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Mistakes
That Make it Harder to Defend Your Operating Under the Influence of Alcohol
(OUI) Case
An OUI conviction on your record can have a serious impact on the rest of
your life. It can affect your job, your ability to drive, your ability to
travel, and your freedom.
Don't make any of these common mistakes that can limit your legal defense
options. Beacuse, when we fight cases, we usually win,
at least 2/3s of the time!
- Hiring the wrong lawyer. You want a lawyer who is experienced
in handling driving under the influence cases in Massachusetts.
When you are speaking to attorneys, ask
him or her:
- How many OUI cases they handles per month.
- Who the best
judges and toughest judges are in your district court, and
- What their success rate is
at winning cases, getting dismissals, or charges redued.
You want a lawyer who will investigate and prepare your case and take it to trial,
rather than an attorney who talks about making a deal right away.
Frequently you have to take a case to trial in order to be found
not guilty or have the case thrown out.
- Pleading Guilty Without an Attorney. If you do not
get your case evaluated by an experienced OUI attorney,
you'll never know if the state
screwed up, and it really should have been dismissed. If you
just accept plea deal without a lawyer,
you'll never know if you could have gotten charged
reduced, civil penalties dropped, a shorter or no license
suspension, a hardship license quicker, and a whole host of
things that an attorney who deals with these cases every day
will know to look for and to fight for.
- Hiring a cheap and inexperienced OUI lawyer. A lawyer
who fights DUI cases every day may not even cost much more than
your neighborhood attorney. You don't know how much time and
effort an experienced lawyer can save you, by moving court
dates, helping you get a hardship license and driving again
ASAP. Dealing with the registry is something that can be an
administrative nightmare, but it is something we do all the
time, at no extra cost to our clients. And a lawyer with the lowest fee will have
an incentive to go to court and plead you guilty right away, to save
time and effort.
- Driving to court, or driving at all after your license
has been suspended. If you are arrested
after your license has been suspended for an OUI breath test
failure or refusual, you can get be arrested a criminal charge
of operating on a suspended license.
An Operating After Suspension (OAS) after an OUI conviction
means you could face a minimum mandatory 60 days in jail.
- Failure to appear in court. You do not want to miss a
court date. The judge will issue a bench warrant on the spot
for your arrest for
failure to appear.
If you do miss a court date, but it was beyond your control, you
need to deal with it immediately.
That is something we can help with. Because if you are picked up
by the police, your problems become much greater, and your
ability to negotiate evaporates.
- Talking to anyone but your lawyer about your case.
Don't speak to the police, don't speak to your friends,
especially at the courthous, where a court officer could
overheard you. Anything
you say to anyone other than your lawyer can and will be
used against you in court.
- Waiting to Deal With Your Case If you are
going to fight your case at trial, there are deadlines and
lead times necessary for certain motions and evidence
discovery. Your attorney will want as much time as possible to
get this done, especially in the case of medical record that
show you were unable to complete physical field sobriety
exercises. And even if you are nearly sure you want to plead
your case, it makes sense to have an attorney at your
arraignment or first
court date. There can be advantages to speed, and getting a
deal done if there is a risk of the prosecutor getting more
information about your case that might not be helpful to you.
- Failing to prepare for sentencing. While you hope not to be convicted of the charges, it is still a
good idea to prepare for the possibility of sentencing. Sentencing
becomes more important if you have previously been convicted of
operating under the influence in Massachusetts.
You may want to consider attending
AA meetings or an alcohol rehabilitation program before you go to
court because a judge is likely to be more impressed with actions
you take on you own after being arrested than by promises made about
future conduct at a sentencing hearing. Your lawyer should also
know about your work history and any extenuating circumstances in
your case.
- Worrying Unncessarily. If you've hired an
attorney who knows what they are doing, then trust them to do
the job, and take care of you. A lot of people have
tremendous anxiety about their situation, and that is
completely understandable. Asking a lot of questions is fine.
A good attorney will be reassuring about your situation, and
should help you relax.
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