Will I Go To Jail For A DUI?

Will I go to jail for a DUI?

Canton Police stop a driver.

Joey: If you’re found guilty of a DUI first offense in Mississippi, you could be looking at up to 48 hours in jail. There are a couple of things where a Mississippi DUI Lawyer helps. First, if you’re successful at beating the DUI, then it’s like it never happened. The only time you’re going to spend in jail is after the initial arrest. However, if you’re found guilty of a DUI, often we ask for time served so you get credit for that. Also, we’ll ask that any remaining time be suspended. We’re often very successful in getting that done for our clients.

What kind of evidence does the officer need to stop me?

Joey: All they need is reasonable suspicion and they have to be able to articulate it. To have reasonable suspicion, the officer likely will observe you driving your automobile on the highways in Mississippi in an impaired state. Let’s say you cross the double yellow line. You just gave the officer reasonable suspicion to pull you over on a DUI. Also, at checkpoints, officers will be looking for driver’s license, proof of insurance and registration. They also smell your breath, look at your pupils and listen to your speech. They look at your driving. If you’re missing any one of those points I just mentioned, they have reasonable suspicion to stop you and go further. If they smell alcohol on your breath or marijuana in your car, then they have reasonable suspicion to dig a little bit deeper. If you can eliminate those things, quite often you can eliminate the reasonable suspicion the officer has. We’ve been successful in getting individuals off of DUIs based on that.

Do I have to take a field test?

Joey: Absolutely not. Those tests are designed for people to fail. I’ve never seen anybody pass one of those tests, completely stone cold sober. They’re designed for individuals to fail and that’s all there is to it. All those tests do is give the officer probable cause, or reasonable suspicion, to take you down to the station and get you to blow on the big Intoxilyzer 8000. Even if you pass the Intoxilyzer 8000, they may argue that you were still impaired under common law based on how you performed on your field sobriety test.

Request a hearing. What’s that? How does it work?

Joey: It depends what type of hearing you’re talking about. If you’re talking about a petition to determine whether or not a breath test refusal occurred, then that’s generally a completely separate matter from a DUI. Once they arrest you, they will give you a piece of paper that says to appear in court on this day. That’s your initial appearance where you go and plead guilty or not guilty. If you retain the services of the Best DUI Lawyer Jackson MS, one of the first things that we do is enter what is called an entry of appearance filed with the court. It says I’m your attorney; we’re entering a plea of not guilty and set this matter for trial. The court’s usually pretty prompt about giving us a trial date and that saves the client at least one appearance in court.

How long does this take?

Joey: Usually from the time an arrest occurs to the time of trial, it’s around three to four months. Sometimes it can be a little longer. In some circumstances, it’s just a little bit less. But, three to four months is a pretty fair average, especially in the Jackson Metro MS area.

Call Attorney Joey Franks at (601) 283-2343

Best DUI Lawyer Jackson MS, Mississippi DUI Lawyer