical rules of evidence and known to work aggressively. However, it’s extremely important that your DUI lawyer quickly communicates with the DMV for a hearing, and you promptly consult with our DMV attorneys.

DUI and Your Record

Most often people wish to know the duration for which the DUI is going to stay on the personal records. The offense of driving under influence is priorable for 10 years, implying that you are going to be sentenced as prior convicted for DUI if you are arrested again for DUI within ten years of the first conviction.

However, the DUI is going to stay on your records for life unless you seek expungement regardless of the fact that DUI is priorable for only 10 years in Los Angeles County. You are entitled to seek expungement of DUI from your personal record after the DUI probation period or one year. Your plea of being guilty or no contest is revoked and the court records as not guilty to close the case when the judge accepts your request for expungement.

Los Angeles DUI Attorney – Your true guide

The California DUI attorneys have gained unprecedented reputation for their in-depth knowledge, experience and aggressive legal tactics but these appreciations can be attributed to their highly personalized services.  Our California DUI lawyers are dedicated to smoothly implement the entire defense strategy so that you, and your family don’t face the kind of intimidation and discomfort faced by people who hire inexperienced DUI lawyers. It’s our prime concern that you understand your rights and proceed through the entire DUI process with confidence as we will be there to guide you during your arraignment, trial and DMV Hearing. We will also guide and help you if you want any DUI proceedings expunged from your personal records.

Lots of questions might be popping in your mind if you have been arrested on DUI charges. You can call our Los Angeles DUI attorneys  for free consultation service at (310) 846-8283 to get all the answers pertaining to DUI proceedings and let us explain how we are going to help you in defending the charges of drunk driving.

DUI Penalties/Sentencing

First arrest on the charges of DUI:

  • License suspension – 6 months
  • You may end up in jail for 0 – 6 months.
  • You are fined from $390 – $1000.
  • You have to attend alcohol classes for 3-9 months.

Second arrest on the charges of DUI within 10 years:

  • License suspension – 2 years.
  • You end up in jail for 96 hours – 1 year.
  • You are fined from $390 – $1000.
  • You have to attend alcohol classes for 18 months.

Third arrest on the charges of DUI within 10 years:

  • License suspension – 3 years.
  • You end up in the county jail for four months – 1 year.
  • You are fined from $390 – $1000.
  • You have to attend alcohol classes for 18 months.

Fourth arrest on the charges of DUI within 10 years:

  • License suspension – 4 years.
  • You end up in the county jail or state prison for six months – 3 years.
  • You have to attend alcohol classes for 18 months.