Darien DUI Arrests Lawyer
As the best Darien DUI criminal lawyers know a DUI/DWI charge under CGS 14-227a sets two separate and distinct legal processes in motion. First, the criminal court case against you begins in Stamford Superior Court where you need to fight the DUI / DWI charge. This charge may be a misdemeanor or a felony depending on whether you are a first time offender or a second or repeat offender. Either way, you need to vigorously fight your Darien DUI arrest in Stamford Superior Court. Second, top Darien Connecticut criminal lawyers and attorneys know that the Connecticut DMV initiates its own legal proceedings against you to suspend your license by initiating a “per se” hearing to be held at the DMV itself. A per se hearing has its own rules and procedures that both the police and the DMV need to follow before suspending your license.
If that wasn’t enough, the local online and print media such as the Darien Times, Darien News Online, and the Darien Patch will publish your Darien Connecticut DUI / DWI arrest reports and mug shot that they receive from the Darien Connecticut police department. Public shaming is a favored weapon used by law enforcement to deter other people from drunk driving. Thankfully, some of the best Darien Connecticut criminal law firms know how to wipe the internet clean of your Darien DUI / DWI arrest with their internet scrubbing services. So if you have been arrested for DUI / DWI in Darien Connecticut under CGS 14-227a, then immediately contact a top Darien DUI lawyer so you can begin the process of getting your Darien Connecticut DUI / DWI arrest dismissed, restoring your driving privileges, and clearing your good name on the internet.
Should Your Take the Breath Test During a DUI / DWI Arrest?
The top Darien Connecticut DUI / DWI / OUI criminal lawyers are asked this question all the time: should I blow into the Breathalyzer during my DUI / DWI arrest in Darien Connecticut? The answer to that question is complicated and needs to be assessed on a case by case basis, but you should know that as of July 1, 2015, the Connecticut DUI / DWI breath test and refusal rules have been given significantly more teeth. The laws now require a first time (as well as repeat) DUI / DWI offender in Darien to install an Ignition Interlock Device (called an “IID”) in their car.
Under the new Connecticut DUI / DWI laws (explained in greater detail here), first time DUI / DWI offenders arrested in Darien Connecticut and who fail a breath, blood or urine test, are subject to a 45 day license suspension followed immediately by an IID requirement for 6 months. If you refuse blow into the Breathalyzer during a Darien Connecticut first time offender DUI / DWI arrest, then you are looking at a 45 day license suspension immediately followed by a mandatory 1 year Ignition Interlock Device installation requirement. As the best criminal DUI / DWI / OUI lawyers attorneys in Darien Connecticut can also describe, you may be eligible for a work permit during this suspension period.
Can I Make a Phone Call a Connecticut DUI Arrest?
You get one phone call during your Darien Connecticut arrest, so use it to contact a top Darien Connecticut DUI / DWI lawyer. The best Darien Connecticut DWI / DUI criminal lawyers know how to skillfully handle that phone call to consider the circumstances of your traffic stop, including your level of intoxication, criminal court and driver’s license implications, the facts surrounding your arrest, your prior record, injuries resulting from an accident, and other considerations when advising you. Take advantage of this phone call and make sure you are speaking with a top Darien Connecticut DUI / DWI criminal law firm, and not a real estate or divorce lawyer, before making your decision to submit to the breath test.
Are the Field Sobriety Tests All They Are Cracked Up to Be in Your Darien Connecticut DUI / DWI Arrest?
Many people are surprised to learn that they actually have the right to refuse taking the Standardized Field Sobriety Tests (called the “SFSTs”) during a traffic stop for a DUI / DWI in Darien Connecticut. That is because when police are ordering you around, it never seems like you have a choice (and the police certainly don’t inform you that you have a choice). Plus, most people want to be as compliant as possible with a Darien police officer in the hopes they will not get arrested. Don’t buy into this idea. The law requires you to provide a Darien Connecticut police officer with your basic information (you know the familiar refrain – “driver’s license, registration and insurance paperwork”) but you do not have to take any of the Field Sobriety Tests, such as the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus Test, the Walk-and-Turn test, and the One-Legged Stand Test. If you refuse, then you are most certainly going to annoy the Darien police officer who is attempting to conduct the tests, but in certain cases where you are a repeat offender, it can also give Darien Connecticut police and prosecutors a huge advantage by giving them more evidence against you in your Darien Connecticut arrest for a 14-227a DUI / DWI repeat offender charge.
