DUI

Driving under the influence is defined as operating a motor vehicle while impaired by alcohol, other drugs, or intoxicating compounds and methamphetamine. Over 48,000 people are arrested in Illinois every year for this charge. Almost 40,000 of those are first-time offenders. In Illinois, you are legally considered to be under the influence if you have a BAC (blood-alcohol concentration) of .08 or more, you have used any illegal substance at all, or you are impaired by medication. Moreover, a BAC between .05 and .08 may still convict you of DUI if additional evidence shows that you are impaired. A DUI charge is also unique in that it is really more like two cases. One is in the criminal system, where a judge or a jury will decide if you go to jail or suffer some other punishment. The other is a civil penalty, through the Secretary of State, where you face a suspension or revocation of your driver's license. If you cannot obtain an acquittal or a sentence of court supervision on your case, then you will receive a conviction for DUI in the criminal system, and then a civil process will nearly always result in a complete revocation of your driver's license.

A thorough investigation for DUI includes many aspects. An in-depth interview with you, the defendant, is a must. After that, we will obtain copies of police reports, accident reports, test results, and in certain instances video recordings as well. Scrutiny of the information from both the interview and these records can lead us further to helpful or relevant witnesses, credit card receipts, or other evidence. We can then evaluate your best available options, such as a pretrial motion to suppress evidence, a petition for a monitoring device driving permit (MDDP), or a petition to rescind the summary suspension. We can also advise as to whether a trial is the best course available to you and what defenses might be the strongest based upon our sense of history in defending these charges.