DUI FAQ Guide. FAQs to Help Guide You Through The Florida DUI Process

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2 DUI FAQ Guide FAQs to Help Guide You Through The Florida DUI Process Randy Berman, Esq. Law Offices of Randy Berman (561) RandyBermanLaw.com

3 A Simple guide for someone recently arrested for a DUI. What to do, when to do it, and what to expect. Learn how to protect your rights and your reputation. Every DUI case is unique, no outcome can be guaranteed. The information in this booklet is for general information only. Nothing should be taken as legal advice for a specific case. This information is not intended to create an attorney-client relationship LAW OFFICES OF RANDY BERMAN Page 2

4 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS What Happens When I m Pulled Over and I ve Been Drinking?... 4 What Happens if I Refuse the Breathalyzer Test?... 6 What Can I Expect When I Go to Court?... 8 What Kind of Evidence Would be Used by the Prosecution to Convict Me? What Effect Does the DUI Have on My Driver s License? What Happens if I Have Multiple DUIs? What if Someone Had a Vehicle Accident and Was Arrested for a DUI? How Could Someone Win a DUI Case? What Are Some Options Besides a DUI Conviction? LAW OFFICES OF RANDY BERMAN Page 3

5 WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I M PULLED OVER AND I VE BEEN DRINKING? Question: What happens when I m pulled over and I ve been drinking? Answer: Typically, you ll violate or the police officer will allege that you ve violated the speeding zone, you ve made a wrong turn, and you didn t stop on a red light. And once he pulls you over, you ve got a few decisions you ve got to make fairly quickly. You ve got to determine at the outset whether you really have had too much to drink and therefore, avoid the breathalyzer test. If you ve only really had a couple of beers, then you have to determine whether you want to do the roadside sobrieties as well as taking the breathalyzer test. Once the officer pulls you over, he s going to ask you for your license and your registration, your insurance and he s going to say Mr. So and so, I smell an alcohol on your breath. Have you been drinking tonight? And your response should be honest. And if you ve had a few drinks, you should tell him I ve had just a 2014 LAW OFFICES OF RANDY BERMAN Page 4

6 few drinks and if you had more, your answer should be I just had a few drinks. But the big question is when he asks you to step out on roadside sobriety test, whether you think you can perform them. If you think you can, then you should do them because that turns out to be the best evidence for you when you go to court if you fight the case. If you perform successfully on the roadsides, it s a very strong statement that you weren t impaired and it carries a lot of weight with the jury. So, that s the initial question you have to ask of yourself, whether you re prepared to blow the breathalyzer, do the roadside sobriety test or neither of those LAW OFFICES OF RANDY BERMAN Page 5

7 WHAT HAPPENS IF I REFUSE THE BREATHALYZER TEST? Question: What happens if I refuse the breathalyzer test? Answer: In most jurisdictions, you sign an agreement when you get your license that you agree to take the breathalyzer, and failure to take the breathalyzer result in a suspension on your license for that refusal. In Florida, for your first refusal, your license is going to be suspended for a year. However, you re entitled to a hardship license 90 days after the suspension begins so that your suspension is only truly a 90 days suspension where you can t drive at all. The hardship license though has restrictions. It only allows you to go to school, go to work, go to church or other religious services, or go to the doctor. It doesn t allow you to shop or go see your kid playing ball or anything else. If you are driving, not doing one of the permitted things, that s a violation that you re driving on a 2014 LAW OFFICES OF RANDY BERMAN Page 6

8 suspended license. But the sanction for refusing the breathalyzer is much better than getting convicted of the DUI because the DUI conviction carries a permanent criminal conviction on your record, the license suspension and all kinds of other conditions that you have to meet along with the suspension. So, my advice to people when they say, Should I blow the breathalyzer or not?, is if you really think that you re under a point 08, which is basically three beers or three shots within a two hour of period, then go ahead and blow. But if you think you re over, you shouldn t blow because that evidence of your level of intoxication will be introduced. And in those jurisdictions where they can convict you for showing impairment, they can also show you to be guilty by being over the limit regardless of whether you seem impaired. So, you dash your chances of prevailing in a trial if you blow over the limit and you don t successfully challenge the breathalyzer machine. That can be done but it s a lot more difficult LAW OFFICES OF RANDY BERMAN Page 7

9 WHAT CAN I EXPECT WHEN I GO TO COURT? Question: What can I expect when I go to court? Answer: Most first time offenders are held for 8 hours at the County jail and then, released prior to court. And those people will get what s called the Notice to Appear, which tells them when their court date is, where it is and what time it is. Ultimately, when you do go at a court, the judge will arraign you, read you the charge and ask you how you plea. And at that time, if you re represented by a lawyer, your lawyer will obviously plea you re not guilty, wanting to get all the discovery, all of the reports and evidence against you to go over with you, so you re then to make a determination if you feel you ve got a good case to take to trial. So, the first time in court is merely like a status check to set the case for a calendar trial date, or if you choose to take a plea, you could do it then as well. But you don t want to take a plea until you know all of the facts about your case, all the evidence against you and 2014 LAW OFFICES OF RANDY BERMAN Page 8

10 get the input from a seasoned experienced lawyer who could tell you what to expect on a plea LAW OFFICES OF RANDY BERMAN Page 9