Your First Court Date for a Darien Connecticut DUI / DWI Arrest
Many people who get arrested in Darien Connecticut for DUI / DWI under CGS 14-227a mistakenly believe they can go to court alone, explain their situation to the prosecutor, and then their Darien DUI / DWI arrest will magically disappear. Unfortunately this does not happen in the real world. Connecticut lawmakers have dedicated millions of dollars in enforcing DUI / DWI laws, and they are definitely not giving people a slap on the wrist when the cases get to criminal court. In fact, it’s just the opposite, as top Darien Connecticut criminal lawyers can explain to you just how serious the Connecticut DUI / DWI “3 strike” system can be for repeat Connecticut DUI / DWI offenders. If your Darien Connecticut DUI / DWI arrest involved a high BAC (Blood Alcohol Content) reading, or if there is serious personal injury to one or more victims in your case, then you can expect an issue to come up at your first court date regarding your conditions of release. The prosecutor or judge may order you into drug or alcohol counseling, or order that random breath and urine tests be taken, both of which can be extremely disruptive to your job or family responsibilities. So be sure to have a top Darien Connecticut DUI / DWI criminal lawyer by your side at your first court date to assist you in deflecting these concerns and fighting against any unnecessary or gratuitous conditions of release.
Fighting First Time Offender Arrests for a Darien Connecticut DUI / DWI
When you are arrested as a first time DUI/ DWI offender in Darien Connecticut, you essentially have 3 options: (1) exercise your right to take your Darien Connecticut DUI arrest to trial; (2) enter a guilty plea that will result in you losing your license and possibly going to jail; or (3) leapfrog the prosecutor and go directly to the judge and demand that the prosecution of your case to be suspended while you complete an Impaired Driver Intervention Program (IDIP). Option 3 gets your case dismissed and your record expunged regardless of whether or not the prosecutor wants you to get the program. Each option has its own pros and sons, but experience tells us that most people who have a strong family base, gainful employment, and limited financial resources prefer Connecticut’s Pre-Trial Impaired Driver Intervention Program for Connecticut first time offenders. This program lasts for one year, and as the name implies, requires attendance at 10 to 15 weekly alcohol education classes. If you successfully complete the program and avoid any new arrests during the year, then your case will be dismissed and your record will be expunged.
However, getting the judge to grant you the Impaired Driver Intervention Program is not a foregone conclusion. If you registered a high Blood Alcohol Content reading during your Darien Connecticut DUI arrest, seriously injured a person, damaged property, or have a guilty plea on your record to a New York DUI violation, known in New York as Driving While Ability Impaired (or a “DWAI”), then there is a good chance the prosecutor will be strenuously objecting to your IDIP application. So if you are a first time DUI / DWI offender in Darien Connecticut, contact a top Darien Connecticut criminal law firm to help you package the strongest Impaired Driver Intervention Program application possible. You only get one application, so make it count. Click here to get more information about Connecticut’s Alcohol Education Program process for first time DUI / DWI offenders.
Fighting Your Darien Connecticut Arrest for 14-227a DUI / DWI / OUI
To effectively fight a DUI charge in Darien, your top Darien Connecticut criminal attorney needs skill, experience, and an in-depth understanding of Connecticut’s criminal court process – particularly in the Stamford Court where your case will be prosecuted. A seasoned criminal lawyer will thoroughly comb through your police reports, witness statements, and surveillance camera footage to find any mistakes or errors which law enforcement may have made. They will also file motions with the court to preserve evidence such as police cruiser dashcam video, body cam footage, 911 recordings, and your booking video, which may tell a different story than the police reports indicate. They will also examine your file to determine (1) whether you were properly advised of your Miranda rights and (2) if you were given ample opportunity to contact a top Darien criminal lawyer before you were asked to submit to the Breathalyzer test or were interrogated by police.
