Arizona DUI Charges Become a Felony If Kids Are in the Car
Arizona DUI Charges Become a Felony If Kids Are in the Car
You may not realize that aggravated DUI charges aren't necessarily dependent on your blood alcohol content. While a BAC reading over 0.15 will convert your DUI from a misdemeanor to a class three felony if you live in Arizona, other factors can increase the severity of the charges as well.
For example, according to Arizona law, if you are charged with your third DUI within a seven year time period, you are automatically charged with a felony. Another factor that can lead to the increased penalty is the presence of minors in the vehicle at the time of the arrest. If you had passengers in your car who were children under age fifteen when you were stopped for your DUI, Arizona law dictates that you may be charged with felony DUI.
The higher penalty for the involvement of minors applies whether or not you have any previous drunk driving convictions or previous criminal history. This is especially worrisome because even though your record has been entirely clear up until this point, you could be hit with the DUI law's most extreme penalties.
Arizona has some of the strictest DUI laws in the nation; charged with felony, or aggravated, DUI means a person will usually face mandatory jail time, higher fines and court costs or fees, loss of their driver's' license for up to three years, mandatory counseling, therapy, and treatment, and continuing monitoring and probation after release from jail.
In addition to the automatic bump from misdemeanor to felony, the prosecutor may decide to make an example of you. If you had minors under fifteen in your car when you were arrested the state of Arizona may decide to also charge you with child abuse or child endangerment.
Suddenly, your already serious criminal charges rise to a completely different level of severity. While such charges are generally assessed at the prosecutor's discretion, they are always a possibility.
Felony charges are some of the most serious charges you can be confronted with. A felony record can cause life-long complications, affecting your career prospects, educational opportunities, ability to parent, and numerous other aspects of life that you may take for granted.
In light of the serious implications of felony charges, and the severity of Arizona DUI laws, if you live in the Phoenix area it is imperative that you hire a Phoenix DUI attorney to assist you in your defense. An Arizona DUI attorney will have the experience and knowledge required to obtain the best possible outcome for you.
An attorney may be able to obtain a reduced sentence which avoids any jail time, get the charges reduced, or establish that probable cause was lacking when you were initially pulled over.
DUI Attorney - What You Need To Know!
You have dinner at the new place downtown and have 2 glasses of the house Merlot with your steak dinner, after your earthy dinner you hop on your car and make your way home.
On your way home you encounter a police man which stops you and conducts a standard field sobriety test, which comes out positive of alcohol consumption. Sounds familiar?
Across America hundreds of people get charged with driving under the influence and are forced upon harsh charges. In States such as Arizona, a Phoenix criminal attorney is forced to fight the inadequate system and fight to help many of those who fall under this trap.
This article explores the vast world of being charged with driving under the influence and how to prevent being taken by surprise and fall to the hooks of the legal system; which is prevented by using a DUI attorney.
America the highest level of democracy and justice in the world is sometimes viewed ironically when it comes to driving under the influence cases. The very short anecdote that I have just shown you is a common event that may happen to anyone, and if it happens the best option is to find a specialized DUI attorney which handle these cases in a daily bases.
For example a Phoenix criminal attorney knows how to handle cases about an overall criminal occurrence; however some may have never actually had a driving under the influence case to resolve. That is why an having an actual DUI attorney is important when considering having a strong DUI defense.
Nevertheless, there are several ways to avoid having to end up in these types of situations. For example during the sobriety test many officers conduct the procedures in an inadequate fashion causing that these cases later be dismissed. A DUI attorney should during your interview with him ask you to explain in detail how the sobriety test was conducted in order to better understand if there was some error during the sobriety test.
This is another reason why having a competent and specialized DUI attorney is important, in order to find these types of details that may very well at the end make a case be dismissed.
However, it is not always the case that an officer of the law commits a mistake. There is a large percentage case's where the driver commits an error, when one automatically confesses and accepts that they are guilty after being shown the results of a field sobriety test. And without a DUI attorney it is easily done, creating a grave mistake that automatically makes you guilty and limits your possibilities. A DUI attorney should always be with you when you speak to a police officer, in other cases just plead the 5th amendment and wait until your DUI attorney has all the information before confessing to a crime.
As you may have seen these are just a few tips that you must take into consideration while being charged for driving under the influence. There are many more hints and tips that a DUI attorney could give you in order to prevent being faced with harsh charges. This is why when being faced with DUI, finding a DUI attorney as quickly as possible may be the best way to avoid having your license revoked or have to face jail time.
