DUI question ... serious.

[Jo777]

On Saturday night April 4th I was pulled over in Tennessee. I was on the interstate and saw the officers lights so I simply pulled off the interstate and stopped on the exit ramp. I will not lie I was drunk and had no business driving. He asked me if I had any weapons in the vehicle to which my reply was NO. So while he was talking to me the other officer searched my car and found a knife buried in the bottom of glove compartment which I had forgotten about and an open container covered up by my coat in the back seat. Anyway to make a long story short I was taken to the hospital to give blood (they didnt ask to breathalyze me???) then to jail. I was bonded out in 2 hours which was when I actually found out what I was charged with. To my surprise they had charged me with not only DUI & Open Container but also Evading Arrest & Concealed Weapon. My court date is set at June 6th & I am concerned that there will be jailtime involved in all that. Note also that that knife was my Army knife as I was in the Army & I have never got into any trouble like this before at all. What do you think?

 

[FlyingRon]

You need a lawyer. While they may be piling on charges, the DUI is serious enough in it's own right. Your lawyer will determine the particulars in the evading charge, etc...

You probably carried an M-16 in the army too, but that's not something you should be concealing in your vehicle. Carry of knives with blades longer than 4" is restricted. The TN weapons laws are pretty lenient, there has to be intent in it. Your lawyer will explorer the details again.

They don't need to offer to breathalize you.

The weapons violation is a Class C misdemeanor

Evading might be a class A misdemeanor or a class E felony depending on what they say happened.

You are right in that this is very serious.

 

[Jo777]

reply

Thanks for the info FlyingRon. My aunt is a parole officer in the same county that this incident happened and her take was that with a lawyer the concealed weapon and open container charges would be dropped, the DUI reduced to wreckless driving, and the evading would probably stick. In this scenario would you see me having to sit in jail at all? I also forgot to mention that I am in the process of reenlisting in the U.S. Army at this time, so that would probably look good to a judge right?

 

[FlyingRon]

You got priors?

That's reckless, not wreckless. I always try to drive wrecklessly. Reckless driving is no walk in the park penalty wise (class B misd.).

Don't know how it will look to the judge, but you do know the Army will not take you while charges are pending or while on probation. You get a felony conviction or more than two misdemeanors and they're going to make you go for a waiver to get in.

 

[Jo777]

reply 2

I have no priors. Yes I know I am going to have to get a waiver now to get back in. I just thought that maybe a judge would not put me on probation or make me serve any jailtime if I was in the process of reenlisting.