Drunk Driving Attorney Bloomington IL
Drunk Driving Attorney Bloomington IL Depends on Discusses Multiple DUI Penalties
Anyone arrested for driving under the influence should consider hiring a drunk driving attorney Bloomington, IL offers from Pioletti Pioletti & Nichols. Our firm has helped thousands of criminal defense clients since we first opened our doors in 1938. Call us at 309-821-0246 to speak with one of our attorneys, who may review your case at no charge.
Drunk driving convictions can result in serious penalties, including lengthy jail time and steep fines. Talk to a Bloomington drunk driving attorney from Pioletti Pioletti & Nichols to see how we may be able to help you. Here is some general information you may find helpful in the meantime:
Drunk Driving Penalties
As mentioned, a drunk driving conviction can be very costly in many ways. A drunk driving attorney Bloomington, IL motorists recommend may be able to reduce your fine or even get the charges dropped. In Illinois, penalties for drunk driving can include one or more of the following:
- Driver’s license revocation for a minimum of one year
- Possible jail time
- Expensive fines
- Community service
Meeting with a Drunk Driving Attorney in Bloomington, IL
A drunk driving attorney Bloomington, IL citizens hire under similar circumstances may review your case before developing a legal strategy. They would likely want to read a copy of the police report and to hear your detailed account of what led to and occurred during the arrest. It’s possible that the evidence used in a drunk driving charge, such as a breathalyzer report, can be questioned and possibly thrown out. Our attorneys at Pioletti Pioletti & Nichols have a thorough understanding of the law and what is acceptable in a court of law. Under most circumstances, you will have three legal options from which to choose:
- Plead guilty to drunk driving.
- Negotiate a plea bargain in exchange for pleading guilty for a lesser charge.
- Plead not guilty and proceed to a trial on criminal charges.
Driver’s License Suspension Deadline
When you are charged with drunk driving or driving under the influence (DUI), the process to suspend your driver’s license is automatic. You must challenge that suspension within 46 days. If you do not, your license will be automatically suspended. It will be illegal for you to drive your car if that happens.
A drunk driving attorney Bloomington, IL drivers often hire from Pioletti Pioletti & Nichols may make every effort to keep you from losing your license. With a trusted legal representative at your side, you won’t have to go through the legal process alone. You may be advised of each step in advance.
Pioletti Pioletti & Nichols Attorneys at Law
If you’ve been charged with drunk driving, protect your rights by hiring a qualified attorney. Just because you were arrested doesn’t automatically mean you’re guilty. At Pioletti Pioletti & Nichols, our lawyers fight hard for our clients and our success rate reflects this. Don’t stand by and risk getting convicted or paying steep fines if you don’t have to. Call us today to speak with a drunk driving attorney Bloomington, IL residents turn to for results.
TO CONSULT A BLOOMINGTON DRUNK DRIVING LAWYER AT PIOLETTI & PIOLETTI IN BLOOMINGTON AND EUREKA. CONTACT US ONLINE OR CALL 309-467-3213.
As a drunk driving attorney in Bloomington, IL can attest, if you have already been convicted two or three times of driving while under the influence of alcohol, you can expect the penalties to be quite severe with the odds of spending time in jail quite good.
The fact that you even had a driver’s license at the time you were stopped for your third DUI offense tells the court the prior penalties were obviously not severe enough to deter you from repeating the crime.
A survey was recently given to a sampling of those who were convicted two or more times for driving under the influence of alcohol and then arrested for yet another charge. Interestingly, even the third or fourth time they were arrested for DUI, they were ultimately convicted of a lesser offense such as reckless driving. Of those responding to the survey, a third received a felony DUI conviction, just over half were convicted of a misdemeanor DUI, and about six percent pled guilty to a lesser charge.
The remaining respondents, about five percent had their charges dismissed or were not even charged criminally. Those who took the survey had a blood alcohol content of less than .07 percent, so the cases against them were not particularly strong.
