DUI / DWI

Driving Under the Influence and Driving While Intoxicated

Driving under the Influence often referred to as DWI/DUI is the operation of a motor vehicle while you are impaired by drugs or alcohol.

Across the nation, states are getting tougher on drunk drivers. Lobbying efforts of groups like MADD have resulted in legislatures imposing stricter laws and increasing the penalties associated with a conviction. The media closely follow and report on drunk driving arrests and convictions. This environment of heightened awareness makes judges reluctant to cut even first time offenders any slack.

North Carolina has some of the toughest DWI/DUI laws in the country. North Carolina’s Booze it and lose it campaign administered through the North Carolina Department of Transportation captures the attitude of North Carolina toward those arrested and charged with driving while drinking.

North Carolina has an implied consent law, which means that anyone who drives a vehicle on a highway in North Carolina has given an implied consent to a chemical analysis if charged with a driving while impaired offense. If you refuse the test your driver’s license is suspended for at least one year. You may, however, ask to speak to your attorney before taking the test, you have the right to select a witness to observe the test, and you may have your own test administered after you are released.

This doesn’t mean if you are charged there is no hope of escaping a conviction. Although there is political pressure, there are many fair judges in Wake County who listen to the evidence and hold the state to its burden of proving its case. You need an experienced attorney to help you make your case.

If you are charged with a DWI/DUI you need to take your charge seriously and immediately contact an experienced DWI/DUI lawyer. An experienced DWI/DUI attorney will understand the legal system and guide you through the complicated legal proceedings protecting your rights and ensuring the best outcome for you from this serious offense.

Level of impairment is determined by the driver’s blood alcohol concentration (BAC) at the time of arrest. Although many people believe that you can only be arrested if you blow a .08 or higher, the truth is that you can be charged with DWI/DUI even if there is no alcohol in your system or if you blow under a .08. North Carolina allows the officer to arrest you even if your blood/alcohol ration is under.08 if they believe that you are appreciably impaired. You can still be convicted of DWI/DUI even if you blow under the legal limit.

You can be charged with a DWI if the arresting officer observes you driving in an unusual manner for example weaving or braking often or driving in an overly cautious manner. The officer can also base a DWI arrest on your physical appearance, or field sobriety tests as well as chemical tests.

What are the fines and penalties for a DWI/DUI?

A DWI/DUI is a misdemeanor charge with penalties varying depending on the suspect’s prior driving record, the level of impairment and the circumstances surrounding the arrest. There are five levels of DWI sentencing in North Carolina with 5 being the most lenient and 1 being the most severe. Levels 1 and 2 require mandatory jail time whereas levels 3, 4, 5 allow the judge to suspend an active sentence and place the individual on supervise or unsupervised probation.

Jail time for a DWI conviction may be one day to two years and fines can be up to $4000. A conviction will result in you driver’s license being suspended for up to a year and the license will not be restored until the offender completes a substance abuse assessment and when restored will stipulate the driver is not allowed to drive with a blood alcohol concentration or .04% or higher. If the driver has had previous DWIs, he/she will be suspended for longer periods of time. Ask Hopkins Law Firm, PC on how to obtain a limited riving privilege to see if you can become eligible to drive even though your license is revoked.

North Carolina law requires offenders to complete a substance abuse assessment and treatment. The judge may also require the driver to participate in a specified number of hours of community service or spend some time in jail.

Refusal to take an alcohol test will result in immediate revocation of your license for a minimum of 12 months. If your blood alcohol concentration is over .15, the DMV may require an ignition interlock to be installed on any vehicle the offender drives before their license is restored or a limited privilege to drive is granted. If you are under 21 and convicted of a DWI/DUI your license will be revoked for one year regardless of the circumstances and no limited privilege to drove will be granted.

What to Expect from a Typical DWI/DUI Traffic Stop

Most often if an officer suspects you of driving under the influence he/she will pull you over and ask you to perform standard field sobriety tests. The National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration have approved many of these tests. For example, the officer may ask you to perform the Walk and Turn, One Leg Stand, Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus tests.

The officer may ask you to blow into a portable breath test or PBT- if above .08 officer will most likely arrest you, put you in handcuffs and take you in his car to the police station where you will be asked to complete a second breathalyzer test. If you test above .08 you most likely will be charged with the implied consent offense of DWI but even it the test shows a blood alcohol content of less than .08 the officer can require a blood test to see if you are impaired by prescription drugs or narcotics or charge you with DWI based on the officer’s observation of your physical and/or mental impairment.

If the officer brings charges you will be taken before a local magistrate. A magistrate is a judicial official who will review the charge and any evidence the officer wants to present and then set the conditions of your release. Under North Carolina law the magistrate may release you on your written promise to appear at an established date before the court, or the magistrate can set a secured or unsecured bond which you will have to post before being released or you could be released into the custody of a sober person over the age of 18. Which of these release options the magistrate chooses will be based on your prior record, the magistrates opinion of likelihood that if you are released you will harm yourself or someone else and any other factors relevant to the likelihood you will show up for the trial date. In most cases he will release you from custody based on your promise to appear for trial and without a bail requirement.

If a bond is required you will have to remain in custody until you or someone for you posts bail or until you hire an attorney and he or she is able to convince a judge to lower the bond.

The other action the magistrate will take when you appear before him is to take your driver’s license if it is a North Carolina license. If you have a license from another state he will not take the license. North Carolina law does not give the magistrate discretion as to the revocation of a North Carolina driver’s license. Everyone who is charged with a DUI/DWI immediately loses his or her license for thirty days. This immediate and mandatory revocation is called a civil revocation and is different from additional license suspensions and revocations that may occur as a result of your refusal to take the breathalyzer tests or as part of the judge’s order following your trial. Your attorney may be able help you get a pre-trial limited driving privilege back after ten days but the magistrate must take the license before you are released. Contact Hopkins Law Firm, PC to discuss whether or not you are eligible for a pre-trial limited driving privilege.

It is not advisable to make any admissions before you have spoken to your attorney however it is also advisable to be polite and courteous to the magistrate. No matter how much you dislike the situation you are in the magistrate is just doing his/her job.

Other Implied Consent and Impaired Driving Offenses

There are specific statutes governing impaired driving of commercial vehicles. These statutes establish a blood alcohol level of .04% for the presumption that you are driving while impaired. There is also a statute that makes it illegal to have opened or unopened alcohol in a commercial vehicle unless it is specifically licensed as an excursion or a for hire vehicle in which case the driver will not be responsible for alcohol carried by the passengers.

The law regarding school bus or childcare vehicles is even more stringent making it a crime to drive after consuming any alcohol.

The statute specifically for those drivers under 21 establishes a blood alcohol level of .01% for the presumption that you are driving while impaired and if convicted the under 21 driver’s license is suspended for one year.

A driver convicted more than three times in a ten year period is defined by statute as a habitual impaired driver. A habitual impaired driver shall be sentenced to a minimum active term of not less than 12 months of imprisonment, and is not eligible to have the term suspended and will have his or her license permanently revoked. The car the habitual impaired driver was driving can be subject to forfeiture unless the owner of the car or owner of a security interest in the car can show they did not know and had no reason to know the driver had been previously convicted of three or more drunk driving offenses.

It is also illegal to carry an opened container or an alcoholic beverage in a car and the driver can be charged with a misdemeanor under North Carolina law if stopped with open containers.

Advice: Get an Attorney

If you are arrested for any of the impaired driving or implied consent offenses do not try to deal with the legal process on your own. Immediately contact an attorney who is familiar with the DWI/DUI laws and legal proceedings to ensure your rights are protected.