Articles Posted in OWI

michigan-prison-300x199Michigan and Federal criminal and Constitutional law provides that when a person is arrested and charged with a crime, they have the opportunity to seek release from custody by posting bail or bond. Your bond and any conditions of your pretrial release will be considered when you are first brought to court for your arraignment.

By posting bail, you provide a monetary guarantee that you will attend all future court hearings. If you fail to appear, you risk forfeiting the bail amount.

While granting temporary release, the court must also consider public safety. The court does this by imposing conditions on your pretrial release. The conditions of bond aim to minimize potential risks to the community while you are at large rather than in jail.

Effective immediately, the Intoxilizer 9000 is replacing the DataMaster DMT as Michigan’s new breath test instrument. If you are arrested for DUI in Michigan, the chances are good your breath will be tested on a 9000. If you were over the legal limit, then keep in mind that a top DUI lawyer can beat breath test results in court.

However, for a short period of time, both breath alcohol test instruments will be used. Consequently, depending on the date and time of your evidential breath alcohol test, the police may have used the outdated DMT. If this is true in your case, then be sure to hire a top DUI defense lawyer to represent you. Breath test results rendered by the DMT are inherently untrustworthy. See this article if you are not sure how to find a top Michigan DUI lawyer.

This change to the 9000 is primarily due to the age of the DMTs currently in service. Also, the inability to obtain parts for this older equipment, and MSPs desire to employ newer technology. The Intoxilizer 9000 is widely used across the United States and is often relied upon by law enforcement agencies to determine whether an individual is legally intoxicated.

By Patrick Barone, Michigan DUI Lawyer Near Me

Michigan OWI lawyer Patrick Barone explains what DUI BAC is and how this number affects yiur whole drunk driving case.
The legal limit in all states except Utah is 0.08 grams percent. It will take about three to four standard drinks to raise most people’s blood alcohol concentration to 0.08 grams %. But, that number of drinks, if consumed rapidly by chugging them, will push the numbers higher.

However, there are many factors that play into a person’s bodily alcohol concentration (BAC) on at a given time and on a given occasion, and the only way to know your BAC at any given time is to submit to the police breath or blood test. Your Michigan criminal lawyer can explain the pros and cons of submitting to one of these chemical tests.

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how to beat a DUI in Michigan, how to beat a breath test in MichiganThere’s a secret that law enforcement don’t want you to know about breath testing. A secret so good, that once you know it, you can pass a breathalyzer test every time. As you will see, beating a breathalyzer is easy, no matter the amount of alcohol in your system. It’s all about breathing patterns. And this little secret shows how bad breathalyzers really are a measuring blood alcohol content (BAC) levels.

This method will work with an interlock device too, but not if you’re on probation and the court wants to know if you drink any alcohol. This method only works when you’re trying to beat the legal limit. If you find yourself in this situation at the moment immediately call the Michigan lawyers near me who handle DUI.

But before you can understand why this secret works, it’s important to understand a little bit about BAC readings (breath or bodily alcohol level), breath samples, breath testing, and the science behind how it’s supposed to work.

This page on DUI defense law in the State of Michigan discusses OWI charges, for a misdemeanor or felony in Michigan. The answer to “is a DUI a felony in Michigan?” is usually not. Regardless of which offense you face, your search for legal help must be limited to the top DUI lawyers in the Great Lakes State.

About 95% of all drunk driving convictions in Michigan are misdemeanors, despite a felony charge coming on a 3rd lifetime DUI case, and not the usual 4th DUI within 10 years, like most other states. Even when facing an OWI 1st offense, every person needs to limit her or his search to only the exceptionally good DUI lawyers near me.

How serious is driving while intoxicated? Being arrested for a drunk driving offense is an unexpected and often traumatic experience.

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? 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

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.

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.”

A lawyer is likely necessary because, unlike other misdemeanors and felonies, which will be automatically removed from criminal records, a detailed and at times cumbersome process is required to prepare your case for filing with the court. What may seem like small errors in the paperwork can result in the DUI in Michigan expungement being denied.

This article covers only the steps in DUI/OWI case that take place in court after a lawyer has been retained.

The first step in a Michigan drunk driving case is an arraignment on the warrant, ticket, complaint or information.  At the arraignment, a plea of not guilty will be entered on your behalf and the judge or magistrate will set a bond. Your case will then be set for a pretrial.

A pretrial conference or hearing will occur at your next appearance in court which is usually roughly three or four weeks after the arraignment.  Depending on the court and the prosecutor this may be the first time your lawyer can review all of the evidence against you. You will have four choices at a pretrial, and your lawyer should discuss them with you prior to the pretrial conference so that you know what to expect and how to proceed.

How to saty out of jail if you are charged with drunk driving in Michigan
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.

A Barone Defense Firm CDL lawyer knows how important a CDL license is to your livelihood.
If you have a CDL (commercial driver’s license) then a Michigan drunk driving conviction will have many implications relative to your driving privileges, both private and commercial.  The exact nature of these implications will depend on your prior criminal record, specifically prior OWI Michigan and other states’ convictions, as well as the nature of your current drunk driving conviction.

Non-Commercial Driver’s License Sanctions

If this is your first drunk driving conviction, or if you have prior offenses that are more than 10 years old, then our prior article entitled “Driver’s License Sanctions for First Offense Drunk Driving” adequately sets forth all the driver license sanctions applicable to your non-commercial driving privilege.

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