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Springfield DWI Lawyers

1. Worsham, Will: * 1. Don't Panic. People get arrested for DWI all the time. It's not the end of the world. Take a Deep Breath and realize that this is a problem that can be handled. You will get through this. * 2. Gather all your paperwork You probably received quite a bit of paperwork. Get it all together and keep it that way. Your lawyer will want to review it and some of it contains specific information related to your driving privileges. * 3. Act Quickly In order to preserve your rights it is important to get a lawyer working on your case immediately. You can begin to lose your opportunity to challenge aspects of your case in as little as 15 days. * 4. Hire a lawyer By using our online submission form, you can quickly and easily hire Will Worsham and his staff of trained paralegals to begin work on your case. Our site is secure and your personal information is protected.
2. RGG Law: Any traffic violation, even a speeding ticket, can have a significant impact on your life, including higher automobile insurance rates, reduced driving privileges and more. More serious traffic offenses, such as DUI offenses, can have you facing possible jail time, hefty fines and additional penalties. In either case, hiring an experienced lawyer can help you protect your rights and reduce your consequences.
3. Whitaker & Wilson: * Driving While Intoxicated (DWI/DUI) * Boating While Intoxicated * Serious traffic charges - including speeding tickets, reckless driving, and driver's license violations * Property crimes - including theft, burglary, possession of stolen property, and arson * Violent crimes - including assault and battery, murder, and manslaughter * Drug possession and sale * White collar crimes - including check fraud, embezzlement, and perjury * Interstate parental kidnapping * And others
4. Sherwood, Honecker & Bender: family law, criminal defense, personal injury, and litigation
5. Wampler & Passanise: Police officers can fly over your backyard and take aerial spy photographs or run a drug dog sniffing around your car on the street or around your luggage at an airport or bus terminal. They can stop you on the public streets for little or no reason and demand to search your car and possessions, especially if you fit their idea of a profile.
6. Moore, Larry: DWI/DUI DWI (Driving While Intoxicated) and DUI (Driving Under the Influence) can involve significant penalties, especially if it isn't your first DWI/DUI incident. If your blood alcohol content (BAC) is greater than .08, you could face serious consequences, including: * Suspended license * Increased insurance rates * Jail or prison time * Drug or alcohol treatment * Interlock devices
7. Young, Jeff: Hiring an attorney is an important decision that should not be based solely upon advertisements.
8. Morlan, Tad: An arrest for a DUI/DWI is not an automatic "guilty" of driving while intoxicated, but ONLY an accusation of such and that you have been taken to jail. You have rights and contacting an experienced and qualified attorney is a sure way to ensure that your rights are protected.
9. Worsham & Vaughan: What can happen to my license if I'm arrested for DWI? When a person is arrested for DWI or DUI in Missouri, several things can happen concerning the person's driver's license.Ê Missouri law provides that a driver arrested for Driving While Intoxicated is required as a condition of operating a motor vehicle on the public highways to submit to a test of their Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) upon reasonable request of a law enforcement officer (Missouri's Implied Consent Law).Ê Failing the test or refusing the test both result in a loss of driving privileges. Administrative Alcohol Suspensions If the arrested person takes a Blood Alcohol Content Test (BAC Test) and the result is over .08% (Missouri's legal limit) then the arresting officer will usually immediately seize the driver's license and issue a Notice of Suspension. What To Do If Stopped for DWI. * 1. Be Polite and Respectful The officer is just doing his or her job. There is no reason to be rude or disrespectful and it will definitely NOT help your case to be unkind. * 2. Do NOT Answer Questions. The officer will likely ask you if you have been drinking, where you have been, how much you've had to drink, etc. You have a Constitutional right not to answer these questions - - so don't. Politely tell the officer that you intend to exercise your constitutional rights not to answer questions. * 3. Ask if you are free to leave. If the officer tells you that you are not free to leave then any further questioning may result in a custodial interrogation invoking additional constitutional protections of your rights. You should politely inquire as to the officer's reason for stopping you and respectfully ask him or her to write you your ticket so that you can be on your way. * 4. DO provide your license and proof of insurance Always keep these items where you can quickly and easily locate them. Even completely sober people can sometimes fumble and search for proof of insurance that they stowed in their car months ago, but officers and prosecutors often make much of a person's inability to quickly locate these items. * 5. DO NOT perform Field Sobriety Tests There is no requirement that you perform Field Sobriety Tests. These tests