Oakland, Walnut Creek Drunk Driving Defense Lawyer
At the Law Office of Mark Blair, I have very simple goals when I represent people charged with DUI. First and foremost, I do everything possible to secure a dismissal of your charges. If that isn’t possible, I work for a reduction of the charges to a non-alcohol related offense, and a reduction of the possible penalties you face.
Please contact me today to schedule a free consultation about your DUI defense case. I provide high quality representation to people in Oakland, Walnut Creek and the entire east San Francisco Bay area.
Dismissal of charges
At the Law Office of Mark Blair, I work for a dismissal of your charges by thoroughly reviewing the facts of your traffic stop, arrest, and booking. I then make a determination of the weakness in the prosecution’s case and the strengths of your case, and the best way to present these to the judge or jury. Dismissal may result from negotiating with the prosecutor, filing appropriate motions, and/or winning at trial.
Motions to suppress
Motions to suppress evidence are based on constitutional violations that occurred in your case. The police are required to have a legitimate, lawful reason to stop you in the first place. It is legally referred to as reasonable suspicion. Moreover, there also must be a lawful basis to arrest you known as probable cause. If the police lacked one or both reasons, any evidence they obtain as a result of the stop may be suppressed, meaning the prosecution’s evidence against you will not be admitted in court.
Evidence that can be challenged in DUI cases includes police observations, field sobriety test results, results from preliminary alcohol screening devices and data results from blood or breath tests.
Refuting the police report
Police reports may be flawed and may contain errors. If a police officer states that he or she witnessed something that you do not believe to be true, what options are available to you? Police reports are only the beginning points of discovery—the collection of all information either favorable or unfavorable to your case. Other sources of information include dispatch tapes that may reveal the real reason the officer stopped or arrested you. Dispatch tapes are recorded communications between the officer and the dispatcher at the police station. Their importance cannot be overlooked.
Reduction of charges
If I cannot get the DUI charges against you dismissed, there are other options available to have them reduced to something other than DUI. There is a variety of lesser charges. Imagine a pyramid. At the top is what DUI attorneys term a “wet reckless charge.” These convictions may be used as a prior alcohol related conviction in the future if you are arrested again for a DUI. However, wet reckless charges carry much lower fines, much lower DUI school consequences, and typically no jail time or community service.
Better than a “wet reckless” conviction is a “dry reckless” driving conviction. This conviction has no alcohol related connotations and cannot be used as a prior conviction if, in the future, you are charged with another DUI. Since dry reckless charges have no alcohol related consequences, you will not be ordered to attend DUI school, fines should be low, and no jail or community service is typically imposed. Please note that both “wet” and “dry” reckless driving are misdemeanors.
Even better than wet or dry reckless driving resolutions are infractions. Infractions are not misdemeanors, carry no jail time, and impose only a fine. Infractions may be either moving infractions (counting against your point total for license and insurance purposes) or non-moving infractions.
As your attorney, I believe that my representation is a partnership with you in which we work together to achieve the best result. No one can change the past, but we can mould the future. The actions that we take before going to court are critical in achieving the best result.
Contact the Law Office of Mark Blair to discuss your best options to defend against your DUI charge. I will answer all of your questions and give you a clear picture of what to expect next.
For more answers to your DUI questions, please visit my DUI FAQs page.