11 WHAT KIND OF EVIDENCE WOULD BE USED BY THE PROSECUTION TO CONVICT ME? Question: What kind of evidence would be used by the prosecution to convict me? Answer: Firstly, the officer s observations are always going to be recorded in a report. He ll also note anything you say to him. Sometimes at the scene, they videotape you and that video has an audio. So, that video and audio and anything the police officer says he saw are going to be used. Additionally, if you take the breathalyzer, any results of the breathalyzer test are going to be introduced as evidence against you. Likewise, most breathalyzer test areas are equipped with the video and they ll be recording you there. What some people don t realize is that most police cars are also equipped with a video camera pointing back at you so that while you re waiting in the car, you should make sure that you sit as straight as you can, don t say anything, don t shout out anything because any of that could also be used against you LAW OFFICES OF RANDY BERMAN Page 10

12 WHAT EFFECT DOES THE DUI HAVE ON MY DRIVER S LICENSE? Question: What effect does the DUI have on my driver s license? Answer: If you get convicted on DUI for the first time, your license can be suspended from 6 months to a year. Now, that suspension does allow you to get a hardship license and that hardship license allows you to drive to work, to school, for religious purposes and for medical purposes only. If you re caught driving outside of those parameters, you could be charged with the crime of driving on a suspended license. Also, routinely, if you re convicted, you re going to have to do community service hours, sometimes 50 to a 100 of them, you ll be put on probation for a year; you have to report to a probation officer monthly. There ll be court costs that are assessed, there might be a fine that s assessed, you ll have to pay for the probation officer, meeting which is a cost of supervision. There s also going to be an additional condition of going for evaluation and 2014 LAW OFFICES OF RANDY BERMAN Page 11

13 treatment for either drugs and/or alcohol that you also have to pay for. So, it s extremely timeconsuming, expensive and puts a lot of impairment on your freedom for that year that you re on probation for DUI LAW OFFICES OF RANDY BERMAN Page 12

14 WHAT HAPPENS IF I HAVE MULTIPLE DUIS? Question: What happens if I have multiple DUIs? Answer: As the number of DUIs increases in your background, the penalties increase. And the most significant one has to do with how long your suspension on your license is going to be. Your second DUI would result in a 5-year revocation. Generally, you have to serve a 6 month to one year hard suspension, mean you can t get a hardship. After that time, you could. For a third conviction, it would be a 10-year revocation. And again, you could get a hardship after a certain amount of time. But the penalties increase as far as fines, costs and what you have to do to get approved for the hardship. It s not a guarantee. So, it goes up exponentially as you get more DUIs LAW OFFICES OF RANDY BERMAN Page 13

15 WHAT IF SOMEONE HAD A VEHICLE ACCIDENT AND WAS ARRESTED FOR A DUI? Question: What if someone had a vehicle accident and was arrested for a DUI? Answer: If the accident resulted in property damage to someone else not just your car or the personal injury to another that can enhance the level of the DUI or make it a felony where there is serious bodily injury. So, you re looking at much greater stakes, especially if it s a felony where County jail is not the possible penalty but prison time is. And you can serve years in prison versus only a year in the County jail if it s a misdemeanor. So, again, the sanctions, penalties are greatly increased when you get into an accident and cause you the property or personal injury to another person LAW OFFICES OF RANDY BERMAN Page 14

16 HOW COULD SOMEONE WIN A DUI CASE? Question: How could someone win a DUI case? Answer: In my experience over 30 years, almost all of the cases that go to trial and win occur when the client does not blow the breathalyzer and has a reasonably good looking video. When there s no scientific evidence to absolutely prove that you were over the limit, the only thing that jury has to go on is how they perceive your performance in the roadside sobriety exercises and what they hear you say to the officer. So, keeping a cool head, not being too talkative, being responsive to the questions and performing well on the videos is going to lead to a successful defense if you go ahead to trial on your case. Now, I ve had many clients who refused the roadside sobriety exercises because they have some pre-existing injuries to prevent them from walking a straight line or a holding a leg out on the one-leg stand or tipping their head back, closing their eyes and touching their nose with their finger. When you explain that on tape 2014 LAW OFFICES OF RANDY BERMAN Page 15

17 though to the officer and explain why you can t take those roadside sobriety exercises that too has been successful in defending clients charged with DUI who did not blow the breathalyzer. As long as you re standing steady, not swinging, as long as you re not slurring your speech or losing your balance, as long as you can keep it together, that s generally enough to convince a jury you re not driving under the influence or while impaired LAW OFFICES OF RANDY BERMAN Page 16

18 WHAT ARE SOME OPTIONS BESIDES A DUI CONVICTION? Question: What are some options besides a DUI conviction? Answer: Obviously, if you ve got a good case that can be successful at trial and your lawyer recommends that to you, then if you proceed the trial and win and you don t have a DUI conviction, sometimes though you don t want to run that risk. If you ve got a good case and the prosecutor agrees, you will generally want to negotiate a reduced charge. That generally is a reckless driving charge. It doesn t carry the same punishment as DUI and it also allows for you to have what s called the withheld adjudication, meaning no conviction. If you re convicted in Florida of DUI, you have that conviction for the rest of your life. Unfortunately, that conviction, just like any criminal conviction, can t be sealed or expunged from your record. So, anybody who wants to run 2014 LAW OFFICES OF RANDY BERMAN Page 17

19 a search on you will be able to see that in your criminal history record. Palm Beach County is very unique. In that, about a year ago in October, the Local State Attorney implemented a 1st time DUI offender program. If you meet the certain conditions which include not having an accident and not being above a certain level in your breath alcohol level, you can opt immediately to get the reduced charge of Reckless Driving and that plea to Reckless Driving is a withheld adjudication, meaning there is no conviction. A withheld adjudication allows you to ultimately seal and expunge your record once your case is concluded. So, there are other avenues and options that you can take part of aside from trying the case and winning it LAW OFFICES OF RANDY BERMAN Page 18

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