include the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus Test (eye test), Walk & Turn Test and One Leg Stand Test. Officers also routinely ask suspects to recite the alphabet without singing, count a specific series of numbers, touch fingertips or other tests. Just Say No. * 6. DO NOT take the Portable Breath Test (PBT) Many officers in Missouri now carry in their patrol cars what is known as a Portable Breath Test or PBT. While the result of this test cannot be used in court to support a conviction for DWI, it can be used to established probable cause to arrest. You are not required to take this test. * 7. Expect To Be Arrested At this point, although the officer has little if any evidence of intoxication (unless you are slobbering drunk and falling all over yourself in which case you REALLY SHOULDN'T BE DRIVING!) the officer is probably very frustrated that you have excercised your rights and will usually arrest you out of spite. Go along quietly -- he or she has every right to do so. * 8. Make An Informed Decision about the BAC Test. Once arrested and at the station you will be given the opportunity to submit to the official BAC test pursuant to Missouri's Implied Consent Law. Understand that by refusing to take the test, your license will be revoked for a year. However, taking the test will give the officer crucial evidence in proving a DWI case against you. The choice is yours and it is a difficult one. Without a test of Blood Alcohol Content and absent other evidence of intoxication, it is often difficult for the prosecution to prove their case in court when defended by an experienced DWI Trial attorney.
10. Steven Groce: Yes, the Cops are everywhere; and they are waiting tostop you! Any excuse will be used to stop your vehicle. Speeding or driving without your lights at night are sure ways to get stopped; but the Police State Goverment that we currently live under will use any pretext available to make a stop. If it is late at night, or if you are driving in an area where bars or night clubsare located, the grounds for stop become less and less, including things like an expired tag, or even a burned out license plate lamp. Sometimes, for no reason at all. Cops often follow vehicles leaving bars, and will look for the slightest reason to pull you over. It is a sad truth that in the United States the greatest percentage of money available for Law enforcement is focused on Drug and Alcohol violations.Visit a DWI road block some evening, preferrably on a bicycle, and see for yourself. With the lowering of the legal limit for blood alcohol in Missouri, and many other states, to .08, even the responsible driver who limited his or her consumption to a couple of glasses of wine with dinner is now at risk. PENALTIES FOR VIOLATION: The penalties for violation of the laws relating to DWI/DUI and BAC, normally fall into two categories. First, are the Criminal penalties for violation of the relevant statute, which may be imposed by the Court. These penalties include things like fines, possible jail time, community service and completion of educational programs. The Second type of penalties are civil in nature, and generally come from the Missouri Department of Reveune, Driver's License Bureau, in the form of License suspensions and revocations. For purposes of discussion here, I will focus on the Criminal penalties only. An entire separate page is devoted to to the Civil penalties. (Click on License Suspensions page) Under 577.010.2 RSMo., Driving while intoxicated, and also 577.012.3 RSMo., Driving with excessive blood alcohol content (BAC), are, for the first offense, a class B misdemeanor. What this means, is that even on a first offense, the range of punishment available to the Court, is up to 6 months in jail and/or up to $500.00, in fines. Fortunately, however, the maximum is rarely every imposed. The key words are ( up to), meaning the Judge is free to sentence anywhere within this range. The Court may grant complete probation; and in certain situations, the Court may even may even be willing to grant a Suspended Imposition of Sentence (S.I.S.), which under Missouri law, is not a conviction. PRIOR AND PERSISTENT OFFENDER STATUTES: Under 577.023.1(3) RSMo., a "Prior offender" is a person who had pleaded guilty to or has been found guilty of one intoxication-related traffic offense, where such prior offense occurred within five yers of the occurrence of the intoxication-related traffic offense for which the person is charged. DWI/DUI, BAC, and certain other offenses (defined under the definition of "intoxication-related traffic offense") are all included as priors for this purpose. Generally speaking, if you have a prior within the last 5 years, (of the occurrence) of the present offense, you can be charged as a prior offender. Under 577.023.1(2) RSMo., a "Persistent offender" is a person who has pleaded guilty to or has been found guilty of two or more intoxication related traffic offenses, where such two or more offenses occurred within ten years of the occurrence of the intoxication-related traffic offense for whcih the person is charged. Again, generally speaking, if you have two or more priors within 10 years, (of the occurrence) of the present offense, you can be charged as a persistent offender. The significance of the Prior and Persistent offender statutes, involves several things. First, in regard to the Prior offender statute, it is a Class A Misdemeanor, which doubles the range of punishment from the Court, to up to 1 year in jail, and/or up to $1,000.00 in fines. For a Persistent offender, it may now be charged as a Class D Felony, which carries up to 5 years in prison. In addition, Prior and Persistent offenders are barred by statute from any elgibility to receive a Suspended Imposition of sentece. 