What this says is the courts really want to give the offenders the benefit of another chance. When the offender abuses that additional opportunity and the blood alcohol content is significantly above the legal limit, the consequences become more severe, both in terms of financial penalties as well as potential loss of freedom.
What happens when you get a third or fourth DUI conviction?
It becomes easier to get a conviction when you are charged with your third or fourth DUI. In addition, a drunk driving attorney from Bloomington, IL knows if you come to the judge with more than two prior DUI convictions and are arrested yet again, the chance of spending time in jail goes up to about fifty percent. Depending upon the severity of the charge, about nine percent of first time DUI offenders are sentenced to jail time.
In addition, the court will likely require you to install an ignition interlock device on your car. This works like a breathalyzer wired directly to the ignition in your car. In order for your car to start, you have to breathe into a tube and your breath has to be alcohol-free.
The ignition interlock device also requires ‘rolling’ samples randomly while you are driving. When the device beeps you usually have about five minutes to blow into the tube. You never know when this will happen — it can be an hour apart one time, five minutes the next.
If you test positive for alcohol during a rolling test, your car will not shut off. However, the device will record the positive outcome and the DMV will be notified. In some states, if the rolling sample is positive, the car’s horn will honk and the headlights will flash.
Common Problems Involving Police Officers at the Scene of a DUI Stop
Police officers commit more mistakes during drunk driving stops than most people realize, and a drunk driving attorney from Bloomington, IL knows this can be beneficial to your case. An officer must abide by a set of protocols when pulling someone over and performing a field sobriety test. These procedures are set in place to help protect the rights of those who are stopped. If an officer makes a crucial error during a DUI assessment, the charges held against that driver can be contested with assistance from an attorney at Pioletti Pioletti & Nichols.
We have been dedicated to protecting the rights of and advocating for individuals accused of various types of crimes. When it comes to a DUI case, we can create a defense strategy to help protect you from having to serve jail time, paying hefty fines, or enduring harsher punishments than was is reasonable.
Here are some of the most common ways law enforcement may make a mistake during a stop of a driver on suspicion of driving while under the influence of alcohol:
- Pulling Over the Driver Without Reasonable Suspicion
An officer must have a legitimate reason for pulling over a driver on the road. An officer is not permitted to use a hunch or gut feeling to determine whether a person may be under the influence of alcohol. A driver may be pulled over if he or she is swerving between lanes, runs a red light, speeds, or otherwise is breaking a traffic law. But, it can be unlawful to halt an innocent driver who is going about his or her day while following the rules of the road. If you suspect that an officer stopped you for no obvious reason, please let your attorney at Pioletti Pioletti & Nichols know right away so he or she can investigate the arrest further.
- Inaccurate Breathalyzer Testing
Breathalyzers can easily produce inaccurate results, especially if the officer forgot to calibrate the device properly before testing the next driver. The officer may not have administered the breathalyzer correctly or cleaned it entirely beforehand, leading to skewed results. These breathalyzer devices can have a margin of error around 15% or more. So drivers who have been charged of a DUI may be victims of inaccurate breathalyzer readings.
- Demanding the Driver Undergoes a Field Sobriety Test
Many drivers forget that field sobriety tests are voluntary. It is not required that the driver undergoes such a test. However, this means you may have to submit a blood and/or urine test instead. Field sobriety tests can be difficult to pass even if someone is sober, particularly if they are fatigued, injured, ill, or are simply just really nervous. You can politely decline the officer’s request to do a field sobriety test, but still produce your registration, insurance, and license.
Please inquire about a free starter consultation with a Bloomington, IL drunk driving attorney at Pioletti Pioletti & Nichols by calling us today. We can offer legal representation, strategy, protect your rights, and advocate for you in court. We highly recommend contacting us as soon as possible, so we can get started creating a defense strategy for you.
Every DUI case involves different circumstances and each outcome can be different based on many factors. Consult with a drunk driving attorney Bloomington, IL clients trust who is experienced in DUI cases to get a better understanding of what you can expect with your particular case.
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