DUI or driving under the influence of alcohol, recreational, or even prescription drugs is a very serious matter in California. You can be prosecuted for a DUI even if your blood alcohol measures under the legal limit (.08%). Further, you risk jail time and complete loss of your driving privileges. Being charged with a DUI — whether it is a first offense or an accident DUI — can change your life as you know it.
DUI law is a specialized, technical area of law that requires skill, dedication, and expertise. At the Law Office of Nicole Irmer, we have handled countless number of DUI criminal cases and administrative hearings for our clients. We have represented clients charged with a first time DUI to felony vehicular manslaughter involving alcohol and/or drugs. For more information regarding your DUI charge, please contact our office.
If you are 21 years of age or older, if convicted of a first DUI offense, in addition to any DMV action, you are potentially facing the following criminal court sentence:
The legal limit for drivers under 21 is .01%. If you are under 21 years of age, you will face all of the penalties above, in addition to a mandatory loss of license of one year. If you are younger than 18, a juvenile judge may add additional requirements to your sentence, such as imposition of curfew, mandatory employment, and maintenance of a certain grade point average.
A lawyer with experience handling DUI matters can make a major difference in the outcome of most cases. At the Law Office of Nicole Irmer, Nicole is highly skilled and experienced in handling matters that involve the first time offender and the underage drinking and driving juvenile.
For a second DUI offense, if you are convicted, you are facing all of the criminal penalties, in addition to a minimum mandatory sentence of 96 hours of custody. The court may order up to 1 year of additional jail time. Further, you will lose your driving privileges for 1 year. For a third DUI offense conviction, you are facing a minimum mandatory sentence of 120 days in custody. The court may order up to 1 year of jail time if appropriate.
At the Law Office of Nicole Irmer, we have had success challenging prior convictions to reduce the consequences our clients were facing. In addition, under certain circumstances there may be alternatives to how custody is served. Contact our office to discuss a legitimate and effective defense strategy for your DUI case.
In California, there are three ways that a DUI can be treated as a felony:
The court procedures in a felony DUI case are different from those in a misdemeanor case in a number of very significant respects, and as a general rule, the client must be present in court at all stages of the proceedings. With state prison as a possible direct consequence of a felony DUI conviction, the stakes involved are incredibly high. There are a number of important variables involved that can have a significant impact on the outcome of the case. What is at stake could range widely from five days in jail, or a non-custodial alternative, to state prison for three or more years, depending upon the facts of the case. If you are facing a felony DUI, it is imperative that you contact our office to discuss a legitimate and effective defense strategy for your felony DUI matter.