Interviewer: What are the qualities that someone should be looking for when they retain an attorney for their DUI case?
Randy Berman: You want an attorney, number one, that has a lot of experience with DUI cases because obviously the more experience you have, the more you’re prepared to address any court problem that might come up in a case. They’re not all the same.
Retaining an Attorney that has Extensive Experience in Handling DUI Cases is Imperative to Defending Your DUI Charge
Being able to retain an attorney that has extensive experience is a key factor. You need to know the fact that if you do a lot of it; that doesn’t mean you’re good at it. You want to know what kind of results they get with all the cases they do. This is difficult to find out because you trust the attorney’s opinion about how he performs.
You might check the local bar association or the Florida Bar; find out if the attorney has had any complaints that have resulted in any sanctions. You might ask other attorneys what they know about the attorney you’re considering.
Most criminal attorneys will be honest about giving credos to those who they respect and not saying too much about those they don’t.
Typical DUI Scenario in Florida
Interviewer: Is there a typical story with DUI or a typical scenario that usually happens? What do you see most commonly?
Randy Berman: Typically, it’s a person that commits some minor traffic violation that gets stopped. As a result of the stop and the officer’s observances, they make a determination of whether or not you might be under the influence and then they go into the full DUI investigation. The factors that they look at is again if you have slurred speech, if you have an inability to find your license or your registration when they ask whether they perceive an odor of alcohol on your breath, whether they perceive your eyes to be glassy and bloodshot.
The typical scenario is where you get stopped for a moving violation and then there’s other things that make officers suspect that you’re under the influence.
Circumstances Surrounding the DUI Can Impact the Resolution of the Case
Interviewer: Do you think that the court would show lenience towards an individual that’s done this for the first time and it doesn’t matter what the situation was?
Randy Berman: It’s typical for people especially that have been involved in domestic arguments or depressed for some other reasons to drink alcohol when they normally don’t and their systems don’t handle or tolerate the alcohol well and get behind the wheel. Certainly those kinds of factors when they are presented to the prosecutor can help in trying to mitigate the sanctions. The state attorney might agree to reduce the charge to reckless driving or some other charge and not prosecute the person for DUI.
The circumstances can have an impact on how the case is resolved.