Are you charged with DUII (Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants)? Better get the phone. We need to talk before it’s too late.

If you failed or refused a breath test, DMV will automatically suspend your driver’s license 30 days from a DUII arrest unless you or your attorney stops them.

Try to Stop The Suspension

Request a DMV hearing right away, otherwise your license will be suspended. The purpose of the hearing includes:

• The legality of the stop.
• The validity of your arrest, field sobriety tests, breath testing, and other procedures
• Taking a default against DMV, which can also stop the suspension.

Begin Preparing

DMV must receive the hearing request within 10 days of your arrest. Then a hearing can be scheduled to try and prevent the suspension–even if you failed or refused a breath test.

I Will Request the Hearing for You

If you call us within 10 days of your arrest, we can request a hearing for you as a personal courtesy. If more than 10 days have passed, call us anyway. There’s still lots to do.

Do you want the good news or the bad news?

You may be eligible for Diversion, which can get your case dismissed. Or you may be facing up to a year in jail with a one-year or three year license suspension. Or you might be facing a lifetime license suspension, depending on your driving record, or even a felony DUII that requires a 13 month prison sentence. Because the drinking and driving laws in Oregon are so punishment oriented, we prepare your case from two vantage points: win the case and damage control.

To try and win the case we challenge the evidence against you including the validity of the stop, probable cause to arrest, whether the field sobriety tests were conducted in accordance within accepted government parameters or were non-standardized tests. We interview witnesses and try and establish a time line for drug or alcohol use. We look at the police reports for symptoms of PTV (police tunnel vision) and we comb them for inconsistencies other explanations besides intoxication. We consider credit card receipts, and talk to people who were around you just prior to or even during your arrest.

Sometimes its necessary to order medical records and hire experts to explain them. We directly attack the intoxilyzer by looking at the qualifications of the operator, the history of the machine including repairs and false tests. We use top scientists to explain the shortcomings of the intoxilyzer and why it should not be trusted. Our firm has won cases with breath test results as high as .26. If we have learned anything in nearly 17 years of DUII defense, it’s that these cases are winnable. We are sick of hearing of cases where the first thing the attorney does is advise a client to plead guilty. That is hallmark of an inexperienced lawyer who’s afraid to learn how to win a DUII at trial. Truly these are tough cases, but sometimes you just gotta fight.

An ounce of prevention…

The second part of our preparation is mitigation. In the event we lose at trial or you want to resolve your case by negotiated settlement, we have learned that there are proven techniques to try and reduce a jail sentence when someone is charged with a DUII or BUII (Boating Under the Influence of Intoxicants). These methods may include an alcohol or drug outpatient treatment program or AA meetings. You see, as part of the mandatory sentence in a DUII case, the court MUST impose a treatment program. Knowing that’s part of the mandatory sentence, think of the impact you’ll make on a judge when you go to court already enrolled and participating compared to the poor fellow who did nothing prior to court and is being told what to do.

The other part of mitigation is knowing the subtleties of the sentencing judge, and that’s where our courtroom experience really pays off. We know what the judge’s policies are from having appeared in front of them for so many times. This can make the difference between deciding to plead guilty in front of one judge one day, or coming back before another, at a different time. Finally, there’s DISP, which is the DUII Intensive Supervision Program, a highly structured program in Multnomah County courts for repeat DUII offenders. DISP is not for everyone, but it can convert a 16???? month prison sentence into two days in jail under the right circumstances.

If you’re charged with DWI / DUII (Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants), BUI / BUII (Boating under the Influence of Intoxicants), DUII Drugs, or refusing a breath test, let’s talk.