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Jacksonville DUI Lawyers

1. Ellerin, Scott A DUI (driving under the influence) charge is a serious criminal offense in Florida. Not only can this result in jail time and fines, but the driverÕs license may also be suspended. Depending upon the number of drunk driving offenses and the driverÕs blood alcohol concentration (BAC), the penalties will increase.
2. Charles Truncale: Not all cases go to the jury. In fact, most are resolved long before trial through concerted negotiations that take the quality of the prosecution's evidence against you into full account. If the defense shows the government how difficult any essential fact might be to prove, the chance for a favorable plea to a lesser charge improves. If the defense can demonstrate such weaknesses with respect to a number of essential facts, then the most serious charges might be dropped by the prosecutor or dismissed by the judge.
3. Kevin Cobbin: when accused of a criminal charge it can be one of the most dire times in a personÕs life
4. Lynn Martin: These days it is not uncommon for our office to encounter clients who are facing DUIÕs.Ê With tougher laws and tougher penalties for DUI offenses, it is more important than ever to seriously consider hiring an attorney to assist in the handling of this charge.Ê DUI convictions carry serious consequences as they can affect your privilege to drive temporarily, or for life depending on the circumstances.Ê Thus it is important to fully understand the charges, your rights, and the possible consequences. It is imperative that every DUI charge is carefully and thoroughly investigated.Ê There are usually multiple areas and issues to investigate other than the charge itself.Ê There are procedural, constitutional, statutory issues that must be reviewed to see, for instance, if there was probable cause to make a stop, to detain someone, to request field sobriety exercises, or to submit to a breath or blood test.Ê The breath or blood tests bring up further issues of maintenance and operation of machines involved in these tests, qualifications of the test giver, etc.Ê The services of a private investigator may be necessary to assist in investigating these areas. With most DUIÕs, both an administrative process and the criminal process can be pursued with the assistance of the attorney.Ê The administrative process is separate and is solely for the purpose of attacking the suspension of the driving privilege that occurs as a result of all DUI charges.Ê There will be a separate fee to handle an administrative hearing and/or appeal from any denials or negative rulings resulting from that hearing.Ê The attorney will determine whether the administrative process is in the clientÕs best interest to pursue.Ê In the criminal case, there may be motions that can be prepared and argued, which will be an additional fee from the fee required to handle the DUI up until trial.Ê A separate trial fee will be required and the amount will depend on the facts and circumstances, the police officers/agencies involved, the complexity of the circumstances, the driving record, number of witnesses, and other similar factors. Handling a DUI is a charge which you should not handle alone.Ê You need to be made aware of all of your rights, whether all legal requirements as to the procedural, constitutional and statutory issues in your case have been met, and an attorney can help with that information.Ê DonÕt go this alone.
5. Robert Corse: If you have been charged with DUI in the state of Florida, you have only 10 days from the date of your citation to request an administrative hearing to contest your license suspension.
6. Nooney & Roberts: If you have been arrested for drunk driving, the last thing you need is a condescending attorney.
7. Hardesty, Tyde, Green & Ashton: Criminal.Ê The word alone can be fearsome.Ê Being charged with a crime can be devastating, and attempting to navigate the maze that is the Òlegal justice systemÓ overwhelming, especially without an attorney.Ê If you are charged with a crime, or think you are about to be charged with a crime, you need a criminal defense attorney.Ê It is that simple.Ê Not just any attorney will do.Ê HereÕs what you donÕt need: the advice of a family member who took a criminal justice course three years ago, the advice of a ÒjailhouseÓ lawyer, or the family friend who is a contract lawyer who agrees to Òhelp you out.ÓÊ You need a criminal defense attorney, one who has spent years honing his skills in and out of the courtroom practicing criminal law.Ê In many instances it is your liberty at stake, not to mention a criminal conviction, along with the possibility of devastating financial consequences.
8. Makofka & Makofka: If you have been arrested for DUI, extreme DUI, or felony DUI, a knowledgeable attorney's representation can help you resolve the charges and protect your driver's license.
9. Ronald Sholes: You have ten days after a DUI arrest to request a hearing on the suspension of your license...
10. Olberdorfer Law Office: If the police have charged you with a crime, you need immediate and aggressive representation from an experienced criminal defense attorney.
11. Robert Carl Davis: You should consult an attorney for individual advice regarding your own situation.
12. Jason K.S. Porter: If you or someone you care about has been charged with Driving Under the Influence, the last thing you need is another judge of character. You want discreet, professional, and trustworthy representation to protect your rights and lead you through the legal process.
13. Maria Rogers: Being charged with a crime is not an everyday experience for most working people in Florida. What will happen next? How can you be sure that your rights will be protected and that your side of the events will be given the attention it deserves?
14. Kathryn Robbie: Almost every traffic violation becomes a misdemeanor or felony if it involves injury to a person or destruction of property. A person who changes lanes without signaling and hits another car can be charged with the misdemeanor crime of reckless driving or even vehicular homicide if the lane-changer was attempting to inflict serious bodily injury and the other driver is killed. In addition, some traffic offenses are legally defined as misdemeanors or felonies, such as driving with a revoked license and leaving the scene of an accident. A person accused of these more serious traffic offenses is entitled to all criminal procedures, including the right to a court-appointed attorney and a jury trial.
15. James Hernandez:

    If I do not have any witnesses who will testify on my behalf, can I still win at trial?

