Birmingham DUI & Criminal Defense Lawyer & Attorney : Eversole Law Firm : Criminal and DUI Defense : Serving Birmingham, Montgomery, Alabama

I received a phone call yesterday from a perspective client in Birmingham, Alabama.  She received a DUI coming back from the Alabama Football game this past weekend.  She was charged with driving under the influence and possession of drug paraphernalia(a small pipe commonly used for smoking marijuana).  She was charged with the DUI in Shelby County, Alabama, in the city of Pelham.  She blew a .10, which is over the legal limit of .08% blood alcohol level, failed the field sobriety test, and threw up in the police car. 

It was her first offense and I will be able to negotiate a pre-trial diversion for the DUI charge and drug court for the paraphernalia charge.  Thus, when she completes an alcohol abuse program, pays her fines, and doesn't get another DUI within a year, her record is wiped clean. 

Drug court is also a version of pre-trial diversion.  Once you complete the program's specifications, fines, drug abuse counseling, drug tests, and stay out of trouble, your Alabama drug charges are removed from your record.  Thus, I will be able to get my client's record wiped completely clean. 

Sometimes however, this method is not the best solution.  Just because I can get your record clean after a DUI or drug possession charge in Hoover, Trussville, Mountain Brook, Vestavia, Moody, or all across Alabama, does not mean that is the best criminal defense strategy to employ.  Even if you get DUI diversion or drug court,  you just used up your get out of jail free card, so to speak.  If you ever receive another charge, those options will not be available to you.  Many times, a DUI or Drug charge can be challenged in court, and when the case is dismissed or you win a jury trial, you still have the option of using drug court or DUI pre-trial diversion to your benefit, if something like this ever happens again. 

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Have you been charged with a DUI in Alabama?  If so, you have only 10 days to request an administrative hearing or your license will be suspended.  You should receive notice of this fact from the arresting officer.  If you lose your license, your only option is to appeal the decision to the Circuit Court within 30 days. 

The license loss is distinct from any criminal penalties. This means that you can lose your license while being found "guilty," or "not guilty," in an Alabama DUI trial.  Makes you wonder what happened to the concept, "innocent until proven guilty."  In this case, it's not even, "guilty until proven innocent."  It's simply, "guilty."  Now some will argue that balancing this equation is the administrative hearing.  But does the administrative hearing really provide the same kind of safe guards that are enshrined into our Constitution and afforded those accused of crimes?  Furthermore, even if you somehow believe that taking someone's license for a crime he has not been proven to commit is fair, I would then scream Double Jeopardy.  It is supposedly illegal to charge someone with the same crime twice, no matter how you look at it, and no matter how it may have been interpreted, the prohibition against Doubly Jeopardy is not esoteric.  It's plain meaning will suffice. 

Sorry for the digressive rant.  Back to my original subject.  The 10 day rule applies to you if you meet any of the following conditions:

• BAC over .08 while driving or under control of a vehicle
• BAC at or above .02 and you are below the age of 21
• BAC over .04 at time of arrest for Commercial Drivers
• You refused to take breath test

If you do not request an administrative hearing within ten days of arrest you will lose your license. You could lose your license in this manner anywhere from 90 days to several years.  Factors to be considered in determining how long you could lose your license include:

1. Driving Category
2. Age
3. Driving Record

Moral of the story, hire an Alabama DUI & Criminal Defense attorney that focuses his practice on defending those accused of a DUI.  I spend hundreds of hours perfecting the defense of those accused of DUI.  I have read all relevant publications, including hundreds of DUI and Criminal Defense Blogs from all over the country.  I also regularly attend legal education seminars devoted to DUI defense. Not to mention , I obsessively update this blog to make it the best source of information available to those accused on a DUI in Alabama.  Combined I spend around 25-30 hours a week studying Alabama DUI & Criminal Defense Law.  The law is way too complicated these days for an attorney to be a jack-of-all-trades.  When your reputation, money, job, or freedom is on the line, you need an attorney that makes Alabama DUI & Criminal Defense his priority.  Riddle me this:  Did you get your plumbing fixed by the electrician?

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