Jail Penalties for Darien Connecticut DUI / DWI Arrest First Time & Repeat Offenders
Getting arrested for a second or third DUI / OUI / DWI arrest in Darien Connecticut subjects you to Connecticut’s 3 strikes DUI / DWI laws, which get substantially more severe with every offense. As the best criminal lawyers in Darien Connecticut would warn, you are only eligible for Connecticut’s Impaired Driver Intervention Program for your first arrest for DUI / DWI in Darien. For your second offense that is within 10 years of your first arrest, you are exposed to a misdemeanor conviction, probation, a suspension of your license, and potential mandatory jail time. For your third arrest (or second conviction), prosecutors draw a line in the sand and seek to hit you with a felony conviction, a mandatory minimum of 120 days in jail, and a 3-year revocation of your driver’s license. And finally, for your fourth arrest, or your third conviction, you are facing a 1-year mandatory minimum jail sentence, and lifetime driver’s license suspension. A top Darien Connecticut criminal can sometimes find legal or factual arguments, errors or omissions in the case that can convince a prosecutor to reduce your charges from a felony to a misdemeanor so you can avoid jail. But before you decide whether to fight or plead guilty, you need to know the strengths and weaknesses of your case by sitting with a top Darien Connecticut DUI / DWI criminal lawyer attorney who will provide you with an honest assessment of your case.
Getting Your Darien Connecticut DUI / DWI Arrest Off the Internet & Off Google
One of the first things that happens after you are arrested in Darien Connecticut for a DUI / DWI is that Darien police release your arrest report and mug shot to the Darien Times, Darien Patch and Darien News Online. And every time that your nosy neighbors click the online news story covering your arrest, your arrest climbs the search engine rankings in Google searches. As the best Darien Connecticut criminal lawyers and attorneys know, more views equal more advertising revenue for these websites. But what these websites don’t take into account are the devastating effects a Google search can have on your life and career after you are arrested in Darien Connecticut for DUI / DWI under CGS 14-227a, and your case is long over. Fortunately, some Connecticut criminal and internet defamation law firms are blazing trails in scrubbing the internet of Darien Connecticut arrest reports.
These firms, including the Mark Sherman Law Firm, offer internet scrubbing practices which assist clients in getting their Darien Connecticut DUI / DWI arrests taken down from these websites. These leading Darien Connecticut criminal law firms combine their vast knowledge and experience in Connecticut criminal law and libel / defamation law to get your Darien arrest reports removed once the judge dismisses your case. Then they go after the major search engines like Google and Yahoo to get the search footprint removed. This can involve lengthy negotiations and legal posturing with major internet companies, but it is definitely worth the time and cost to protect your reputation and make sure your Darien Connecticut arrest for DUI / DWI is removed off the internet, off Google, and does not follow you forever.
Prescription Drug & Marijuana DUI / DWI Arrests in Darien Connecticut
Drinking and driving isn’t the only way to get arrested in Darien Connecticut for a DUI / DWI. The best Darien Connecticut DUI / DWI criminal lawyers are seeing more and more arrests for driving while under the influence of prescription drugs and marijuana. When Darien police believe you are driving under the influence of a drug, they can arrest you under CGS 14-227a even if no alcohol is present in your system. Top Darien Connecticut DUI / DWI criminal lawyers agree: even legally prescribed drugs can get you arrested for DWI / DUI (click here for more details on prescription drug DUIs / DWIs). A doctor’s prescription and permission to drive won’t save you from an arrest—in fact, all that matters is that a Darien police officer has pulled you over and believes that you have failed the Field Sobriety Tests and that you are too impaired to drive. Without alcohol in your system, you are likely to pass the breath test, but you can still be required to take a urine or blood test. And a refusal lands you in just as much trouble as if you refused the breath test.
One other related issue that arises is at your first court date when you are facing a Darien Connecticut Marijuana DUI / DWI. In these scenarios, you should expect the Stamford Superior Court judge to order random drug testing during in your case. If not properly objected to by your top Darien Connecticut DUI / DWI criminal lawyer attorney at your first court date, this can be a huge inconvenience in your life and cause you problems with your employment if you’re forced to show up to court for random testing during the work day.
Get in Touch With a Darien DUI Lawyer at Mark Sherman Law Today
Don’t waste valuable time and resources attempting to fight a Darien DUI arrest alone. With so many moving pieces to a Darien Connecticut DUI / DWI arrest, you need to act quickly and decisively with a top Darien Connecticut criminal lawyer attorney by your side to give yourself a shot at the best possible outcome for your case. This includes preserving your rights to appeal your DMV license suspension, preserving evidence in your court case, getting your police reports from the prosecutor as soon as possible after your arrest, getting an honest and thorough opinion of the strengths and weaknesses of your Darien DUI / DWI / OUI case, and consulting with your family to make the best decision moving forward. The team of Darien Connecticut DUI / DWI lawyers at Mark Sherman Law are ready to assist you in this process at competitive rates. Our client reviews speak for themselves—so contact a Darien DUI criminal lawyer at Mark Sherman Law today. We are available 24/7 to take your call at (203) 358-4700.