The City of Fredericksburg is governed by Virginia law. Throughout the state, a DUI (Driving Under the Influence) charge is given to a person who is presumed to be driving a vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs, if an individual has a blood alcohol level of 0.08 or above. There is also the DWI (Driving While Intoxicated) charge which is where all the factors create the likelihood that, beyond a reasonable doubt, an individual was under the influence of alcohol but they relinquished control while they were driving a vehicle or while they were in operation of a vehicle on a highway in the State of Virginia. If you have been charged with a DUI offense, consult a skilled criminal defense attorney. A qualified Fredericksburg DUI lawyer could pursue a positive outcome for you.
There is no minimum blood alcohol content for DWI which is punished the exact same way as a DUI. Any alcohol or substances, or a combination thereof, in an individual’s body, could potentially put them at risk for a criminal conviction for DWI. For a DUI, 0.08 or above gives rise to the presumption that an individual was intoxicated, but it is a rebuttable presumption through 0.15.
In Fredericksburg, as well as the State of Virginia, DUI and DWI offenses are very heavily enforced. There are specific units that go out and try to arrest people for intoxication. They have an extreme interest in keeping these people off of the road.
DUI cases in Fredericksburg are handled by the prosecutor’s office, the Commonwealth’s attorney there. They treat these charges seriously and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. A Fredericksburg DUI lawyer could attempt to defend an individual against the charges they face.
DUI charges are intimidating. If it is an individual’s first offense or second offense, it is going to be charged with a misdemeanor so they would potentially spend time in jail, up to 12 months. Depending on what their blood alcohol is, there can be mandatory minimums associated with it as well. The person is forced to lose their license for a year and they could potentially get a restricted license, but only at the judge’s discretion and only under limited circumstances.
The DUI itself comes with VASAP (Virginia Alcohol Safety Action program) which is another program that an individual would have to take for substance abuse evaluation and treatment, and they are forced to do an interlock for six months at least for any vehicle that they drive during the time of their probation. These consequences add up to a pretty harsh punishment and a severe impact on an individual’s life. Even if they follow all of the directions, they have to jump through a lot of hoops in order to live a normal life.
A skilled Fredericksburg DUI attorney may know the way the evidence is being collected and stored, and how it will become available to them. As an example, in some jurisdictions, they use body cameras and if that evidence is not requested specifically, the defendant will never know that. The case might get to trial and they would have missed out on some of the evidence because they did not know there was a body camera video that could be requested; just thinking the in-car video was the extent of any video taken.
There are times when a copy of the 911 call could be important and getting that evidence is a different process in every jurisdiction. There are times when a request through discovery, the evidence in your case, would be made, not through the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office, not through the court, but through the specific sheriff’s office in the jurisdiction. A local DUI lawyer in Fredericksburg is going to know how to do that. If an individual does not have an attorney who knows how to do that and they take their time trying to figure that out, they might lose the evidence. The evidence might otherwise be destroyed or disposed of because the attorney was not able to do it in a timely fashion because it is not something that is done in other jurisdictions.
People are often unable to continue their jobs or function normally because they are not able to drive. Beyond the jail time and the collateral consequences, there are the social consequences as well. In addition, if someone is convicted of a DUI, they often are no longer eligible for certain types of employment requiring a security clearance.
People who are convicted of a DUI are considered to have substance abuse problems or have alcoholism, and these things can lead employers to pass over them or disqualify them when interviewing candidates for a certain position. This type of conviction often has a huge impact on how friends and family think of that individual and they can lose a lot of respect in their community for a DUI conviction. It is something that will cause problems even with just a first offense, and then any subsequent offense could potentially have more serious ramifications. A Fredericksburg DUI lawyer is more than prepared to attempt to mitigate the penalties and ramifications a persn may face.
Working with a Fredericksburg DUI lawyer is important because the attorneys know the judges and the prosecutors. Furthermore, an experienced legal advocate could examine the facts of your case and determine which defense strategy works best for you. If you have been charged with a DUI offense, speak with a skilled attorney that could pursue a positive outcome for you.