    Yes. Defendants often go to trial without having anyone testify for them. This strategy allows the defendant's lawyer to focus on cross-examining the prosecution witnesses in order to poke holes in the prosecutor's case -- thereby creating reasonable doubt. Defense attorneys rely on a variety of arguments to discredit the prosecutor's witnesses. Some common arguments include:

    1. Prosecution witnesses are biased against the defendant and therefore are lying or grossly exaggerating.
       
       
    2. Prosecution witnesses are mistaken in their observations because the lighting was bad, they were under the influence of drugs or alcohol or they were too far away.
       
       
    3. Evidence from police laboratories is unreliable because the machines were not properly maintained or the technicians were not properly trained.
       
       
    4. Prosecution witnesses are lying to get a good deal on the criminal charges they themselves are facing (witnesses are often criminals who have been offered a deal if they testify against the defendant).

    What these arguments have in common is that they do not depend on defense evidence. Rather, they rely on the presumption of innocence and prosecutor's failure to overcome it by proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

16. Stone, Taylor & Associates: An arrest occurs when a person has been placed under restraint or has been taken into custody by a police officer. A person is placed under restraint when his or her freedom of movement is restricted by physical force or by a show of authority. The use of physical force occurs with the slightest touching or the application of physical force. A show of authority occurs when a police officer's words and actions operate as a command. An arrest does not occur when a person is free to leave or when the person feels that he or she is free to leave.
17. Jonathan Rowe: If you fail to satisfactorily resolve your speeding ticket or any other traffic citation, more legal and insurance-related troubles may follow.
18. Amy Newby: If you have been cited for DUI/DWI in Florida, you should know that the law gives serious consequences upon conviction. And these punishments drunk driving are even more severe for repeat offenders. A DUI sentence may require you to pay a substantial fine, serve some time in jail, or both. In addition to any fines or jail time, your driverÕs license may be suspended, even if it is your first offense. You will have to find alternate transportation and go through considerable effort to regain your driving privileges after a drunk driving conviction. To add insult to injury, many insurance companies will drop your motor vehicle coverage if you get a DUI. The companies that will insure you will only do so at a greatly increased premium. It is easy to see how important it is to protect your rights Ð and to do that, you need a lawyer who will work to stop these consequences from becoming reality.
19. Charles Lembcke: While some states have ruled that DUI checkpoints are illegal under their state constitutions, the majority of states and the U.S. Supreme Court have ruled that brief seizures at DUI sobriety checkpoints are legal when conducted in a particular manner. In 1990, the Court upheld a state's use of highway sobriety checkpoints as consistent with the Fourth Amendment in Michigan Department of State Police v. Sitz, where: 1. The checkpoints are selected pursuant to guidelines; and 2. Uniformed officers briefly stop every vehicle. Analogizing highway sobriety checkpoint programs to the checkpoints used at fixed borders to intercept illegal aliens (which have also been upheld as constitutional), the Court reasoned that the level of intrusion from sobriety spot checks is minimal when compared to the magnitude of the public interest in eradicating drunk driving.
20. Connie Clay: Legally, a person does not have to be falling down drunk to be convicted of driving under the influence. According to the law in Florida, a person is guilty of DUI if the person is driving or in actual physical control of a vehicle and is under the influence of alcoholic beverages or certain chemical or controlled substances to the extent that the personÕs normal faculties are impaired. Additionally, a person is guilty of DUI if the person is driving or in actual physical control of a vehicle and has a breath or blood alcohol level of .08 or more grams of alcohol. A person can be found guilty of DUI even if the person is not driving the vehicle. If the person has the ability and power to direct or regulate the vehicle in question at the time of the offense, whether the person is actually using that ability and power or not, the person can be found guilty of DUI. For instance, if a person is behind the wheel of a car with the keys in the ignition, the person is in actual physical control of the car even if the car has not been started. There are certainly six jurors somewhere who would not convict the person of DUI, but a police officer would have the authority to make an arrest under these circumstances if the person were under the influence of alcohol, chemical or controlled substances and the personÕs normal faculties were impaired.
21. Judy Groover: Even a traffic ticket can be more serious than many people realize. What a driver thinks is Òjust a traffic ticketÓ can turn into a nightmare. Some traffic offenses can bring jail time, in addition to substantial fines. The nightmare does not stop there: conviction of a traffic offense may result in a substantial increase in your motor vehicle insurance premium. The increased premium will stay with you for several years. In some cases, your coverage may be cancelled completely.
22. Teresa Sop: It is important for the lawyer to carefully investigate the charge and determine if the state can prove the charges. An attorney will determine whether probable cause existed for law enforcement officers to stop your vehicle, whether the officers followed standard protocol and legal requirements in questioning you, and whether probable cause existed to request you submit to a blood or breath test.