The honest answer is maybe….but the odds are against it. Any lawyer that tells you YES they can dismiss your DUI without examining the facts is lying to you.
The first question on every new client’s mind is what can you do for me? …and what will it cost? If I was a doctor and you had stomach pain, you would not ask me “what is wrong with me and what will it cost” when you first talked to me and before I examined you.
You would understand a doctor would have to take a history, perform a physical exam, order blood tests, X-Rays, and MRI’s etc. Maybe the doctor would even perform exploratory surgery before telling you what was wrong. If it was Cancer the surgeon might stitch you up and explain there is very little he or she can do to cure you of Cancer.
A DUI is not cancer, but the following elevate the seriousness: (1) High Blood Alcohol Reading of over .15+; (2) Drugs (Prescriptive or street drugs) or (3) a Traffic Accident. This means that the results your lawyer can achieve are problematic and the possible sentence will probably involve more jail time demanded by the DA………..however, you will not do one day in jail and you probably will never have to appear in court.
The Indio Court is much tougher on DUI’s than many other jurisdictions and our local DA’s ask for JAIL time on ALL DUI’s. This is probably because we have more DUI FATALITIES here in the CV than anywhere else in California…per capita.
On any criminal case there are different degrees of success. I usually explain to clients on their first appointment, that many years ago I was in the office of famed criminal attorney Robert Shapiro, my best friend at the time, who later became O.J. Simpson’s lawyer. We were planning on going to dinner and discussing cases on which we were working together.
Shapiro got a call from a prospective client and asked me to sit say nothing. When the client entered, Shapiro said “I don’t want to know anything about your case.” He asked “what are you looking for?” He then explained that there are different degrees of success. If I go into court and the DA wants a year in custody and I can get you 6 months, then that is success. If they want 10 days and I can get you a weekend and/or home arrest, then that is success.
It is impossible to guesstimate what the success will be on a case when you only hear the client’s side of the story. It is necessary to review the police report for probable cause for the stop; how well you did on the OPTIONAL field sobriety and the chemical tests results for the Blood Alcohol Reading. Of course your criminal record, if any, is important.
Clients often think that because they have a clean driving record or have been a pillar of the community that will factor into their guilt or innocence. That is wrong. It may affect the sentence, but not GUILT or INNOCENCE.
Sometimes a prior record will aggravate the sentence and philanthropic work in the community may mitigate the sentence. However, they have nothing to do with GUILT or INNOCENCE.
The best advice I can give you is to Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over. So DON’T DRINK AND DRIVE OR TEXT AND GET A DUI OR ACCIDENT, CALL A TAXI, Lyft OR UBER………IT IS A LOT CHEAPER THAN CALLING ME
Ideas for future articles? Call 760-837-7500 or dale@dalegribowlaw.com.
Remember: Silence is Golden and Handcuffs are Silver so DON’T TALK to POLICE without your lawyer’s permission.
Though often referred to as a DUI criminal defense lawyer, I choose to not view my DUI clients as “criminals”. I prefer to view them, and more importantly to treat them, as good, honest people that have found themselves in a scary and unfortunate situation after screwing up.
I look upon my job as protecting the Constitutional Rights of every American who drinks, drives and gets arrested for a DUI or has an ACCIDENT.
I do however “Change Hats” when I SUE Drunk Drivers for damages to my Injured or Deceased (Wrongful Death) clients.
DALE GRIBOW
“TOP LAWYER” – California’s Prestige Magazine, Palm Springs Life (PI/DUI) 2011-19
“TOP LAWYER” – Inland Empire Magazine 2016- 2019
PERFECT 10.0 AVVO Peer Rating
