Greenville DWI Lawyers
- Davenport, Matthew:
The equipment used by authorities to detect drunk drivers has been proven to be both antiquated and inaccurate. The Alco-sensor's results are typically highly flawed, and the Intoxilyzer 5000 uses technology and software that is over twenty years old.
- Owens & Nelson:
Everyone knows that feeling when those blue lights flash in the rearview mirror. A traffic ticket can ruin your whole day. What you might not know is that a simple ticket, if not handled correctly, can cause insurance rates to skyrocket. You may even lose your license.
- Dave Sutton:
A drunk driving arrest has serious consequences. A driver's license can be revoked for 30 days upon arrest and for one year upon conviction. For repeat offenses, a person faces up to 2 years in jail and fines into the thousands. Petitioning for a limited driver's license requires an alcohol assessment and hearing. If you are charged with a DUI and it is your first offense you may be eligible for a one year limited driver's license.
- Keith Williams:
You will likely receive unsupervised probation if you are convicted. While
it is possible to receive up to six months in jail even for a first DWI conviction, the judges
in our county typically impose probation on first offenders. The period of probation
will be approximately twenty-four months.
“Unsupervised” probation means that you will be on probation
but you will not report to a probation officer. If you are convicted, I will give you
further details about unsupervised probation when we dispose of your case in court.
You will also be required to pay court costs and a fine. Court
costs are $100.00, and the fine can be a maximum of $1,000.00. More commonly, the fine
is approximately $250.00. You will need to be able to pay the court costs and fine on
the day that we dispose of your case in court.
You will also be
required to perform up to 72 hours of community service and to pay a community service fee of
$200.00. You should also bring this with you to court on the day we dispose of your
case.
The judge could order that you not operate a motor
vehicle for a period of up to ninety days from the time you are convicted (even with a limited
driving privilege). Typically, however, the judge will let you choose whether you want
to do community service or have a period of not driving. Most people choose to do
community service.
DWI is a class 2 misdemeanor. It is
not a felony, and it does not cause you to lose the right to vote or to own a gun. If
you are placed on unsupervised probation, however, one of the conditions of probation will be
that you possess no firearm or other dangerous or deadly weapon during the period of
probation. If you hunt or otherwise own guns, please let me know so that we can ask the
judge to waive this condition in your case.
You
should not speak with anyone about your case other than myself. Anything you say to
anyone else (especially to any law enforcement officer) could be used against you in court.
Your sentence will be determined based upon
“aggravating” and “mitigating” factors. One of the mitigating
factors that can reduce your punishment is getting a substance abuse assessment. To get
an assessment, you need to call East Coast Counseling in Greenville at
252/752-8602.
They will schedule an
appointment for you to meet confidentially with a substance abuse counselor who will ask you a
series of questions about your use of drugs and alcohol. At the end of the appointment,
the counselor will complete a form entitled “Substance Abuse Assessment.” If
your intoxilyzer result was .14 or less, the assessment will likely recommend that you take a
routine drug and alcohol class called ADETS. ADETS costs $50.00, and it consists of four
classes held on Tuesday nights from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Pitt County Mental Health
Center. If your intoxilyzer was .15 or higher, or if the results of the assessment
indicate that you have a possible problem with drugs or alcohol, the assessment will likely
recommend that you complete twenty hours of more focused drug and alcohol
counseling.
You will need to take a copy of your
ticket, your intoxilyzer test results, and your driving record to the appointment. If
you have a North Carolina license, I will get a copy of your driving record from the
Sheriff’s Department. If you have an out of state license, I will get a copy of
your driving record from your home state motor vehicle agency. I generally receive North
Carolina records within seven days, and I generally receive out of state records within two to
three weeks.
You need to tell East Coast Counseling that
I am representing you and that your assessment form should be faxed to my office at
252/830-5155.
You should register for (and complete) any class
or treatment that is recommended by the assessment. If you finish the classes or
treatment prior to the time we dispose of your case in court, it may help us further reduce
your punishment. It is especially important for you to complete the treatment prior to
court if you refused to take the intoxilyzer at the time you were arrested.
The cost of the assessment is $100.00. You will pay this fee
directly to East Coast Counseling. The fee for ADETS or any other classes or treatment
recommended by the assessment is additional.
If you are a
student at East Carolina University, you should check with the student life department to see
whether you would be able to obtain a free or low cost assessment, instead of contacting East
Coast Counseling. Note, however, that getting the assessment through ECU may trigger
some type of internal disciplinary proceeding with the University.
In addition to whatever punishment is imposed in court, the
North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) will also suspend your license for twelve
months upon conviction. This twelve-month suspension will start on the day you are
convicted. If you have an out-of-state license, your privilege to drive in this state
will be revoked for twelve months, and DMV will report your conviction to your home
state. Your home state will also likely suspend your license.
