DUI Legal Process

Getting stopped and arrested for driving under the influence in San Diego triggers a series of events involving the criminal courts and the California Department of Motor Vehicles that can typically take 3-4 months to reach a final conclusion. That conclusion can be anything from a complete dismissal of your San Diego DUI case all the way up to you going to jail and incurring large fines. You need the best DUI attorney in San Diego that you can afford because the potential costs, in terms of loss of driving privileges, loss of income and loss of liberty can be devastating.

Below is a complete explanation of how a San Diego DUI case proceeds from start to finish.

Initial Contact With Police Officer

There are many ways to come into contact with a police officer, such as a traffic accident or committing a minor (alleged) traffic violation. You may or may not have been drinking but after engaging you in conversation the police officer asks if you have been drinking and then asks you to step out of the car to take one or more Field Sobriety Tests.

Field Sobriety Tests

Field sobriety tests include One Leg Stand, Walk and Turn, Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus (HGN), Alphabet, Modified Position of Attention, Fingers to Nose, and Preliminary Alcohol Screening (PAS), which is a small hand held breathalyzer unit that measures the amount of alcohol in your breath.

If you are not on probation and are over the age of 21 you have the right to refuse to take any of these Field Sobriety Tests and that is what an experienced San Diego DUI attorney would advise you to do. The police officer may tell you that you must take at least one of these roadside tests but in fact you have the right to refuse to take all field sobriety tests, including the PAS roadside breathalyzer test, without any negative consequences to your DUI case.

You Are Arrested For DUI

Based upon your behavior, appearance, attitude, results of the field sobriety tests or other factors the police officer decides to arrest you for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs in San Diego. This typically involves him asking you to turn around while he places handcuffs on you, informing you that you have been arrested and telling you why you have been arrested. At this stage he may also read you your rights, although he is not required by law or procedure to do this yet.

It is here at the scene of the arrest that your driver’s license is revoked by the arresting officer. You will be issued with a temporary driver’s license (DMV Form DS-367) which is valid for the next 30 days when you are released from custody. You must request a DMV hearing within 10 days of the date of your DUI arrest in order keep your driving privileges until the conclusion of your DUI case.

You Are Taken To Police Station For Chemical Test

After you have been arrested you will be taken to the police station or booking facility where you will have to consent to take a blood test, breath test or urine test. If you have been arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol in San Diego then you have the right to choose between taking a blood test or a breath test. If you have been arrested for driving under the influence of drugs then you have the right to choose between a blood test or a urine test, unless that arresting agency doesn’t support urine analysis for DUI drug cases in which case you will have to take a blood test.

Unlike the field sobriety tests which are done at the roadside you do not have the right to refuse to take a chemical test after you have been arrested for DUI in San Diego. By driving in California you have given your implied consent to take a chemical test for alcohol or drugs if a police officer suspects you of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. If you refuse to take the test you will automatically lose your driver’s license for at least one year, regardless of whether you are actually over the legal limit or not. And besides, after you have refused to take the test the police can then forcibly take a blood sample from you anyway.

You Are Released or Held on Bail

After you have taken the chemical test, been searched, had your photographs and fingerprints taken and been fully processed you will usually be released about 8 hours later without needing to post bail. However, if you caused bodily injury to another person, had a passenger under the age of 14 in your car, have previous DUI convictions, were caught in a maximum enforcement period or you are an out of state resident or don’t live in San Diego county then you may be required to post bail before being released.

You Hire A San Diego DUI Lawyer

After your release your first priority should be to find the best San Diego DUI lawyer that you can afford. The potential consequences of a San Diego DUI charge can be life changing and you owe it to yourself and your family to give yourself the best chance of either beating your DUI charge or reducing the punitive actions against you as much as possible.

You can hire a lawyer that has done a handful of DUI cases before who has a rough idea about how to beat your charge, which he heard about while doing loan modifications and filing patents. Or you can hire a lawyer who does nothing but DUI cases and hasn’t practiced any other kind of law in over 10 years, who is extremely familiar with all aspects of DUI law and who knows exactly what needs to be done and how to do it in order to achieve the best possible outcome in your specific case.

You Request a DMV Hearing

The first thing you should do after securing competent legal counsel is request a DMV hearing, which your San Diego DUI lawyer will do for you. The case against you will follow 2 separate paths which are the criminal court process, starting with your arraignment, and the DMV hearing. You need to request the DMV hearing within 10 days of your arrest date to ensure that you have a chance of keeping your driving privileges in the state of California until the conclusion of your San Diego DUI case. The DMV hearing will typically take place 30-45 days after you request it and can be done in person or over the telephone.

Discovery, Preparation and Investigation of Your DUI Case

Before your first court date, which is known as an arraignment, and before your DMV hearing it is important for you and your San Diego DUI attorney to gather as much information about your case as possible. This includes witness statements, photographs, your own written account, police reports, blood test results etc. Your lawyer may want to retest the blood sample at an independent toxicology laboratory, or he may want to use an independent forensic expert or private investigator or any number of other tactics that he has successfully used before, to fight your DUI charge as effectively as possible. He will also know exactly where and how to find and request copies of all of the relevant documentation and evidence associated with your case so that you are fully aware of the state’s case against you.

Your Arraignment

This is your first court date, which takes place about 3 court days after the date of your DUI arrest, where the judge informs you of the charges against you and you submit a plea of guilty, not guilty or no contest. If you plead not guilty then the judge will set a date for the pretrial hearing which is usually around 30 days from the date of the arraignment.

Your Status/Readiness Conference

Before the pretrial hearing your lawyer will contact the prosecutor to discuss your particular case and to see what can be done to possibly resolve your DUI case without going to trial. Any agreement or plea bargain reached with the prosecutor will then be told to the court at your pretrial hearing and if it pleases the court then your case will be resolved then and there. If there has been no agreement or plea bargaining then you can file motions, have blood samples retested at an independent laboratory and proceed to trial.

Your DMV Hearing

Your DMV hearing will take place about 30-45 days after you requested it, so it will happen around the same time as the pretrial hearing. This is your opportunity to examine and object to certain evidence, such as the chain of custody of your blood sample or the police report or anything else that might help your DUI defense.

Your San Diego DUI Trial

In your trial, the prosecutor will try proving to a jury of your peers that you are guilty of the charges set against you. Your San Diego DUI defense attorney will then challenge the theories and evidence on which the prosecutor has based his case, attempting to create enough reasonable doubt that you may not be guilty of drunk driving in San Diego. You can expect a normal trial in San Diego to last a few days but it should be noted that the vast majority of DUI cases in San Diego get resolved before ever getting as far as a trial.

If you are found Not Guilty you will be acquitted immediately but if you are found Guilty then the judge will probably not sentence you immediately, preferring instead to set a sentencing date in the near future.