Last night: worst night of my life

[Dustin_m]

yea so last night was the worst damn night of my life. i went to a friends house about 6 pm to BBQ. i took a couple shots of yager and drank a beer, all in all about 3-4 drinks. i left his house at about 10pm to head home so i could get some sleep. i waited until then to leave thinking that i had given enough time so i would be under the legal limit to drive. well i got almost home on the freeway and saw that i was about to miss my exit so i crossedfrom the fast lane to exit. then i noticed a cop behind me on the offramp. he lit me up as i was about to turn and i pulled over. from there he gave me the regular field sobriety tests and then proceeded to give me a breathalyzer. i ended up blowing a .10 bac which is barely over the limit.

so yea the guy arrested me and took me in. they luckily didn't tow my jeep, he just parked it and locked it up for me. well i ended up staying the night in the drunk tank until about 730 this morning. that shit blows, especially when you are sober for the majority of the time. so i got out at 730, had to get a cab to my jeep, then go home and change and be at work by 9 this morning.

so all day i have been stressing like crazy about this shit and have been considering my options at this point. i am going to call a couple lawyers tommorrow and see if i can schedule a consultation with them. the funny thing is that when i was arrested i wasn't read my rights, so do you guys think that might be to my advantage. right now the main thing i am worried about is losing my license for any amount of time because of school and work. also i know it can cost anywhere between 10k and 20k depending how bad they want to fuck you with the fines, which is all money i don't have.

i dunno if anyones got any advice, as i'm sure atleast a few of you have got a dui, please help me out so i can get out of this mess.

 

[Celerity]

what state are you in again ?

 

[ripperbone]

not reading you your rights isnt going to help you at all. is this your first offense? you might want to call a lawyer and see what they have to offer.

 

[Dustin_m]

i'm in CA, so i'll probably get the shaft either way. the cab driver who took me to my jeep told me something though. we started talking because he was in the marines and was in supply like me, so i was telling him what happened and he said that when he got a dui a few years ago he actually got the charge reduced to wreckless driving, which is basically a small fine like a traffic ticket. anyone ever heard of that?

 

[StealthMode]

It all depends on the judge and the cops. The whole "legal limit" thing is complete BS. Even if you blow a .02, they can still take you in, because you are technically under the influence. In my opinion, the best you have to hope for is a reduction to Driving While Alcohol Influenced (DWAI), which is less than a DUI, but still does considerable damage to your record. You will have lawyer fees, court fees, the ticket fine, alcohol classes, etc. Of course my experience with friends in your situation is just from Colorado, which is one of the worst states for DUI offenses. Good luck man.

 

[BigJ]

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which is one of the worst states for DUI offenses.

You mean one of the best states for DUI Offenses?


That sucks that you made a bad choice, but I don't feel bad you got caught.

 

[Dustin_m]

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which is one of the worst states for DUI offenses.

You mean one of the best states for DUI Offenses?


That sucks that you made a bad choice, but I don't feel bad you got caught.

yea i was in the tank with a bunch of guys sitting there saying that the cops were assholes for taking them in and all this shit. i wanted to tell them to shut the fuck up and own up to what they did. as for me i'm ok with paying the consequences for my actions. the only thing that really pisses me off about the whole situation was that i had every intention of sitting around for long enough to be "legal". i never just said "fuck it i'll just drive like this",you know what i mean?

don't get me wrong, i'm not really wanting to fight this because i think i didn't do anything wrong, but mostly because as a broke ass college student i dont have the money to pay for this shit, plus having to go to those clases is gonna fuck me up as far as my work and school schedule goes

 

[StarBellieAngel]

the EXACT thing happened to me, but i was never told what the results of the test were.

of course, i had a headlight out. i didn't drive all funky, or fast.

but i know about the drunk tank being shit when you're sober for the whole time.

don't trip out too much. it'll eventually work itself out... however, be prepared to pay some hefty fucking fines.

 

[StealthMode]

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which is one of the worst states for DUI offenses.

You mean one of the best states for DUI Offenses?

Meaning that they'll REAM you every chance they get. Colorado has been cracking down hardcore on DUI offenses.

 

[Seany-izzle]

my brother got pulled over one night after a night at the bar, he had 4 beers. while driving his friend home a cop passed him the other way and turned around and pulled him over for a headlight being out. my brother blew a .091 which is damn close. He got a lawyer and told him the story and all the regular bs. Well the lawyer found that my brother was determined drunk in about 14 seconds after the car came to a complete stop, insuffecient time to determine if someone is physically unable to drive. He got out of the dui, down to wreckless driving, its a fine, a ticket, and a few points on his license.
The lawyer also said that if the cop does NOT read you your rights, you have a better chance of getting out of something, along with the fact though.

 

[Dustin_m]

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my brother got pulled over one night after a night at the bar, he had 4 beers. while driving his friend home a cop passed him the other way and turned around and pulled him over for a headlight being out. my brother blew a .091 which is damn close. He got a lawyer and told him the story and all the regular bs. Well the lawyer found that my brother was determined drunk in about 14 seconds after the car came to a complete stop, insuffecient time to determine if someone is physically unable to drive. He got out of the dui, down to wreckless driving, its a fine, a ticket, and a few points on his license.
The lawyer also said that if the cop does NOT read you your rights, you have a better chance of getting out of something, along with the fact though.

yea i wasn't expecting it to get thrown out totally because of that, but atleast it might help get it down to a lesser charge, thats all i care about.

