Will I Need to Have a DUI Lawyer?

By Fiona Baron


If you ponder whether or not it is best if you work with a Sacramento DUI lawyer, your response is probably going to be "yes". Do you find yourself faced with driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs? In that case, then you need to have contact with a DUI lawyer who has experience handling DUIs. In California, as with most states in the U.S., the charge of DUI is very serious. If you're charged and convicted of DUI, you will be faced with some long lasting repercussions. Due to the serious repercussions, it is very important to fight the charge, even when technically guilty.

Pleading Not Guilty, Guilty, or No Contest

After you have been booked with a DUI charge, you will be arraigned. During arraignment, you'll be asked to plead to the charge. Pleading to your charge means making a profession of guilt or innocence, or making a plea of "no contest". A no contest plea signifies that you don't plead guilty to your charge, but that you understand that there's enough evidence against you for your prosecutor's office to obtain a conviction. Once you have been arraigned, you will subsequently be granted bail, at least in most instances. Bail is going to be arranged in your case when your Sacramento DUI lawyer works together with the courts to help you get out of jail. If you cannot afford bail, you might need the aid of a bail bondsman, which is a person or business that will pay your bond on your behalf - but you will be required to pay a percentage of your bail to the bondsman. This typically is between ten and twenty percent. Once you plead "not guilty", then you will be released from custody and be scheduled a court date when you will have to revisit for the pre-trial hearing. If you plead "guilty" or "no contest", then you will return later on for sentencing.

DUI Penalties

If you are found guilty of DUI, there are some different penalties that might be imposed. The first thing that will occur is that your license is going to be revoked for a specified period of time. You might be forced to serve a required jail sentence. Large fines are going to be imposed upon you. You could be forced to attend drug or alcohol recovery classes. You may have to outfit your motor vehicle with a device that can test out your breath for alcohol consumption before your ignition will turn. These are just a few of the penalties that you will face. How stiff your penalties are will be based largely on the circumstances that surround your DUI charge. Possibly the worst of these penalties for DUI is that you are going to have a criminal history should you be found guilty of DUI, which can go wherever you go for a long, long time, making it hard to get work, rent a house, plus more.

If you are charged with DUI, do not try to battle the charges yourself. Talk to a Sacramento DUI lawyer as soon as possible to help you formulate your defense.




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