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.
