Articles Posted in DUI

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3rd DUI Michigan lawyer Patrick Barone has experience with getting repeat DUIs reduced.
Have you ever wondered what happens if you get convicted of a Michigan 3rd DUI? A 3rd Offense DUI is a potential disaster. Callers to our OWI law office want to know answers to questions like, “When will I be getting my license back after a 3rd DUI Michigan,” and “How long is license suspended for a 3rd DUI in Michigan” and even “What does DUI mean?”

What happens on your 3rd DUI? Just dealing with potentially losing your job and trying to pay higher insurance premiums is jarring to some Michiganders. Jail time is the most harrowing and worrisome 3rd DUI penalty that most clients fear. These felony crimes, however, can also result in vehicle forfeiture to the State, or license plate confiscation and immobilization of all vehicles owned by the client.

Analyzing the OWI Case Is the Starting Point to Avoid Jail Time

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Even a single Michigan DUI conviction can cause great hardship. It creates a permanent public record. This can impact employment, insurance, sense of well-being, and many other things. If you want to have your DUI conviction in Michigan expunged, we have good news because expungement of drunk driving convictions has never been allowed in Michigan until recently.

Until recently, Michigan law prohibited anyone from expunging a drunk driving conviction—no matter how long ago it occurred or how clean their record had been since. That meant even a single lapse in judgment could follow you forever. Thankfully, the law has changed. As of 2021, individuals with a first offense OWI or similar drunk driving conviction now have a path to clear their record. If you’ve been living with the weight of a DUI on your criminal record, now may be the first real chance to remove it. But because this opportunity is limited and comes with strict requirements, it’s important to approach it with care—and ideally, with legal guidance from someone who understands the process.

The DUI expungement process is complex, and we recommend that you hire a lawyer to help you. Many of the steps required are covered in another article we wrote entitled, “Can a Michigan DUI Be Expunged.”

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Even a person convicted of a first offense DUI/OWI in Michigan with no prior record faces the possibility of up to 93 days in jail, and judges in some courts are well known for putting first-time offenders in jail.  Also, repeat drunk drivers may face up to five years in prison for felony drunk driving, and where a death or serious injury occurs, the offender may be looking at 15 years or more behind bars.  Even second DUI offenders face a minimum mandatory 5-day jail sentence, while felony drunk drivers are looking at a minimum of 30 days to a year.

You Can End Up in Jail Even Before Your Michigan OUI Case Begins

DUI Michigan convictions aren’t the only reason people may face jail time. Before the case even gets underway, and while you are still presumed innocent, some courts set extremely high cash bonds that are simply out of reach for many offenders. If the bond is too high, then you stay in jail until the bond is posted. Also, in addition to the money posted, you will be ordered to comply with certain bond conditions.

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Driving a vehicle while intoxicated is a serious criminal offense across the United States. In the United States, and in no other nation, this crime is not always called a “DUI,” but D.U.I. is America’s most widely used abbreviation for this common driving crime.

Broadly stated, the crime best known as DUI (driving under the influence of intoxicants) has separate and distinct statutes in each. All 50 states and the District of Columbia created their own laws, with no two states tracking another exactly on what constitutes the evidence needed for a DUI conviction.

OWI vs DUI in Michigan - What Is the Difference?
This seemingly schizophrenic roll-out of statutes has important and fascinating historic roots, that have occurred since the early 1900s. For example, forensic breathalyzers were only invented and deployed in the late 1930s. Before that, an officer had to obtain a blood alcohol content test in any case that needed that proof of intoxication (e.g., a crash occurred, and the suspected drunk driver was not conscious).

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Understanding the Criminal Arraignment in Michigan: What You Need to Know

The criminal arraignment is the first formal court appearance in your case, marking the beginning of the legal process. In Michigan, as in all states, you have an absolute right to an arraignment. This right is deeply rooted in history, reflecting the foundational principles of justice in the United States. The U.S. Constitution’s Sixth Amendment guarantees that “in all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation.” This safeguard ensures transparency and fairness, allowing individuals to know the charges they face and begin preparing their defense.

Why Do We Have a Right to an Arraignment?

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A drunk driving conviction has lifelong consequences. Long after your driver’s license has been restored, you’ll still have the DUI conviction on your permanent record. The good news is that the expungement laws in Michigan for DUI cases have recently been changed.

Michigan DUI expungement lawyer Patrick Barone leads the Barone Defense Firm and is partners with some of the best DUI attorneys who handle the toughest DUI cases.
This means your conviction involving an operating while intoxicated OWI offense can now be removed. And this removal or expungement comes with many benefits. Many kinds of DUI convictions are eligible, sometimes even those drunk driving convictions involving injury or death can be expunged.

What Does DUI Expungement Actually Mean?

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Many people ask us if you can get a DUI for being high. The answer is yes, you can get a DUI in Michigan for being high on Marijuana. If you use cannabis for medical or recreational purposes, you might wonder, “How do cops test for a weed DUI? Police officers will use the same kind of roadside tests used for one involving alcohol. So, from this perspective, there is little difference in a DUI with weed vs. alcohol.

What many drivers don’t realize is that you can be arrested for driving under the influence of marijuana even if you used it legally and hours earlier. Michigan law doesn’t set a legal limit for THC like it does for alcohol, so the decision to arrest often depends on the officer’s observations—things like your driving behavior, field sobriety test performance, and physical appearance. This creates a lot of legal gray areas, especially for people who use medical marijuana and may have residual THC in their system without being impaired.

Without getting to technical, one difference is that a DRE officer might be involved if the cops suspect marijuana impairment. Another difference is that there is currently no DUI breath test for weed.

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Michigan law provides that for every person convicted of drunk driving must be subjected to substance use evaluation prior to sentencing. More specifically, Michigan Compiled Laws sec. 257.625b indicates that such individuals must undergo a screening and assessment to determine if the person would benefit from “rehabilitative services,” which may include such things as alcohol or drug education or treatment programs.

A conviction for operating under of influence of drugs has a similar requirement. This is because Michigan statutory law calls drunk driving “operating while intoxicated” (OWI). Drinking and driving is not against the law. To violate Michigan’s OWI law a person must be driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. If you operate a vehicle after drinking enough alcohol to become intoxicated, or consume enough drugs to become intoxicated, then you’ve committed the offense of drunk driving. In other words, DUI and OWI are essentially the same thing.

What is a NEEDS Survey?

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Michigan Drunk Driving Lawyer Explains Proximate Causation

Michigan DUI lawyer Patrick Barone knows Michigan DUI law and how to beat a DUI.What is Proximate Cause?

A drunk driving causing death case always involves allegations that (1) a person was driving a motor vehicle, (2) while intoxicated, (3) the operation of the motor vehicle caused the death of another. As previously described, proving the “vehicle caused the death of another” involves two kinds of causation. Factual causation and proximate causation.

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In a criminal case, after your arrest but before your conviction or acquittal, you will be on bond. There are several discretionary terms and conditions of pretrial release, and these will be determined during your first court appearance the arraignment. A show cause is what happens when someone does something on bond contrary to what’s been ordered.

The most common allegations of a bond violation that we see at the Barone Defense Firm related to alcohol and drug testing. Often, a client will miss a drug or alcohol test, which is the most common alleged bond violation, followed by a positive drug or alcohol test.

Bond Violations are Considered Contempt of Court

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