How Do Injuries Impact DUI Defense?

Being arrested for drunk driving is bad enough, but being arrested for Driving Under the Influence (DUI) is much worse when there are injuries involved. If the police believe you were responsible for one or more accidents that resulted in injuries, especially serious injuries, you could be looking at far more serious charges.

DUIs are normally charged as misdemeanors for first-time offenders, and these charges can often be reduced to a “wet reckless” or other lesser charge with the help of a skilled attorney. When injuries are involved, however, you could be looking at additional years of jail time on your DUI, or even a felony charge.

Felony DUI charges come with higher penalties, such as great fines, more jail time, longer license suspensions or revocations and more. But even when injuries are involved, there is a lot an experienced DUI lawyer can do to help you reduce the charges, penalties, or their consequences.

Is It Even Possible To Get A Reduced Charge For A DUI With Injuries In Marin County?

Fortunately, it is still possible to get a reduced charge for a DUI with injuries in Marin County. In fact, fighting for reduced charges is one of a DUI lawyer’s main jobs and advantages.

Our first responsibility as DUI attorneys is always to see if we can get your case dismissed or diverted. If that is not possible, we can also secure our client’s right to demand a jury trial, a constitutional right that you should always be aware of.

That said, going straight for a jury trial is not always the best move, especially if there are injuries involved in your DUI case.

Why A Jury Trial Might Not Be The Best Way To Get Your Charges Reduced

While any trial can end in charges being dropped or reduced, the odds are not always in your favor. A DUI with injury can be an especially tough case to put in front of a jury because the damages can be substantial. Jurors might let their empathy for the victims, or their judgment about alcohol, cloud their assessment of the facts or laws.

Instead, what an experienced DUI attorney in Marin County might opt to do is to negotiate with the Prosecutor’s Office (and the DA or the ADA who has the case). A negotiation can often be the ideal way to pursue a better result, including reduced charges, while avoiding the risks of trial.

How Can A Lawyer Help Get Your Charges Reduced After A DUI With Injuries?

By discussing options (and highlighting weaknesses in their case) with the Marin County DA or ADA, your DUI attorney may be able to use negotiation to get the charges you face reduced.

For example, getting a felony DUI dropped to a misdemeanor DUI. If the DUI charge is already a misdemeanor, sometimes we can even get the case reduced to Wet Reckless, or just “reckless driving”.

Which results are possible depends on the severity of the injuries, the details of the accident, and your criminal or driving record.

Obviously, whatever deal your attorney is able to negotiate comes back to you and becomes one more option on the table. Ultimately, it is always you who gets to decide whether or not to take that deal or go to a jury trial instead.

What About DUI Cases With Multiple Injuries?

If you were arrested after an incident involving multiple injuries (in your car or outside it) the situation is even more serious. The way you will be charged in Marin County depends on a number of factors, including:

• How severe the injuries were,
• Your past record (whether you have prior DUIs, and if so, when they occurred, and how many times),
• The degree to which you were intoxicated/incapacitated.

Since the District Attorney’s Office has the ability to charge DUIs with injuries as felonies, they will almost always do so if the injuries are substantial enough.

This is especially likely when there are multiple injured parties, because when the DUI with injury is charged as a felony, then the DA can issue separate additional charges (called “enhancements”) of up to one year each for up to three people who were injured. Each additional injury enhancement carries an additional potential sentencing of three years.

Unfortunately, depending on the severity of the injuries, you could be facing far more than just three one-year additional charges.

Charged With A DUI With Injuries? Call An Attorney Immediately

If you have been arrested after an accident with injuries in Marin County, a local DUI Attorney can absolutely help with your case, especially if severe injuries were involved.

With these cases, it is essential to get the help of an attorney who focuses on DUI law with current experience working with DUIs with injuries in the Marin County/San Francisco Bay Area. Depending on the details of the case, you could be facing very serious penalties, including potential state prison or county jail time.

To be clear: in DUI cases with injuries, you absolutely need a lawyer. If you cannot afford a lawyer, you will need to get a public defender to represent you.

Why Is Having A Lawyer So Important When Charged With Driving Under The Influence?

In addition to negotiating down your charges, an experienced DUI lawyer is necessary to:

• Investigate and properly fight your case.
• Check and verify that all procedures and rights have been properly followed and respected.
• Know how to look at video evidence, including CCTV and body camera videos. Can access otherwise inaccessible or difficult-to-access pieces of evidence regarding blood draws and field sobriety testing.
• Know how to read reports and make them work for your case.
• Have connections to a network of expert witnesses such as
  • Ex-police officers
  • Forensic toxicologists
  • Medical doctors
  • Blood draw experts
  • Accident reconstruction and crash physics experts

All seasoned professionals who can be hired to challenge the evidence and case against you.

In short, there are all sorts of things that we can do as DUI attorneys to help you through this difficult situation, especially if you have been charged with a DUI with injury.

To get help with your DUI defense after drunk driving accidents with injuries, schedule a consultation with a local DUI specialist by calling San Rafael, CA (415) 520-7182 | San Francisco, CA (415) 520-6815 today.