How Does A DUI Affect Me?
How Does Having a DUI Affect Me?
Mississippi D.U.I.s
Joey: The main way I see DUIs affect people’s lives is with education and careers. Sometimes people want to get into advanced educational programs; nursing programs, physical therapy programs, pretty much anything medical or legal related. That can be a hurdle they have to overcome. A good example is to become an attorney, I had to disclose every speeding ticket, and every ticket I ever had in my life. Fortunately, I didn’t have a DUI I had to disclose. That can be a problem whenever it comes to going in front of the Bar or Ethics Committee.
Maybe somebody wants to go and get a commercial truck driving license. Well, that DUI hanging back there can preclude them from doing that, and any job that requires you to have driving privileges, whether it’s a traveling sales person, a truck driver, a railroad worker; they’re all kind of career fields out there that if you have a DUI on your record, then it’s going to weigh you down and quite likely hold you back in getting the job and advancing through the ranks.
What are the penalties?
Joey: DUI First is the most common one. You’re going to be looking at 48 hours in jail and up to a $1,000 fine. The fine minimum is $250, and I’m going to be honest, I rarely see that assessed whenever an individual is found guilty. As you get more to a second offense or third offense DUI, the penalties get pretty heavy pretty quickly, and it can end up being years in prison and no driving license for years after that.
It’s always best to get a DUI Attorney Rankin County MS involved and let them work on your case from day one. Because one, they can keep you from making statements that may be incriminating down the road. Secon,d we can find things the police did wrong from pulling you over. I’ve had police say that they pulled a man over for taking a right out of a parking lot. Well, I hate to be the one to tell everybody this, but taking a right out of a parking lot is not an illegal act, therefore they had no reason to pull the individual over.
So, sometimes we can make a phone call to a prosecutor and say, “Look, you really need to look at this file. There’s some problems with it.” A good prosecutor will look at it and say, “You know, you’re right,” or “Well, I respectfully disagree.” But sometimes we can get it handled that way on the head end.
Are there rules the arresting officer has to follow?
Joey: Absolutely. There are always rules when it comes to a legal matter. They have to prove that you are guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. That’s the highest burden the law ever places on one party when trying to charge another party. And to start with, they have to have reasonable suspicion or probable cause to pull you over. If you’re speeding or you’re swerving between the lanes, then that’s going to qualify as reasonable suspicion or probable cause. But sometimes we hear things that are ludicrous from officers.
I see them in the reports. Officers saying the tag was covered and he saw it from 200 yards away. Well you got the best eyes I’ve ever heard of if you can see somebody’s tag from 200 yards away. Absolutely they have rules they have to follow. They have to be able to articulate that they observed you impaired. Quite often, one of the most common things that we hear is, “I approached the vehicle and smelled the odor of intoxicating beverages,” or, “The individual was slurring their speech,” or “Their eyes were dilated.” “The individual was acting funny.”
A lot of those can be attributed to medical problems individuals have. Somebody that slurs their speech or they may have a speech impediment. Somebody having some eye issues could have had eye surgery. Or were they dilated recently? There’s always something to look at from the claimant’s perspective.
That’s where we come in as defense attorneys and represent the individuals that are being charged with these crimes. We make sure the officers are playing by the rules. Even when they give you the big Intoxilyzer at the station, there are certain things they have to do to calibrate that machine.
There are certain things they have to do to prove the test was valid on the side of the road. They have to be able to articulate what cues you missed. Did you take one step forward too many? Did you not go heel to toe? Did you not hold your leg up long enough and lose your balance? There are all things they have to abide by to prove someone is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt and that’s a very high burden to meet.
Is this going to cost me a lot of money?
Joey: I’m going to be honest, there’s no way this comes out as a cheap event. If you are found not guilty, obviously that is the absolute best outcome. But there’s no attorney out there that can guarantee you an outcome one way or another. What I tell clients is, you’re looking at somewhere between a $250 to a $1,000 fine. You’re looking at approximately another $250 in court costs. If you have any other tickets that accompany a DUI, which is very common to have a speeding or failure to yield, something like that to go along with it, then you may be looking at more fines and penalties.
As far as hiring an attorney, it’s a pretty good chance you’re not going to find a reputable DUI defense attorney that will handle the matter for less than $2,000. If you do, I would have some serious questions for that attorney, because you’ve got to remember there’s going to be at least one court appearance, if not two. You want an attorney that’s going to put in the time and effort. When you pay me good money, I’m going to work hard and do a good job for you, because I want you to recommend me to everybody you know.
I want to walk into the courtroom and I want to dominate the courtroom. I want to be the Best DUI Lawyer in Mississippi and I want you to walk out a winner. I love winning. I’m willing to put the time and effort and I’m not worried about whether or not my clients paid me sufficiently because they have. I’ve negotiated a deal from the very beginning and they are going to get the absolute best out of me and I’m going to put their hard-earned dollars to work for them.
Attorney Joey Franks for an initial consultation at (601) 283-2343
DUI Attorney Rankin County MS, Best DUI Lawyer in Mississippi