577.023.1(3)4 RSMo. goes on to state that: No Prior offender shall be elgible for parole or probation until he has served a minimum of five days imprisonment, unless as a condition of such parole or probation such person performs at least 30 days of community service under the supervision of the court in those jurisdictions which have a recognized program for community service. No Persistent offender shall be elgible for parole or probation until he or she has served a minimum of ten days imprisonment, unless as a condition of such parole or probation such person performs at least sixty days of community service under the supervision of the court. IGNITION INTERLOCK DEVICE: 577.600.1 RSMo. "In addition to any other provisions of law, a court may require that any person who is found guilty of or pleads guilty to a first intoxication-related traffic offense, as defined in section 577.023, and a court shall require that any person who is found guilty of or pleads guilty to a second or subsequent intoxication-related traffic offense, as defined in section 577.023, shall not operate any motor vehicle unless that vehicle is equiped with a functioning, certified ignition interlock device for a period of not less than one month from the date of reinstatement of the person's driver's license. In addition any court authorized to grant a limited driving privilege under section 302.309, RSMo., to any person who is found guilty of , or pleads guilty to a second or subsequent intoxication-related traffic offense shall require the use of an ignition interlock device on all vehicles operated by the person as a required condition of the limited driving privilege." This statute is poorly written. Essentially, what it says is that on a first offense, the requirement is discretionary with the court. On a second offense, the court is required to order it. The last part says that if you obtain a limited driving privilege (Hardship license) from a court, to drive under a suspension/revocation resulting from a second or subsequent conviction, the court is again required to order it as a condition of the Hardship license. Finally, note that violation of any order from a court to use an interlock device is a Class A Misdemeanor (up to a year in jail and/or up to $1,000.00 in fines). Although it may not last for long, at the time of this writing, there is a wide variation in the enforcement of this statute by the courts. By law, the courts don't have a choice on a second offense. However, it is still sometimes possible to avoid having the court order it in the first place, depending on the jurisdiction, or the judge or the particular case.
11. Stacie Bilyeu: A "compact" can be an agreement among states regarding a matter of mutual interest. As the automobile became more ubiquitous, states began signing compacts to share information regarding drivers and traffic violations. The Driver License Compact (DLC) and Nonresident Violator Compact (NRVC) constitute such agreements and have facilitated the sharing of driver information to advance highway safety and related goals.
12. Bill Crowe: The crime of drunk driving is generally defined in two ways: (1) having a blood alcohol content above the limit set by law, or (2) driving under the influence of alcohol. To find a person guilty under the first definition, a jury (or judge) must be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that the person's blood alcohol content (BAC) exceeded a certain amount. In most states the legal limit is .08 percent. Therefore, if it is proved that the person's BAC at the time of the incident was .08 percent or greater, he or she can be convicted of drunk driving, regardless of how much alcohol was actually consumed. As a practical matter, one drink would almost certainly not lead to a BAC of .08 percent or greater; generally, a person needs to have five drinks in an hour to develop a BAC of .08 percent. However, if there was something unique about the person or the drink, or other circumstance, one drink could raise the BAC above the legal limit. In contrast, the second definition does not refer to any particular BAC. It focuses on the driving behavior of the person; if it is impaired by the person's consumption of alcohol, he or she can be found guilty of drunk driving. Instead of presenting evidence of the BAC to a jury, the prosecution seeking a conviction under this definition generally presents testimony about the person's driving and consumption of alcohol. A police officer will often describe the impaired driving that lead him to pull the person over and the person's ability (or lack thereof) to perform field sobriety tests, such as walking a straight line. Evidence is also usually presented concerning the person's consumption of alcohol and if the jury then concludes that the prosecution has met its burden of proof, it will convict the person of drunk driving. A susceptible person may exhibit impaired driving after one drink and therefore be convicted of drunk driving.