Orange County, CA DUI 1st Offense

[buddha318]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California

First DUI. In westminster, ca to be exact. heres my story: friday night was out drinking at a club, went home at 1:20 am and feel asleep as soon as i got to my friends car. Was knocked out until 6:45 a.m. My friends carried me from his car to my car and i knocked out in my car until 6:45 a.m. Drove home while my windows were foggy and hit the center median. Police came, blah blah blah, did FST's i think i passed. didn't loose balance on one foot and was able to perform the hand to nose test. passed both test. then i agreed to take the breathalyzer cause i thought after 5 hours of sleep i'd be good, but manage to blow a 0.14. INSANE!!! Cops booked me for CVC 23152(a) only. took a blood test at the station.

I've already schedule a hearing at the dmv hoping to get my license back.

My questions are: 1.)should i get an attorney for the first court hearing? can I ask for a extension if they plan to prosecute me for the DUI? I would like to go there first on my own to see whats really going on with my case.
2.) So i have a temporary license for 30 days and it expires on the court date. Can i get an extension on my license after i go to court? or would it be suspended?

Please any comments would be greatly appreciate...I can't afford a DUI!!!

[CdwJava]

Originally Posted by buddha318

1.)should i get an attorney for the first court hearing? can I ask for a extension if they plan to prosecute me for the DUI? I would like to go there first on my own to see whats really going on with my case.

A DUI is NOT a do-it-yourself home repair project. Yes, hire an attorney.

You can ask for an extension,but if you have to ask, "How do I do that?" then you should pay an attorney to do this for you.

The first hearing will be an arraignment where you make a plea and are assigned counsel if you are indigent and cannot afford your own attorney..

2.) So i have a temporary license for 30 days and it expires on the court date. Can i get an extension on my license after i go to court? or would it be suspended?

The temporary license is an issue with the DMV not the court. You have ten days to schedule your hearing with the DMV (and you indicate you have done that). Even if the DMV allows you to keep your license for the time being, you may lose it if you are convicted later.

- Carl

[IsabellaSoriano]

i'm going to say something slightly different from our most wonderful police officer.

i'm only going to give you my experience as far as DUI's go here in CA. i've had one myself. and this is also what i picked up talking with other like offenders.


if this is your first DUI, getting an attorney is a waste of money.

once released with your court date, you are given a temp license.

you will have your arraignment. you talk to the ADA, they give you a plea to work with. mine was restricted license, volunteer or CalTran hours, 3 years probation, fines, restitution and drinking and driving classes. request a restricted license. now, i can't remember how long my license was restricted, i think it was 90 days.

now, having an attorney works to keep you out of jail. as in you injured someone. caused alot of damage. and for subsequent DUI's.

or, 15 days of jail time.
which is sunny cal time....you'll do 1.5 days. at least i did 4 years ago.

but that was my experience.

[jenny001]

i thought after 5 hours of sleep i'd be good,

SEVERAL YEAERS BEFORE I HEARD THAT THE DEGREE OF ALCOHOL IN BODY COULD NOT REDUCE TO ZERO IN 48 HOURS .

[HighwayMan]

Sleep makes no difference in your body's ability to metabolize alcohol. If you blew a .14 5 hours later then you must have been well over a .20 prior to your nap.

You say you passed "both" field sobriety tests. The standardized test battery is comprised of three tests, and a hand to nose test is not one of them. While the officer could have had you do that as an added test, he should have administered three other tests before that one. If you don't remember that then it's another indication of how intox you were.

[CdwJava]

Unfortunately, Highwayman, I know far too many officers that give their own version of the SFSTs and very often not all of them. I feel that is a supervision and training issue as it effectively invalidates the tests and makes them vulnerable to defense attack. Fortunately, I brow beat the officers in my agency to perform the standardized field sobriety tests as well as the finger-to-nose and Romberg (which are more for drug evaluations as part of the DRE protocol, but they can be useful for alcohol DUIs as well). At a minimum our officers are required to do the three SFSTs.

- Carl

[HighwayMan]

Gee, I thought you guys out in California were by the book with things like SFST!

I know an officer here who throws a few quarters on the ground and has the subject try to pick them up. Of course, he's not trained for SFST, he just makes up his own tests!

If one is formally trained for SFST, I can't see why one wouldn't follow the protocol. As you say, failing to do so opens up a big hole for the defense.

[CdwJava]

We try to stay on top of it out here, and there is ample training available (I do some of it for my agency and surrounding agencies). So, there is no excuse to do it slipshod. Sadly, some people and agencies just get lazy and let anything pass.

I think it is also incumbent upon prosecutors to establish minimum standards for prosecution because they are the ones that have to try to pursue a case when the officer is a slacker. It's one thing not to like doing DUIs, it is another to do them poorly because of it.

- Carl