If you were 21 or older on the day you received your DWI ticket, and if
you had a valid license at the time you were stopped for the DWI, you will be able to get a
limited driving privilege. A limited privilege allows you to drive for purposes of work,
school, and maintenance of your household during the twelve-month suspension. If you
blew a .16 or higher on the intoxilyzer, then you will likely be required to have an ignition
interlock device installed on your car as a condition of getting the limited privilege.
I will give you further information about the interlock device as your case proceeds.
If you were under 21 on the day you received your DWI ticket, DMV will
contend that you are not eligible for a limited driving privilege. I, along with another
lawyer, am currently suing DMV over this issue, and we have a case pending in the North
Carolina Supreme Court. I will keep you advised if the law changes. In the
meantime, I will still obtain a limited driving privilege for you from the court, even though
DMV will not recognize it as valid. We will talk further about the privilege when it is
issued. Also, please note that if you are under 21, it would be helpful for one or both
of your parents to be in court with you on the day we dispose of your case in court. The
judges in our county like to see that you have the support of your family.
Before getting the limited driving privilege, you will be required to
complete your substance abuse assessment. You will also need to show proof that you have
car insurance. This is done with a DL-123 form, which you can obtain from your insurance
agent. Note that the form is only valid for thirty days, which means that you will need
to request the form from your agent within thirty days before we dispose of your case in
court. Ask your agent to fax it to my office at 252/830-5155.
The limited driving privilege will have certain restrictions, such as
driving for your job and driving only in certain hours. If you change jobs or move, or
if you need additional hours for driving, you will need to call me so we can have the court
amend the privilege. Failing to do so would expose you to being charged with driving
while license revoked and losing the privilege.
If
you received your DWI ticket within the last thirty days, and if you blew .08 or higher on the
intoxilzyer, or if you refused to take the intoxilyzer, your license is currently suspended
for thirty days. You cannot drive during the first ten days of the suspension.
Thereafter, you can drive with a twenty-day limited driving privilege for the remaining twenty
days of the suspension.
Before getting a twenty-day privilege,
however, you must obtain a substance abuse assessment as described above and register for any
recommended treatment.
At the end of the thirty-day suspension,
you will get your license back by paying $50.00 to the criminal clerk of court located on the
fourth floor of the Pitt County Courthouse. If you bring the $50.00 to my office, we
will pay the fee and get your license for you. It is important that you pay the $50.00
as soon as the thirty-day suspension ends, because failing to do so would cause you to suffer
increased punishment if you are charged with a DWI in the future.
Also note that the thirty-day license suspension is entirely separate
from the twelve-month license suspension described above. The thirty-day suspension
starts on the day you receive your DWI ticket. It ends thirty days later, when you pay
your $50.00 fee to the clerk. If you wait longer than 30 days to pay your $50.00 to the
clerk, the suspension ends whenever you pay the $50.00. After you pay the fee to the
clerk, you get your license back, and you can drive without restrictions until we dispose of
your case in court. If you are found not guilty, you will continue to drive without
restrictions. If you are found guilty, you will turn in your license on your court date
and begin the twelve-month suspension described above.
If you
need some form of identification from DMV during the thirty-day suspension, you can get an
identification card at your local DMV office. If you do so, however, you will need to
return to DMV after your thirty-day suspension ends and get a duplicate license. Failure
to get a duplicate license will mean that DMV will not have you listed as a licensed driver,
which could cause you to be charged with driving while license revoked. However, if you
do not get an identification card from DMV during the thirty-day suspension, you will not need
to get a duplicate license from DMV at the end of the thirty-day suspension. You will
simply drive with your original license.
If you were
under 21 on the day you received your DWI ticket, then you may also have been charged with the
separate offense of underage drinking and driving. DWI applies when the intoxilyzer
result is .08 or higher. Underage drinking and driving applies when the intoxilyzer
result is .01 or higher, because the law provides that you should not have any alcohol in your
body if you are under 21. If you are only convicted of underage drinking and driving,
you will have a twelve-month license revocation, but you will be able to get a limited driving
privilege to allow you to drive during the revocation period. If you are convicted of
both DWI and underage drinking and driving, however, you will not be able to get a limited
driving privilege.
Your case is currently in
district court, where traffic and misdemeanor cases are handled. It will be decided by a
judge, not a jury. If you are convicted, you will have the right to appeal your case
within 10 days of the date of your conviction. The appeal would be to Superior Court,
where you would receive a jury trial. If you want to appeal, you will need to let me
know at the time you are convicted.
At some point before
your case is disposed of in court, I will speak with the officer who issued your DWI
ticket. I will ask him about the facts of the case. I will also ask him whether he
took any videotape in your case. If he did, I will attempt to view the videotape prior
to court. I will also try to review his notes and records from the day he arrested
you.
Please be sure that you dress appropriately
for court. For men, this means wearing a coat and tie and being clean shaven. For
women, this means wearing a dress that is loose and professional. You should be
conservative and respectful in your dress and in your attitude while in court.
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