 

[BigJ]

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which is one of the worst states for DUI offenses.

You mean one of the best states for DUI Offenses?

Meaning that they'll REAM you every chance they get. Colorado has been cracking down hardcore on DUI offenses.

It was a rhetorical question.

 

[posol]

were you "arrested" or simply "brought to the pd". you only get read your rights if you get arrested.

 

[Dustin_m]

cuffed, put in the patrol car, driven to the jail (not pd), personal belongings taken, booked, mugshots done, put in holding cells, then moved to drunk tank for almost 10 hours, then had to sign papers for court date. yea i'd say that was being arrested

 

[jeffie7]

That's weird, a judge can't charge you for something you didnt do. If he was pulled over for a headlight being out theres no way a judge could drop the DUI charge to wreckless driving. Your brothers lawyer should have had the case thrown out all together. Now if he was pulled over for a head light being out, as with speeding or driving all over the place then the judge would be able to lower the DUI to wreckless driving. but if his police report states that he was pulled over for a headlight being out and then was found to be over the legal limit for his BAC then the judge CANNOT charge him for wreckless driving.

If anything he would have droped the DUI and gave him community service or some shit like that.

Not to say the judge didnt do that, just stating if he did then the judge playing the rules right.
or maybe there was more reason why he was pulled over then you say.

Well the lawyer found that my brother was determined drunk in about 14 seconds after the car came to a complete stop, insuffecient time to determine if someone is physically unable to drive. He got out of the dui, down to wreckless driving, its a fine, a ticket, and a few points on his license.

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cuffed, put in the patrol car, driven to the jail (not pd), personal belongings taken, booked, mugshots done, put in holding cells, then moved to drunk tank for almost 10 hours, then had to sign papers for court date. yea i'd say that was being arrested

If you blow anything over the legal limit they have to book you. I remember one time on a ride along a guy blow just over the limit. the officer I was with was like "damnit now I have to take him in and do all the bs paper work"

 

[Dustin_m]

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That's weird, a judge can't charge you for something you didnt do. If he was pulled over for a headlight being out theres no way a judge could drop the DUI charge to wreckless driving. Your brothers lawyer should have had the case thrown out all together. Now if he was pulled over for a head light being out, as with speeding or driving all over the place then the judge would be able to lower the DUI to wreckless driving. but if his police report states that he was pulled over for a headlight being out and then was found to be over the legal limit for his BAC then the judge CANNOT charge him for wreckless driving.

If anything he would have droped the DUI and gave him community service or some shit like that.

Not to say the judge didnt do that, just stating if he did then the judge playing the rules right.
or maybe there was more reason why he was pulled over then you say.

Well the lawyer found that my brother was determined drunk in about 14 seconds after the car came to a complete stop, insuffecient time to determine if someone is physically unable to drive. He got out of the dui, down to wreckless driving, its a fine, a ticket, and a few points on his license.

well if ya think about it, driving with alcohol in your system could probably be considered reckless.

 

[jeffie7]

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That's weird, a judge can't charge you for something you didnt do. If he was pulled over for a headlight being out theres no way a judge could drop the DUI charge to wreckless driving. Your brothers lawyer should have had the case thrown out all together. Now if he was pulled over for a head light being out, as with speeding or driving all over the place then the judge would be able to lower the DUI to wreckless driving. but if his police report states that he was pulled over for a headlight being out and then was found to be over the legal limit for his BAC then the judge CANNOT charge him for wreckless driving.

If anything he would have droped the DUI and gave him community service or some shit like that.

Not to say the judge didnt do that, just stating if he did then the judge playing the rules right.
or maybe there was more reason why he was pulled over then you say.

Well the lawyer found that my brother was determined drunk in about 14 seconds after the car came to a complete stop, insuffecient time to determine if someone is physically unable to drive. He got out of the dui, down to wreckless driving, its a fine, a ticket, and a few points on his license.

well if ya think about it, driving with alcohol in your system could probably be considered reckless.

You're right so if he droped the DUI what did he get wreckless driving for? you can't drop the reason he was driving wreckless and still charge him for it.

 

[StealthMode]

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which is one of the worst states for DUI offenses.

You mean one of the best states for DUI Offenses?

Meaning that they'll REAM you every chance they get. Colorado has been cracking down hardcore on DUI offenses.

It was a rhetorical question.

Yeah. That question can be answered 2 different ways, depending on who is reading it. Bad for the people, good for the state.

 

[BigJ]

Wow.

 

[Airjockie]

1st offence...no accident, nobody got hurt...then in most states...don't even bother getting the lawyer....just go do the driving drunk class, then go to court, plead no contendre to the prosecuter, and show proof of the class, and the charges should be dropped to a wreckless driving. Offer to do community service for about 50 hours...and they might let you off with just the court fees and the states minimum fine.

I had the Dui...but with an accident...front end, and no insurance......it fucked up my world...and I got 2 more months and that shit will finally be off my record.....from 7 years ago.....