It can happen to the best of us. You know you’re not supposed to drink and drive – with the way they advertise that fact on TV, on the radio, and in bars, it’s hard not to remember. You weren’t about to make an exception, or at least not a very big one, but it turned out to be a big deal anyway.
The Scenario
According to the old rule, your liver takes care of one drink per hour. While you may not have gone completely sober to act as the designated driver, you counted your drinks out very carefully so that you’d be down to just one or two by the time you had to go home. In fact, you were feeling just fine when you climbed into your car, not impaired or even buzzed.
When you hit that police checkpoint, you were naturally a little nervous, but you were still confident. You’d done the responsible thing. You’d done everything right. No matter how many times the bartender came over during those last couple hours, you refused to get a refill on anything but water. But it’s because you were so confident that you felt so devastated when the breathalyzer returned a positive result. You were so careful, but it would seem that you cut it too close.
And now it’s all over. This DWI isn’t your first offense – you got another one back when you were in college and acting stupid, and so now the cops don’t have to go so easy on you. You didn’t hurt anyone, so they aren’t talking about jail time, but you’re definitely getting a suspended license and they mentioned possible mandatory AA meetings even though you don’t have a problem with alcohol. They may even attach an ignition interlock to your car, an expensive and rather embarrassing way to make sure you’re sober while driving, and you’ll have to pay for the blasted thing yourself.
The Solution
The thing is, though, it doesn’t have to end like this. It’s not over until you sign off on your sentence, and before then you can fight your charges all the way to court. A good criminal defense lawyer can investigate the circumstances of your arrest to determine whether it was all done legitimately and make sure that the equipment used to determine your blood-alcohol level was working properly. He or she can bring your friends in as character witnesses to prove that what happened was an exception and not part of a larger trend, and if all else fails, a good lawyer will very likely be able to negotiate a better plea deal than what you could manage on your own.
If you’ve been charged with a DWI in Suffolk County on Long Island, New York, then don’t take the accusation lying down. Contact the Law Office of Naiburg, Obedin, and Weissman for a free legal consultation and find out just what a good DWI lawyer can do for you.