Over the course of more than thirty-five years’ experience representing a large variety of people charged with DUI, I have come to appreciate that the effects of a DUI charge or a DUI conviction are felt not by the client only, but can have unpleasant and unforeseen consequences for the entire family. While the immediate goal is always to get the best possible result for your case, I always keep in mind that my client is part of a family, and I will help you to foresee and avoid or at least try to minimize the many possible adverse consequences that can come from a DUI charge, or conviction.
Particularly over the last decade, the penalties for a DUI conviction seem to get harsher each year. When a family member is arrested for DUI, be it a father, a mother or an adult child, the arrest can be a devastating and traumatic event. Court appearances, driver’s license suspension orders, having to be fingerprinted, towed vehicles; all of these are concerns which must be dealt with in the first few weeks alone.
Jail, counseling, fines and fees; these types of immediate consequences are known, or easily guessed, consquences of a DUI conviction, but as the case goes on, problems you may not even have thought of can pop up. Did you know, in Arizona your license can be suspended for DUI before you ever step foot in front of the jury? If you have a fingerprint clearance card, or a commercial driver’s license, you could find your job, your livelihood, in immediate jeopardy.
Everyday events like taking children to school, driving an expectant mother to the hospital for the birth of her child, previously scheduled family trips and vacations, can be made difficult or impossible.
Credit scores can be affected; courts can (and do) require fines and fees to be paid in full if you have available credit, regardless of the financial ruin this could cause. Obligations for court costs and fines can put a severe drain on a family’s income.
Jail in many ways is the most difficult for many people to deal with, but for those left behind at home the ordeal can be just as frightening: Will their loved one be safe while there? Will they get the medical care and treatment they need, and deserve? Will they be released for work, on time, every day?
These are but some of the many practical concerns families have when one of their own is arrested for DUI.
Here is one more: in Arizona, if a warrant is issued for your arrest for any reason while an Admin Per Se/Implied Consent suspension order is pending against you, even by mistake of the court and through no fault of your own, your license will remain suspended until the MVD decides to set a hearing. Fair or not, forewarned is forearmed, and my experience and knowledge are what you and your family need. Contact me today.